Toshiba organizes unit to pursure solar business, leveraging its strengths in batteries, power systems, and grid integration. ...
... "Toshiba will secure orders for large solar power generation systems by drawing on its competitive advantages. In components, the company's expertise includes high-efficiency power conditioning systems and the SCiB - the Super Charge ion Battery - Toshiba's breakthrough rechargeable battery that offers excellent safety, long life and rapid charging. In system integration, Toshiba can point to world-class capabilities in system integration, particularly in connecting generation systems to distribution systems; in microgrids that connect and manage dispersed small-scale power generation sources, including renewable energy sources; and in large plant system engineering capabilities. " ...
... using innovative optics ... SolFocus systems dramatically reduce the amount of expensive and often supply-constrained solar material used in the system."
"SolFocus CPV solar panels are the only CPV technology listed by the California Energy Commission as qualified for California Solar Initiative (CSI) incentives. ... panels are constructed primarily of readily available and cost-effective materials such as aluminum and glass resulting in systems which are over 95-percent recyclable. ...has a very low carbon footprint in manufacturing and short energy payback period. "
Suntech Power will install the largest building integrated photovoltaic system, with a generating capacity of 3 Megawatts, by September 2009 for the World Expo Shanghai 2010. ...
... "The 3MW building integrated rooftop solar systems will be designed, developed and installed by Suntech's in-house system integration team. World Expo Shanghai 2010 will be held from May 1 - October 31, 2010 in Shanghai, China. " ...
Optomec: "M3D Aerosol Jet deposition systems enable the production of higher efficiency solar cells than is possible through traditional screen-printing techniques. "
Colexon Energy implements world’s largest rooftop photovoltaic power plant using thin film solar modules. The installation has the capacity to generate 4.64 MW and is located in Hassleben (Brandenburg, Germany). ...
... "The plant will generate an estimated electrical power of 4.35 million kilowatt hours per year, which corresponds to an annual reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of more than 3,800 tons. Based on the current feed-in-tariff of 43,99 cent/kWh the installation will generate revenues of more than EUR 1.9 million per year. Next to the extremely quick installation of the power plant, another highlight during construction was the airlift of modules. Due to costs and efficiency, 10,000 of the total 64,000 First Solar solar modules to be installed were lifted to the roof by helicopter. With a roof area of approx. 224,000 sqm, this special way of module transport enabled enormous time savings. " ...
... "Solar panels have been installed on the roofs of the Science Center and 3 Sacramento St., and at the Harvard Forest in Petersham, Mass. The forest’s extensive photovoltaic array actually feeds electricity back into the local grid when its output exceeds the forest’s energy needs. " ...
OPEL International implements 9.5 kW solar photovoltaics for The Sports Zone in Trumbull, CT, reducing their electrical bill significantly with sun tracking capabilities. ...
... "OPEL’s Mk-I HCPV panels concentrate the light from the sun more than 500 times and have conversion efficiencies up to twice that of conventional silicon solar panels and more than three times that of thin film solar panels. OPEL’s solar trackers can be used in conjunction with both concentrating panels, as well as with conventional silicon ones. When these trackers are used in conjunction with conventional silicon panels, the resulting electricity generation can be increased by as much as 40% with respect to conventional fixed panel installations. " ...
UCLA researchers, Yang and team, experiment with photovoltaic polymer material that improves solar cell efficiency. ...
... "Yang Yang, a professor of materials science and engineering, and colleagues describe the design and synthesis of a new polymer, or plastic, for use in solar cells that has significantly greater sunlight absorption and conversion capabilities than previous polymers. The research team found that substituting a silicon atom for carbon atom in the backbone of the polymer markedly improved the material's photovoltaic properties. This silole-containing polymer can also be crystalline, giving it great potential as an ingredient for high-efficiency solar cells. " ...
IBM Labs share their perspective on the near-term future that technology advancements will impact. The concept of built-in solar technology should become more prevalent as solar cells become more efficient, cheaper, and thinner. ...
... "In the next five years, solar energy will be an affordable option for you and your neighbors. Until now, the materials and the process of producing solar cells to convert into solar energy have been too costly for widespread adoption. But now this is changing with the creation of thin-film solar cells, a new type of cost-efficient solar cell that can be 100 times thinner than silicon-wafer cells and produced at a lower cost. These new thin-film solar cells can be printed and arranged on a flexible backing, suitable for not only the tops, but also the sides of buildings, tinted windows, cell phones, notebook computers, cars, and even clothing. " ...
Nanotechnology-derived antireflective coating is used to increase the absorption of sunlight by solar panels. ...
... "An untreated silicon solar cell only absorbs 67.4 percent of sunlight shone upon it - meaning that nearly one-third of that sunlight is reflected away and thus unharvestable. From an economic and efficiency perspective, this unharvested light is wasted potential and a major barrier hampering the proliferation and widespread adoption of solar power. After a silicon surface was treated with Lin’s new nanoengineered reflective coating, however, the material absorbed 96.21 percent of sunlight shone upon it - meaning that only 3.79 percent of the sunlight was reflected and unharvested. " ...
Suntech implements strategy to expand in the U.S. solar market by serving market segments with cost-effective photovoltaic solutions. ...
... "Suntech continues to invest in cost reduction technologies, the company is also increasing its efforts to seek out those balance-of-system components that best meet customer demand for a truly integrated offering. This vertical integration will enable Suntech to optimize solar system composition and performance, and drive down costs throughout the solar value chain. As a result of these initiatives, Suntech plans to triple sales to the U.S. in 2009. " ...
CIP Technologies, in collaboration with research partners, has advanced the energy conversion efficiency performance for thermo-photovoltaic cells to record levels. ...
... "In partnership with the University of Oxford and Wafer Technology, and with partial funding from the UK Technology Strategy Board and EPSRC, a successful three year collaborative research project has delivered first generation single-junction cells with energy conversion efficiencies up to 12%. This compares to 9% from existing, commercially available devices. TPVs are similar to solar cells, but operate at infrared rather than visible wavelengths, generating electricity directly from heat. " ...
TUV Rheinland and ASU will collaborate to create TUV Rheinland PTL, which will provide facilities to test and certify solar energy equipment across a global network. ...
"TUV Rheinland’s collaboration will connect ASU’s PTL facility to the company’s global network. The new company substantially expands PTL’s testing capabilities in volume and scope by adding state-of-the-art test equipment, as well as the capacity to test and certify PV panels and electrical components for Europe, Asia and North America. "
Via Arizona State University: Solar facility
Babcock & Brown leverages their competence in the wind power market into the opportunities presented by the solar photovoltaic market in Europe. ...
... "Successful development in wind energy has allowed B&B to acquire all the competencies and skills necessary along the solar value chain for a successful entrance (i.e., site identification, engineering, project management, procurement and project finance) " ...
Konarka Technologies opens its large-scale manufacturing plant in Polaroid's facility in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where its thin film solar material, Power Plastic, will be produced. ...
... "With this U.S. based manufacturing location, Konarka further expands its presence in Massachusetts and accelerates its aggressive plans to develop and commercialize its polymer-based organic photovoltaic (OPV) technologies worldwide. In addition to acquiring the fully automated roll-to-roll manufacturing line, the company has also hired the leading technology and process engineering teams from Polaroid, with plans to hire over 100 additional employees as production increases toward capacity over the next two to three years. Konarka’s advanced photovoltaic technology started with the work of the late Dr. Sukant Tripathy, an internationally known polymer materials scientist, provost at UMASS Lowell and founder of the Plastic Innovation Center and Dr. Alan Heeger, Konarka’s chief scientist, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2000. " ...
Solyndra targets commercial rooftop market with new solar photovoltaic (PV) system that uses a cylinder shape to generate significantly more solar power. ...
... "Solyndra's panels employ cylindrical modules which capture sunlight across a 360-degree photovoltaic surface capable of converting direct, diffuse and reflected sunlight into electricity. This self-tracking design allows Solyndra's PV systems to capture significantly more sunlight than traditional flat-surfaced solar panels, which require costly tilted mounting devices to improve the capture of direct light, offer poor collection of diffuse light and fail to collect reflected light from rooftops or other installation surfaces. Conventional flat PV panels must be mounted at an angle and spaced apart for optimum energy production. The sunlight striking the spaces between the panels is not collected and thus is wasted. Solyndra's panels perform optimally when mounted horizontally and packed closely together, thereby covering significantly more of the available roof area and producing more electricity per rooftop on an annual basis than a conventional panel installation. " ...
Stanford President John Hennessy's home, known as the Hoover House, is generating power via roof-mounted solar photovotaic panels. The solar energy supports the requirements of the space, which is used for official university events. ...
... "The 40-kilowatt solar panels, the largest photovoltaic system on campus, were energized earlier this month with the flip of a switch that sent photovoltaic electricity flowing to the house and the PG&E grid. The 252 polycrystalline solar panels, manufactured by Evergreen Solar and installed by REC Solar, are mounted on the flat roof of a partially buried water tank (known as the San Juan Reservoir) near the house. The multiple levels and terraces of the historical house, built by Herbert Hoover and his wife in 1920, before he became president, make it impractical to place the panels there. The project is an example of smart sustainability that works both environmentally and financially, said Joe Stagner, Stanford sustainability czar. " ...
Bank of Scotland will invest EUR63 million into an 8 MegaWatt solar farm (Madridejos) in Toledo, South Spain. BP Solar will lead the construction of the solar plant and serve as the operations and maintenance provider. ...
... "The solar photovoltaic (PV) project, which is situated in one of the highest areas of solar irradiation in Spain, is being built under a framework agreement between Santander Investment S.A., the equity arm of Grupo Santander, and BP Solar, which has already seen them construct eleven projects to date. Bank of Scotland is acting as sole mandated lead arranger on the transaction. BP Solar will be in charge of the operation and maintenance of the park guaranteeing a minimum energy production. Construction of the park started in mid-February and is scheduled to be completed by the end of August 2008. " ...
Nice overview of solar photovoltaics - advantages, the market, and the technology ...
... "Three types of thin film modules are commercially available. These are manufactured from amorphous silicon (a-Si), copper indium diselenide and cadmium telluride. All of these technologies have active layers in the thickness range of less than a few microns. " ...
Satcon is supplying inverters to the 12 megawatt solar project atop the General Motors car manufacturing facility in Figueruelas, Zaragoza Spain. This rooftop solar installation covers 2,000,000 square feet and has a surface area of 183,000 square meters. ...
... "The PV system will be operational at the end of September 2008 and is comprised of roughly 85,000 thin film solar panels that will be connected to Satcon PowerGate Plus Inverters. Once fully operationally, the solar installation will generate 10 MW of peak power output and 15.1 million kilowatt hours of power annually. " ...
MIT professor puts entering students at ease and shares insights into his research on quantum nanotechnology. ...
... "I’ve been working with Prof. Vladimir Bulovic in electrical engineering to put these quantum dots in both light-emitting devices as well as to look at solar photovoltaic applications, which is very a propos. " ...
University of California, San Diego selects Borrego for installaction of a 1.2 megawatt solar electric system, built using Kyocera Solar photovoltaic modules. This solar project will be the centerpiece of the university’s sustainable energy program. The $9 million system is financed through a Power Purchase Agreement with Solar Power Partners. ...
... "When complete, UC San Diego’s system will consist of 5,790 Kyocera KD205 solar modules that will be mounted on the Price Center, the Gilman parking structure and other buildings across the 1,200-acre campus. This system will contribute to the 29 million kilowatt hours per year of green energy that UC San Diego expects its overall efforts to produce, which is enough electricity to power more than 4,500 homes. UC San Diego’s program will offset approximately 10,500 tons of carbon emissions, which is the equivalent of removing 1,500 cars from the road every year. " ...
EPIA and Greenpeace collaborate to create a vision of the solar photovoltaic future where over a billion people are served by energy from solar power. To achieve this future will require shifts in energy policies, technology innovation, and manufacturing scale. ...
... "The capacity of annually installed solar power systems would reach 281 GW by 2030. About 60% of this would be in the grid-connected market, mainly in industrialised countries. The total number of people by then covering their own electricity from a gridconnected solar system would reach 1,280 million. Although the key markets are currently located mainly in the industrialised world, a global shift will result in a significant share - about 20% or an annual market of 56 GW - being taken by the developing world for rural electrification in 2030. " ...
Toshiba organizes unit to pursure solar business, leveraging its strengths in batteries, power systems, and grid integration. ...
... using innovative optics ... SolFocus systems dramatically reduce the amount of expensive and often supply-constrained solar material used in the system."
