By Angelica Oung, Staff Reporter, May 15, 2007
Source: Taipei Times
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2007/05/15/2003360931
“If 1992 was the nuclear winter, it is now springtime for nuclear energy. We need a multifaceted approach to solving the energy problem.” — Kuo Cherng-tsong, director of nuclear instrumentation, Institute of Nuclear Energy Reesearch.
To some, the Institute of Nuclear Energy Research in Lungtan, Taoyuan County, might seem to be an unlikely home for scientists to be conducting research into solar cell arrays, but back in 2001, the institute was searching for a new direction for its research. “In those days, the `nuclear-free homeland’ initiative was taken seriously,” said Kuo Cherng-tsong, director of the nuclear instrumentation division at the institute. “We had to look for new research projects to remain relevant,” he said.
Institute researchers realized that the technology used to build and design semiconductor-based radiation detectors could be applied to building photovoltaic solar cells. Using new high-concentration photovoltaic technology, the institute has achieved a 20 percent overall efficiency rating for its solar arrays and has received eight patents around the world.
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