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Looking Back at Recent PV Innovations

Energy. The lifeblood of modern civilization. Finding clean sources of it is very high onthe green movement's priority list, and one verypromising field is solar photovoltaics(PV. !e, at Tree"ugger, have been covering the field for a #hile no#, and #e thin$ it'stime to loo$ in the rearvie# mirror at some of the top PV solar innovations from ourarchives.

Thin Film Solar Record: 19.9% !!icienc"% shortage of silicon in the past fe# years and the demand for thin and fle&ible panelshas helped increase the focus on thin film solar recently, and a lot of progress is beingmade. The )ational *ene#able Energy +aboratory ()*E+ has created thin filmsolar panels that are very close to competing #ith their more traditional siliconbasedcousins. -The co##er indi$m galli$m diselenide &I'S( thin)!ilm solar cellrecentlyreached /./ percent efficiency in testing at the lab, setting a ne# #orld record.-

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/03/thin-film-solar-panel-efficiency-record.phphttp://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/03/thin-film-solar-panel-efficiency-record.php

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&oolarth In!lata*le Solar Balloonsolar photovoltaic cells are still relatively e&pensive, so many companies are trying tofind #ays to reduce the PV surface area that they use. 0ne #ay to do that is to useconcentrators to direct more sunlight to smaller (but usually more efficient solar panels.1ut even if you do that, you still have high costs for support materials and theconcentrators themselves.

That's the problems that 2oolEarth is trying to solve #ith its infatable solar

collectors. The balloons themselves are said to be 344 times cheaper than a

concentrator of the same size made of polished aluminum, and they can be mounted on

#ires, reducing costs further. 5aintenance is also easier6 7ou can repair them #ith tape,

and replace one unit in about 8 minutes. Read on or more details and a

promo video.

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S$nrgi +treme &oncentrated Photovoltaics: SolarPo,er &om#etitive -ith Fossil F$elsunrgi recently made an impressive claim6 They say that their system #ill soon be ableto -produce electricity at a #holesale cost of 8 cents per $!h ($ilo#att hour.- (9 Theydo it by concentrating the un's light close to :,444 times (999 into e&tremely efficientsolar photovoltaic cells. Part of unrgi's patentpending technology has to do #ith thecooling of the solar cells, duala&is sun trac$ing, and the #ay the #hole system isoptimized for massproduction. Find out more about it in o$r #ost a*o$t S$nrgi/s

concentrated solar #o,er.

/0air"/ Thin Film Solar Panels sing 2ano,ires!e often hear about ne# e&otic materials and strange shapes, but this could betheweirdestannouncement yet6 *esearchers at 5c5aster niversity (coolest nameever have succeeded in 'gro#ing' lightabsorbing nano#ires made of highperformancephotovoltaic materials on carbonnanotube fabric. ;n other #ords, hair" solar #anels.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/05/sunrgi-concentrated-solar-power-inexpensive.phphttp://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/05/sunrgi-concentrated-solar-power-inexpensive.phphttp://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/hairy_solar_panels_nanowire.phphttp://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/05/sunrgi-concentrated-solar-power-inexpensive.phphttp://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/05/sunrgi-concentrated-solar-power-inexpensive.phphttp://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/hairy_solar_panels_nanowire.php

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The aim is to produce fle&ible, affordable solar cells that, #ithin five years, #ill achieve a

conversion efficiency of :4

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olaria's solar cells produce about /4< of a conventional solar panel's po#er, #hileusing half as much silicon, thus reducing costs. -0rdinarily, the silicon in a solar panelspans its surface, collecting light from as much area as possible. 1ut olaria slices thesilicon into thin strips and spaces them apart so that they only account for about half thepanel's area. % clear molded plastic cover collects light from the entire panel and funnels

it to the strips of silicon.- For more information, including images, see o$r #ost a*o$tSolaria/s solar #anels.

1788 Technologies: Bringing Solar Po,er &loser to1-attThese guys are really clever. =>> Technologies, a company named after the solar

constant (there are =>> #atts of solar radiation hitting each s?uare meter of the Earthon average is #or$ing on improving multicrystalline silicon solar panels. Three differentinnovations allo#ed them to ma$e their prototype :@< more efficient than conventionalmulticrystalline silicon solar cells, bringing its total efficiency to /.8

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;a"< nerg"/s Innovation: 46% &hea#er Solar Panels1eating solar PV efficiency records in the lab is great but in the shortterm, #hat mattersmost is #hat ma$es it to mar$et. That's #hy Aay3 Energy's recent innovation is sointeresting6 ;t should cut the cost of panels by :8< by increasing the efficiency of theircells to @B

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printing presses. There is no costly silicon involved in the process, and, ultimately, asolar cell from )anosolar #ill cost about onefifth to onetenth the cost of a standardsilicon solar panel. )anosolar has raised a lot of money, including from Serge" Brinand Larr" Page, and from France's EAF #ith investments o! 65 million,and theyare no# ramping production as fast as possible. ee more in o$r #ost a*o$t

2anosolarand in the video belo#.

'eneral lectric: Printing =L;s and Solar Panels

)ot strictly a solar panel innovation, CE's process to print out rolls of 0+EAs could alsobe applied to solar panels, according to the company. This could help reduce costs andsimplify manufacturing processes. *ead more about it in o$r #ost a*o$t '/s >ma?or

milestone>: #rinting organic L;s like #a#er@ also a##lica*le to solar #anels.

&onverting In!rared Light to lectricit"

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1y adding titanium and vanadium into the semiconducting material of a solar panel, youcan alter it so that it can use the infrared spectrum of light as #ell as the visible.1ecause of this, such solar panels have a theoretical absorption limit of >=

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#hich is about half #hat regular panels cost these days. *ead more in o$r #ost a*o$tAVA Solar/s &admi$m Tell$ride solar #anels.

a#an 0o#es to 0ave Solar Po,er Station in S#ace *"4575f and #hen this proect is completed, it is envisioned that it #ill have to be physicallymassive, let alone costly6 the orbiting solar portion could stretch for $ilometers and#eight 4,444 tonnesG the laser portion could be as long as 4 $ilometersG the groundbased receiving unit could be up to t#o $ilometers long. *ead more in o$r #ost a*o$ta#an/s #lans !or a solar #o,er station in s#ace.

3&=R Solar &ell Sets !!icienc" Record

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Aeveloped in conunction #ith the )ational Energy *esearch +aboratory and the %irForce *esearch +aboratory, E520*E's ;nverted 5etamorphic 5ultiHunction olar 2ellTechnology (;55 has set a #orld record for inorbit conversion efficiency of ==