Solar Cells Info

By Henry Fountain, October 6, 2008
Source: New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/science/07obsola.html?ref=environment

Photovoltaic cells, the basic building blocks of solar panels, are more efficient and less costly than ever. But manipulating cells (which are usually made of semiconductor materials) and incorporating them into different panel designs is not necessarily easy.  John A. Rogers of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and colleagues have come up with a novel method for creating extremely thin solar cells that can be combined in flexible, even partially transparent, arrays. Described in Nature Materials, it could be called the rubber-stamp approach. (more…)

Expanded product portfolio strengthens Sharp’s solar business, offers customers optimal solar technologies for specific applications
San Diego, CA, Oct 13, 2008
Source: Sharp Solar USA press release /Businesswire
http://solar.sharpusa.com/solar/ads_and_pr/0,2482,,00.html

Sharp, a world leader in solar cell production, announced today at Solar Power International 2008 that it will introduce next generation thin film solar cells in the U.S. market in the near future. With its thin film solar product, Sharp will be capable of handling multi-megawatt, large-scale utility projects that are best served by a thin film solar solution, and the company is already working with prospective U.S. customers in preparation for these large-scale deployments. Sharp is one of the few companies who can supply customers with a complete solar product portfolio — including mono-crystalline, poly-crystalline and multi-junction thin film solar cells — to meet the specific needs of virtually any commercial or residential solar installation. (more…)

Patented Low Cost Process Key to Efficiency Innovation
Atlanta, Ga. – September 16, 2008
Source: Suniva Inc, press release
http://www.suniva.com/

Suniva Inc., a manufacturer of high value crystalline silicon solar cells, today announced that its R&D team has developed several silicon solar cells in its lab with over 20% conversion efficiencies using a patented combination of simple cell designs and screen printing technologies. These high efficiency milestones have been verified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the U.S. Department of Energy’s premier laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. The efficiency achievement closely follows Suniva’s two recent customer agreements with Germany’s Solon AG and India’s Titan Eergy Systems Ltd, together worth approximately USD $1 billion. (more…)

Delivering Utility Scale PV Solutions for General Motors Opel Factory in Zaragoza Spain Boston, USA & Zaragoza, Spain, Sept. 04, 2008 Source: Satcon press release http://investor.satcon.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=332163

Satcon, a leading provider of utility scale distributed power solutions for the renewable energy market, announced today its participation in the world’s largest rooftop solar photovoltaic power installation. The 12 megawatt (MW) system atop the General Motors car manufacturing facility in Figueruelas, Zaragoza Spain will cover approximately 2,000,000 square feet and has a surface area of 183,000 square meters. (more…)

Konarka’s Flexible Photovoltaic Solar Cells Packaged with Commercial, Low-Cost Materials Demonstrate Outstanding High Lifetime under Accelerated Conditions
LOWELL, Mass. June 24, 2008
Source Konarka Technologies Inc, press release
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080624005191&newsLang=en

Konarka Technologies, Inc., an innovator in development and commercialization of Power Plastic®, a material that converts light to energy, today announced that the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) has verified that the company’s flexible organic based photovoltaic (PV) solar cells demonstrate outstanding high lifetime after comprehensive environmental testing under accelerated conditions, including high temperature storage and prolonged illumination. (more…)

Tokyo, Japan, 7 July 2008
Source: PR-inside.com
http://www.pr-inside.com/report-toyota-plans-solar-powered-air-r688943.htm

Toyota’s ecological Prius gas-electric hybrid will become even greener next year with solar-powered air conditioning on some high-end models, The Nikkei reported Monday.  The solar panels on the roof of the new Prius model will provide 2 to 5 kilowatts of electricity, the major Japanese business daily said in a report without citing sources. Toyota Motor Corp. plans to purchase the panels from Japanese electronics maker Kyocera Corp., the newspaper said. (more…)

Source: Government News -Australia / 23 June 2008
http://www.governmentnews.com.au/2008/06/23/article/HHUVBSVXUK.html

Australian soldiers will be able to wear and carry new solar technology embedded uniforms and gears, now that researchers at Australian National University (ANU) have won a major defence contract. The Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems (CSES) at ANU has received $2.1 million in defence funding to develop micro-thin and flexible solar energy panels for security applications.
(more…)

Hiroshi Imahori and Tomokazu Umeyama explain why carbon nanotubes are promising candidates for organic solar cells.
18 June 2008
Source: Chemical Technology, Royal Society of Chemistry
http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/ChemTech/Volume/2008/07/Imahori_insight.asp

Cheap and efficient conversion of solar energy into electricity could help combat global warming and the shortage of fossil fuels. However, the high production cost of electricity from silicon-based solar cells has limited the use of the technology. Low cost solar cells with high cell performance are highly desirable and organic solar cells could be the answer. They are easy to make from inexpensive organic materials and, unlike inorganic solar cells, are lightweight, flexible and colourful. (more…)

by Stevie Smith – Jun 17 200
Source: The Tech Herald
http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/200825/1262/
IBM-announces-partnership-to-evolve-solar-cell-efficiency

Multinational computing corporation International Business Machines (IBM) has this week announced a partnership with photolithography specialist Tokyo Ohka Kogya (TOK), which will see the two parties pooling their resources in an effort to produce a new generation of solar energy products. Specifically aimed at establishing new, low-cost methods of manufacturing that will lead to cheaper products that are also easier to install than those available today, TOK and IBM will be looking to develop processes, materials and equipment suitable for the creation of the somewhat unfortunately named CIGS solar cell modules.
(more…)

Peter Clarke, EE Times Europe, London, June 11, 2008

Source: EETimes.com

http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=208403309

G24 Innovations Ltd., a startup company that is producing dye-sensitized thin-film solar cells, an alternative to traditional silicon solar cells, has received a $20 million investment from Morgan Stanley Principal Investments Inc. (MSPI). (more…)