Solar Cells Info

Richard Macey, May 15, 2007
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/bright-sparks-find-more-zing-in-the-suns-glow/2007/05/14/1178995079845.html

It is believed that no more than 30,000 Australian homes – a small fraction of 1 per cent – are generating electricity from rooftop solar panels.  The problem is the cost. The University of NSW says home owners can spend up to $20,000 installing 10 square metres of panels – enough to generate about two kilowatts of energy – to power lights, a refrigerator and most small electrical appliances, but not the stove or the hot-water system.
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Washington, DC / 23 May 2007
Source: RenewableEnergyAccess.com
http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=48624

The solar industry is poised for a rapid decline in costs that will make it a mainstream power option in the next few years, according to a new assessment by the Worldwatch Institute in Washington, D.C., and the Prometheus Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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Sandia invention to make parabolic trough solar collector systems more energy efficient – Simple design of new technology excites solar industry

Albuquerque, N.M., May 15, 2007
Source: Sandia National Lab /press release
http://www.sandia.gov/news/resources/releases/2007/trough.html

A mirror alignment measurement device, invented by Rich Diver, a researcher at Sandia National Laboratories, may soon make one of the most popular solar collector systems, parabolic troughs, more affordable and energy efficient.  Diver’s new theoretical overlay photographic (TOP) technology is drawing interest from the solar industry because of its simplicity and the need to find solutions for global warming.
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Washington, May 23
Source: United Press International UPI
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20070523-13025700-bc-us-solarenergy.xml

The U.S. Department of Energy has released $22.7 million for basic research projects aimed at improving the capture, conversion and use of solar energy.  Officials said the research involving 27 projects at 23 universities and national laboratories will help increase the amount of solar power in the nation’s energy supply.
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May 14, 2007
Soruce: Ascent Solar /press release
http://www.ascentsolar.com/view.php?tg=press&id=25

Littleton, Colorado USA–Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. today announced that it has been selected by the U.S. Air Force to develop a new transparent conductive oxide (TCO) material to serve as the top electrical contact for flexible monolithically integrated thin-film, copper-indium-gallium-selenium (CIGS) solar cells. The Ascent Solar innovation involves developing a new material system that will be deposited using a novel roll-to-roll process. The new process offers the potential for a higher-quality, lower-cost alternative to the TCO materials and deposition methods presently used. The program will be performed under a Small Business Innovative Research contract.
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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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Bob Hertzberg: Who needs the sun?  A venture capitalist who’s evangelical about climate change is making solar energy cells in wet, wet Wales

By Tim Webb /13 May 2007
Source: The Independent
http://news.independent.co.uk/people/profiles/article2536738.ece

Selling solar power in rain-drenched Wales might seem an uphill struggle. But for Bob Hertzberg, the fast-talking co-founder of venture capital outfit Renewable Capital, that’s the whole point. He is bankrolling a company in Cardiff making solar cells that do not need direct sunlight to generate electricity.

“What better place to demonstrate solar?” asks Hertzberg, a former Californian politician and confidante of Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose company is also a backer of the UK’s best-selling electric car, the G-Wiz. “When I say we are setting up a solar plant in Wales, people look at me with amazement. ‘Don’t you get it?’ I tell them. ‘It works in the rain.'”
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DAEJEON, May 14 (Yonhap News)
Source: The Hankyoreh
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_business/209259.html

South Korean scientists said Monday that they have developed the technology to make next-generation solar cells and infrared sensors.  The team, led by Lee Kwang-sup, an advanced materials professor at Hannam University in Daejeon, said it was able to pack 3-nanometer-sized quantum dots into carbon nanotubes. A nanometer is equivalent to a billionth of one meter.
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RENO, Nev., May 14, 2007
Source:  EPOD International Inc. /press release
http://www.primenewswire.com/newsroom/news.html?d=119468

EPOD International Inc. (OTCBB:EPOIE) today announced that it has, through its subsidiary ISE Solar LLC (“ISE”), completed the purchase of a majority of the shares of ICP Solar Technologies (U.K.) Ltd. located in Wales, Great Britain, for an aggregate price of $3.0 million USD from ICP Solar Technologies Inc. (OTCBB:ICPR).

Robert Stabinsky, President of ISE Solar stated, “ICP Solar has done a good job of keeping this facility going. We believe this venture will allow our team to take the factory to the next level. Our intention is for our global team including Compmess GhmB to fully automate and expand this facility, with a focus on process improvements.”
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Solar Power at Half the Cost
By Kevin Bullis,May 11, 2007
Source:  MIT Technology Review
http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/18718/
A new mechanism for focusing light on small areas of photovoltaic material could make solar power in residential and commercial applications cheaper than electricity from the grid in most markets in the next few years. Initial systems, which can be made at half the cost of conventional solar panels, are set to start shipping later this year, says Brad Hines, CTO and founder of Soliant Energy, a startup based in Pasadena, CA, that has developed the new modules.
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