Solar Cells Info

Nano technology makes things bigger
by Ian Williams, vnunet.com /08 Jan 2008
Source: VNUNet.com
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2206735/boffin-100-times-larger-solar-cells

A researcher at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University has created a solar cell 100 times bigger than previous designs using nano-based methods.  Professor Arie Zaban, head of the university’s Nanotechnology Institute, had already developed a method of using metallic wires mounted on conductive glass to form the basis of solar cells.  This method produces electricity with an efficiency similar to that of conventional silicon-based cells, but which are much cheaper to produce.
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Source: ScienceDaily.com ,  Jan. 11, 2008
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080109094341.htm
Adapted from materials provided by Wiley-Blackwell

Solar cells have attracted global attention as one of the cornerstones of alternative energy. In theory, it seems to make abundant sense to tap into the energy of the sun to convert light to electricity with little or no emission of noxious pollutants. However, in practical terms, progress has been slow because of technological impediments and the many different factors that need to be optimized to obtain stable and high-efficiency devices. (more…)

Source: RenewableEnergyAccess.com / Jan 17, 2008
http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=51152

In the race to make solar cells cheaper and more efficient, many researchers and start-up companies are betting on new designs that exploit nanostructures — materials engineered on the scale of a billionth of a meter. Using nanotechnology, researchers can experiment with and control how a material generates, captures, transports, and stores free electrons — properties that are important for the conversion of sunlight into electricity.  “We initially thought that the best we might do is get results as good as the sum of the two, and maybe if we didn’t make this right, we’d get something worse. But surprisingly, these materials were much better.” –Jin Zhang, Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Santa Cruz
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ScienceDaily, Jan. 17, 2008
Source: ScienceDaily.com
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080114101837.htm
Adapted from materials provided by Durham University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

A national team of scientists led by experts at Durham University are embarking on one of the UK’s largest ever research projects into photovoltaic (PV) solar energy.  The £6.3million PV-21 programme will focus on making thin-film light absorbing cells for solar panels from sustainable and affordable materials.  The four-year project, which begins in April (2008), is being funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under the SUPERGEN initiative.
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Jan 21, 2008
Source: FabTech.org
http://www.fabtech.org/content/view/6001/

Although they both participate in the emerging copper indium gallium (di)selenide (CIGS) thin-film photovoltaics sector, Ascent Solar Technology and International Solar Electric Technology (ISET) have at least as many differences between them as things in common. Ascent’s PV roots go back to work begun at ITN Energy Systems in the early 1990s, while ISET first hung out its shingle in March 1985. ITN created Ascent in 2005, and the new venture has been publicly traded since 2006, while ISET has been and remains fiercely independent. Ascent’s process technology uses vacuum-based coevaporation and sputtering, yet ISET favors a nonvacuum ink-print/selenization approach. Both use molybdenum for back contacts and zinc oxide for their front contacts, although ISET adds ITO to the front. ISET’s current manufacturing strategy employs batch processing on glass, while Ascent pursues a roll-to-roll production scheme, with flexible plastic as its substrate of choice. Ascent is based in Littleton, Colorado; ISET calls Chatsworth home, in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley.
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Jan 14, 2008
Source: FabTech.Org
http://www.fabtech.org/content/view/5956/

Few solar photovoltaic sectors exhibit as volatile a combination of hype and promise as the copper indium gallium (di)selenide (CIGS) thin-film segment. A handful of companies–Global Solar, Wurth, Showa Shell, for example—are already manufacturing relatively modest amounts of commercial products using CIGS (or its cousin, CIS) films on glass, stainless steel, or flexible substrates, while a larger number are just developing (or trying to develop) processes, building and characterizing (or trying to build and characterize) pilot or initial manufacturing lines, or talking (and talking) about building volume-manufacturing facilities. (more…)

GE’s solar development featured in Applied Physics Letters
Source: GE Power/BusinessWire /press release /17 Jan 2008
Niskuyana, N.Y,  17 Jan 2008
http://www.prdomain.com/companies/G/GeneralElectric/newsreleases/200811851643.htm

GE Global Research, the centralized research organization of the General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), announced that scientists on their Nano Photovoltaics (PV) team have demonstrated a scalable silicon nanowire-based solar cell, which has the potential to achieve up to 18% efficiency and be produced at a dramatically lower cost than conventional solar cells. This demonstration represents a promising development in the effort to make PV systems more economically viable for consumers.
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By 2050 solar power could end U.S. dependence on foreign oil and slash greenhouse gas emissions
By Ken Zweibel, James Mason and Vasilis Fthenakis
Scientific American Magazine –  December 16, 2007
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=a-solar-grand-plan&page=1

High prices for gasoline and home heating oil are here to stay. The U.S. is at war in the Middle East at least in part to protect its foreign oil interests. And as China, India and other nations rapidly increase their demand for fossil fuels, future fighting over energy looms large. In the meantime, power plants that burn coal, oil and natural gas, as well as vehicles everywhere, continue to pour millions of tons of pollutants and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere annually, threatening the planet.
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Kyodo News, Jan 1, 2008
Source: The Japan Times Online
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080101a5.html

The government will aim for 30 percent of all households to have solar panels installed by 2030 as part of its efforts to fight global warming, officials said.  Under the target, the number of solar-powered households would increase to 14 million from the current 400,000, and the capacity of such generation would expand 30-fold from the current 1.3 million kilowatts, the officials said. (more…)

Source: Daily Trust (Abuja) /AllAfrica.com
Misbahu Bashir, Abuja /5 December 2007
http://allafrica.com/stories/200712050712.html

The Federal Government is to set up megawatt class solar farms for the generation of electricity in the country. Minister of State for Energy (Power) Mrs. Fatima Balaraba Ibrahim gave the indication at the National Solar Energy Forum tagged ‘Harnessing Solar Energy for Rural Development’ in Abuja. She said the government would soon embark on studies towards implementing large scale megawatt class farms for integration into the national grid. “Government has recognised the benefits in solar energy and other renewable energy resources for rural development” she said.
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