Solar Cells Info

October 12, 2007
Source: Gizmag.com/ from ecoGizmo
http://www.gizmag.com/go/8161/

In another development that aims to make alternative energy generation more efficient and more affordable, Braggone has discovered a method of capturing more light in a solar cell. The result is a new product line that greatly increases the efficiency of solar cells and allows manufacturing facilities to cost-effectively increase their capacity.
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October 16, 2007
Source. Gizmag.com /from ecoGizmo
http://www.gizmag.com/go/8181/

The 2007 Panasonic World Solar Challenge kicks off this Sunday October 21. An established platform for the promotion and development of sustainable energy in transport, the biennial race runs for seven days and covers a distance of 3000 km (nearly 1900 miles) from Darwin to Adelaide in Australia. This year 40 teams from across the globe will compete including the Avivasolarcar, a vehicle capable of achieving speeds of up to 75kmh (47mph) while emitting no carbon dioxide and using less electricity than is generated by a toaster.
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October 15, 2007
Source: TradingMarkets.com
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/703296/

Grid-connected solar power is on track to become cost-competitive with electricity generated by conventional sources by 2015 in parts of Europe and by 2020 in many regions of the world, a report released last week by Greenpeace and the European Photovoltaic Industry Association concludes.  Solar Generation IV–2007, the fourth iteration of a report prepared jointly since 2001 by the global environmental organization and the European solar industry trade group–concludes that by 2020, costs for rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems could drop by more than 50 percent from 2006 levels in most parts of the world if current trends continue.
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The sun’s energy helps provide power for the harvest. Owners save electricity costs and do their part for the planet.
Source: The Associated Press, October 13, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-solarwine13oct13,1,4064494.story?
coll=la-mininav-business&ctrack=1&cset=true

Clusters of harvest-ready grapes, pendulous and purple, dangle among deep green leaves at Frog’s Leap winery in Rutherford, Calif., waiting to become Napa Valley wine. But a few rows over is a plant of a different kind — an array of square-faced solar panels that provide the power to keep operations humming. Winemakers in Napa Valley and elsewhere are bottling sunshine in more ways than one this year. (more…)

Amsterdam, October 15th 2007
Source: GreentechMedia.com
http://www.greentechmedia.com/press-releases/pr-mastervolt-187.html

At this year’s Panasonic World Solar Challenge, the world’s toughest race for solar-powered vehicles, Mastervolt is equipping for the second time one of the top favorites, the Nuon Solar Team. The Panasonic World Solar Challenge, in which 61 teams from 20 countries will be competing, takes place October 21- 28, 2007 in Australia, over a distance of 3,000 km. Mastervolt is equipping the Nuon Solar Team, which has won the race three times in a row, with a complete system for the provision of a mobile electrical supply to the escort vehicle ‘Mission Control’. Throughout the course of the entire race, important parameters of energy supply will be analyzed and the optimum speed determined via this mobile control center.
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Macy’s launches 28-store 8.9-MW system; Agilent plans 1-MW system.
Westminster, California, 02 October 2007
Source: RenewableEnergyAccess.com]
http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=50129

Macy’s is launching a program to install solar electric power systems at 28 California stores, including 15 in Southern California. SunPower Corporation, a Silicon Valley-based manufacturer of high-efficiency, solar cells, solar panels and solar systems, is partnering with Macy’s to design and install the systems.
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Debasish Chattopadhyay, Calcutta
Source: Telegraph India
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070917/asp/calcutta/story_8317180.asp

Solar lamps will be installed on an “accident-prone”, five-km stretch of the EM Bypass, from Chingrihata to Parama Island.  “The lamps, 40 have been planned initially. will be of great help to motorists who negotiate the stretch almost in the dark after sunset. The situation gets worse during monsoon,” said S.P. Gonchowdhury, the director of the West Bengal Renewable Energy Agency (WBREDA), which has taken up the project.
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Sapa, Oct 11, 2007
Source: The Times (of Zambia)
http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=584940

South Africa’s first set of solar-powered traffic lights survived the outage which cut power to ordinary traffic lights in Cape Town last night.  Neville Abrams, who could see them from his house, said that the traffic lights were the only lights in the blacked-out neighbourhood.  “It was great. It was like having a guard outside and it felt like nothing was going to happen to us.”

Barry Bredenkamp, Operations Manager of the National Energy Efficiency Agency, said the robots’ successful negotiation of its first hurdle was great news.  “It’s fantastic to hear that the energy efficient solar set of traffic lights is working come rain or shine, especially with the traffic news totally packed with reports of lights knocked out because of bad weather.”

He added that it was still early days as the pilot site – funded by Eskom – would be tested for a three-month period.  The set was installed in Cape Town at the beginning of the month and is being monitored by solar experts.

By Eve Samples, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
October 05, 2007
Source: Palm Beach Post.com
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/business/content/business/
epaper/2007/10/05/a1d_solar_1005.html

When dusk fades to dark in Fallujah, Iraq, more than 1,000 of Steve Robbins’ solar-powered lights illuminate the streets.  Contractors started installing the lights, manufactured at the Martin County headquarters of his Solar Electric Power Co., this summer as part of an Army Corps of Engineers project in the violence-plagued Iraqi town.  For the corps, they’re part of an effort to make Fallujah safer. For SEPCO, as Robbins’ company is known, the $4 million contract is the company’s largest yet – and it represents big possibilities for its solar devices.
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Low-cost lighting system developed by THRIVE, a local NGO, is all set to light up Kenya and the eastern parts of Africa
Hyderabad, India, Oct 15, 2007
Source: The Hindu Online
http://www.hindu.com/2007/10/15/stories/2007101568180400.htm

In an era of competitive globalisation, small-time innovations rarely find their deserving place. But a low-cost innovation developed here is all set to light up the eastern parts of Africa.  Beginning with Kenya, white light emitting diode (LED) for clean lighting, the innovation of a local non-Governmental organisation, is set to penetrate the Dark Continent. THRIVE (Jumbled acronym for Volunteers for Rural Health Education and Information Technology) has signed an agreement with Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute (KIRDI) for promoting the low-cost lighting technology there, with an initial export of 10,000 pieces to Kenya.
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