Solar Cells Info

Source: EV World Blog, July 19, 2009
http://evworld.com/blogs/index.cfm?authorid=12&blogid=780&archive=1

Dr. Richard Komp sent the following report from Pakistan today. Since he’s been a guest in my house and I’ve spent a fair amount of time with him when he was here in Omaha, I thought I’d share his email with you. You can watch the multi-part video I shot of one of his presentations at the King Magnet School on YouTube.

The monsoons have arrived. For days now it had been hot and muggy (Like southern Indiana in the summer) but on Friday the rains started. Just sprinkles at first but Friday night a big storm came in with lots of thunder and lightning and torrential rain. On Saturday, Faizan’s father Irfan and I went out looking for the thin, tin plated copper ribbon we use to solder the solar cells together to make the PV modules we are building. There was flooding at some of the intersections but it wasn’t too bad getting around when we started out. (more…)

2,262 roofs can generate 19.4 megawatts of electricity
By Mike Lee, Union-Tribune Staff Writer, San Diego , July 16, 2009
Source: San Diego Tribune
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jul/16/1m16solar001246-city-leads-california-solar-instal/?metro&zIndex=132821

The sun might seem to shine a little brighter in San Diego today with the release of an independent analysis that shows the city has the most solar roofs and greatest solar-power capacity in place statewide.  The nonprofit group Environment California ranked San Diego tops in its “California’s Solar Cities” report, ahead of Los Angeles, a much larger city, and San Francisco, which has a reputation for all things green. (more…)

by Lisa Zyga Prius flower, July 20th, 2009 , PhysOrg.com
http://www.physorg.com/news167321476.html

As part of Toyota’s national marketing campaign for the third generation Prius launch in 2010, the company is “planting” giant solar-powered flowers in urban areas. The flowers generate electricity and provide free Wi-Fi for anyone passing by.  Meant to represent the Prius theme of “Harmony between Man, Nature, and Machine,” the 18-foot flowers have solar cells behind their petals and at the base of the stem. The generated electricity travels down the stem to plastic green benches with 110-volt outlets. Each of the five flower provide room for up to 10 people to sit while charging their cell phones, laptops and other devices. Currently appearing in Boston, the solar flowers will later travel to New York, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The flowers operate daily from 8:00 am to 9:00 pm. (more…)

By SiliconIndia news bureau , 19 July 2009, Bangalore
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Solar_Semiconductor_to_establish_solar_cell_plant_at_Fab_City_-nid-59511.html

Solar Semiconductor, a Hyderabad-based photovoltaic (PV) modules manufacturer has announced that it will set up a solar cell plant at its Fab City campus. The company plans to invest $100 million (Rs. 490 crore) in this plant. According to Ravi Surapaneni, Vice-President of the company, initially the plant will have a capacity of 30 Mw and subsequently it will be ramped up to 60 Mw.  At present, Solar Semiconductor has a photovoltaic module-making capacity of 200 Mw a year, including 130 Mw at the Fab City and 70 Mw at Kompally. Both the facilities are dedicated to the export markets in the U.S., Germany, Spain and Italy. The solar cells manufactured at the new plant will be utilized by the company’s PV module-making plant at the Fab City. (more…)

By Chris BryantBerlin, July 15 2009
Source: Financial Times.com
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fb4cc69e-70d4-11de-9717-00144feabdc0.html

Q-Cells, the world’s biggest manufacturer of solar cells, yesterday blamed tough market conditions for its decision to scrap its full-year sales outlook and warned it would post a big loss in the second quarter. The update shocked investors, leaving the stock more than 14 per cent lower at €11.32 at the close after the German company revealed that an anticipated seasonal upturn in demand had not materialised. Competition from Asian producers has caused an over-supply of solar components, while financing for big projects remains in short supply. (more…)

Source: ScienceDaily, July 11, 2009
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090707131901.htm
Adapted from materials provided by University of California – Los Angeles.

Though the solar industry today predominately produces solar panels made from crystalline silicon, they remain relatively expensive to make. New players in the solar industry have instead been looking at panels that can harvest energy with CIGS (copper-indium-gallium-selenide) or CIGS-related materials. CIGS panels have a high efficiency potential, may be cheaper to produce and would use less raw materials than silicon solar panels. (more…)

By R.M. Schneiderman, GreenInc -New York Times /July 20, 2009
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/20/for-solar-green-jobs-may-depend-on-green-automation/?hp

SolarAgence France-Presse Analysts suggest that the production of solar cells will need to become more automated if the industry is to become truly competitive.  Aside from its environmental benefits, solar energy is frequently touted for its job creation potential. But for solar manufacturers themselves, machines — not employees — may be the key to their long-term survival. (more…)

by EcoGeneration — July/August 2009
http://ecogeneration.com.au/news/australias_increasing_pv_power/001335/

Australia’s PV power market grew substantially in 2008, bringing Australia’s total installed capacity to 104.5 MW. The figures come from a key report into Australia’s photovoltaic (PV) power market – National Survey Report of PV Power Applications in Australia 2008, prepared by Dr Muriel Watt on behalf of the Australian PV Association (APVA) and published in May this year. The report found an 80 per cent increase in total megawatts (MW) of installed PV above 2007 levels, with 22.02 MW of PV installed from 1 January to 31 December last year. (more…)

Source: Laboratory Equipment.com, June 30, 2009
http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/
news-korean-breakthrough-photovoltaic-cells-063009.aspx?xmlmenuid=51

Korean researchers have recently made a breakthrough discovery in solar cell development that increases the efficiency of thin-film panchromatic solar cells and allows use of clean and reusable energy on the entire globe.  The Korean Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) team was able to stack three different color layers on a nanogranular titanium dioxide (TiO2) film. This allows the dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) panchromatic film to absorb and convert all visible rays found in nature into power, meaning more electricity than what we would expect from conventional solar cells. (more…)

Cutting out the interfering clouds by rising above them
By J Mark Lytle, Tokyo /Via Nikkei, June 28, 2009
Source: TechRadar.com
http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/future-tech/
satellites-to-beam-wireless-power-from-space-611706

Solar power is an undeniably great idea, but it soon runs into trouble when clouds roll in to block the Sun’s rays. Which is why we could soon be looking at moving the panels into space way beyond the pesky old atmosphere.  The plan is already in motion in Japan, where the government is soliciting for firms to build the hardware required to get giant solar panels into orbit.

Ready by 2030
By next month, the goal is to have the necessary partners in place for the real planning to begin, with a goal of supplying solar power from space by 2030. For the scheme to work, the various parties involved will have to not just get the solar satellites into space, but also beam the power down to Earth in the form of microwaves.

Beam me down
Initial testing will focus on short-range wireless power transmission, building slowly to reach the 36,000km needed to bridge the gap between geostationary satellites and ground stations.