Solar Power Advances Keep Coming in 2008

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/599917/solar_power_advances_keep_coming_in.html

Solar Power Advances Keep Coming in 2008

Recent Leaps Include New Efficiency Record

By Shirley Gregory

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Just last month, Sandia National Laboratories and Stirling Energy Systems (SES) set a new world record for solar energy conversion efficiency. Their "Serial #3" solar dish reached a 31.25 percent net efficiency rate, breaking the previous record of 29.4 percent set in 1984.

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Other recent advances in solar technology include improvements in organic solar cells, a prototype device that uses solar energy to convert carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide that helps generate hydrogen fuel and the possibility of actually printing solar cells.


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"Solar energy is the world's most plentiful energy resource, and the challenge has been tapping it cost-effectively and efficiently," said Janet Sawin, a senior researcher at Worldwatch. "We are now seeing two major trends that will accelerate the growth of (photovoltaic cells): the development of advanced technologies, and the emergence of China as a low-cost producer."

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"The conventional energy industry will be surprised by how quickly solar PV becomes mainstream -- cheap enough to provide carbon-free electricity on rooftops, while also meeting the energy needs of hundreds of millions of poor people who currently lack electricity," said Sawin.

[midnight]

1. This is just the best news to be coming from this horrible time

period. So excited about this.

[FogerRox]

2. Boeing broke 40% last year, what are they talking about ?

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. They're talking about this

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=115&topic_id=133441&mesg_id=133441

http://www.sandia.gov/news/resources/releases/2008/solargrid.html

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The conversion efficiency is calculated by measuring the net energy delivered to the grid and dividing it by the solar energy hitting the dish mirrors. Auxiliary loads, such as water pumps, computers and tracking motors, are accounted for in the net power measurement.

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Boeing's achievement was 40% efficient for a particular cell (not for an entire system.)
http://www.energy.gov/news/4503.htm

December 5, 2006

New World Record Achieved in Solar Cell Technology

New Solar Cell Breaks the “40 Percent Efficient” Sunlight-to-Electricity Barrier

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Alexander Karsner today announced that with DOE funding, a concentrator solar cell produced by Boeing-Spectrolab has recently achieved a world-record conversion efficiency of 40.7 percent, establishing a new milestone in sunlight-to-electricity performance. This breakthrough may lead to systems with an installation cost of only $3 per watt, producing electricity at a cost of 8-10 cents per kilowatt/hour, making solar electricity a more cost-competitive and integral part of our nation’s energy mix.

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(Just my guess.)

[FogerRox]

4. They use Mirrors? I get it.

[Gold Metal Flake]

11. Spectrolab (owned by Boeing) Produces an PV product.

Under concentrated sunlight, Spectrolab currently holds the world record for photovoltaic efficiency. Sterling Energy Systems uses Stirling engines powered by concentrated sunlight to turn generators. So it's a different system for the conversion of photons into electricity than photovoltaics.

http://www.stirlingenergy.com/

I don't know if there was any actual confusion, but I haven't posted in a few hours, so you know how that goes.

[truedelphi]

5. Thank you for posting. This type of thing is always a bright spot!

[OKIsItJustMe]

6. You're welcome n/t

[druidity33]

7. heh, heh... bright spot.

k+r

[mopinko]

8. when to buy is the question.

getting ready to build, and ready to invest, but it is ssooooo hard to pull the trigger, knowing that efficiency is rising, and incentives are probably coming.

[DCKit]

9. I'd rather pay more for panels mfg'd in the U.S. and not shipped halfway around the world.

The jobs, the tax revenue, rebuilding our manufacturing base, no pollution from shipping... the list of potential benefits is nearly endless. We need to stop looking to China for the cheap and easy solutions and begin to focus on rebuilding our own economy.

40% efficiency is great and the total efficiency would be higher if the waste heat from the 'cold' side of the sterling engine were used for heating, hot water or absorption cooling - concentrating solar/sterling co-generation. If not for residential or commercial, then greenhouses, fish farms or public spaces. Every new government building should be built with at least one and the big-box mega stores could shade their twenty acre parking lots with them.

"The conventional energy industry will be surprised by how quickly solar PV becomes mainstream..."

Bwahahahahaha. As if we haven't heard some version of that statement a million times in the past thirty years. Bring it on already!

[OKIsItJustMe]

10. Well, now that's a bit of irony, isn’t it?

Nanosolar's making low cost PV, and they're going to Germany.

http://www.nanosolar.com/cache/ny2.htm

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Among the companies that academics and entrepreneurs believe could take the industry to a new level is Nanosolar, which recently started making photovoltaic cells in a 200,000-square-foot factory in San Jose. The company said the first 18 months of its capacity has already been booked for sales in Germany.

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