Solar Cells Info

A tiny solar cell doubles the efficiency of common photovoltaics’ conversion of sunlight to electricity
by capturing the energy from a broader spectrum of light.

David Biello, December 08, 2006
source:
SCIENCE NEWS /Scientific American
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=643C3D30-E7F2-99DF-3108C4CB8A197667

SOLAR EFFICIENCY: New solar cells capture more of the energy in sunlight by layering semiconducting material on top of germanium wafers. A tiny chip similar to the solar cells carried by many satellites and other spacecraft today–including the surprisingly long-lived Mars Rovers–has shattered previous records for maximum efficiency in producing electricity from sunlight. “This is the photovoltaic equivalent of the four-minute mile,” affirms Larry Kazmerski, director of the Department of Energy’s National Center for Photovoltaics in Colorado. “This is a disruptive technology that eventually could provide us, at least in the Southwest, with cost-competitive electricity fairly quickly.”

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By Craig D. Rose /UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

December 10, 2006
Source:  Union Tribune
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20061210-9999-1n10solarone.html

When the sun rises on New Year’s Day, it will signal the start of California’s most ambitious effort yet to generate electricity from sunlight. California hopes to subsidize the installation of enough photovoltaic systems, like this one atop a Qualcomm building in Sorrento Mesa, to generate 3,000 megawatts of solar electricity. That could power nearly 3 million homes on a sunny day.

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Nanotechnology meets solar energy
By Ed Taylor, Tribune
December 10, 2006
Source: East Valley Tribune of Arizona
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=80408

Two of the hot-button fields of scientific study — nanotechnology and solar energy — are being combined by a team of Arizona State University researchers in an effort to find a cheap source of household energy for the nation’s future. The team headed by Stuart Lindsey, director of the Center for Single Molecule Biophysics at the Arizona Biodesign Institute; Rudy Diaz, associate professor of electrical engineering; and chemistry professor Devens Gust, have received a $1.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to explore creation of infinitesimal nanoscale devices on the molecular level that can convert sunlight into electric current.

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05 December 2006

Source: RSC Chemistry World
http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2006/December/05120601.asp

Hydrogen is often touted as an environmentally-friendly fuel – but the gas is only as clean as the method used to make it. Now, however, scientists have invented a solar-powered method for splitting water which they claim is the most efficient to date. Michael Grätzel and colleagues from the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne, Switzerland, hope that their method could one day provide a cheap and efficient technology to produce abundant hydrogen using the Sun’s rays.

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Washington, Dec 08:
source: Zeenews
http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=340728&ssid=365&sid=ENV

An Australian National University researcher claims to have invented a technology that could cut the cost of producing solar panels by more than 60 percent. Professor Andrew Blakers, director of the Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems at the Australian National University, has said that `sliver technology` could reduce the price of solar power to below the current retail price of electricity. This would also make it cost-effective for householders to buy solar panels rather than electricity from the grid, he said.
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By Renwick McLean
International Herald Tribune, November 28, 2006
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/28/news/solar.php

MADRID: More than 500 years after Christopher Columbus first sailed to the Americas, a Swiss catamaran is scheduled to depart from southern Spain on Wednesday in an attempt to make the first trans-Atlantic crossing in a boat powered entirely by solar energy.  The journey, conceived by Marc Wüst, a manager at a Swiss manufacturer of solar-powered boats called MW-Line, is intended to promote the commercial potential of solar energy in water travel.

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New Solar Cell Breaks the “40 Percent Efficient” Sunlight-to-Electricity Barrier
source:
http://newsblaze.com/story/20061205093826tsop.nb/newsblaze/TOPSTORY/Top-Stories.html

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Alexander Karsner today announced that with DOE funding, a concentrator solar cell produced by Boeing-Spectrolab has recently achieved a world-record conversion efficiency of 40.7 percent, establishing a new milestone in sunlight-to-electricity performance. This breakthrough may lead to systems with an installation cost of only $3 per watt, producing electricity at a cost of 8-10 cents per kilowatt/hour, making solar electricity a more cost-competitive and integral part of our nation’s energy mix.

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Sunday, Dec 03, 2006
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2006/12/03/2003338895
STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA

Two Nobel laureates will render their support to research work to be conducted at the soon-to-be-inaugurated Institute of Innovations and Advanced Studies at National Cheng Kung University in Tainan.  Alan MacDiarmid, a New Zealand-born US chemist who, with two other chemists, won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2000, and Aaron Ciechanover from the Israel Institute of Technology, who won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2004 with two other scientists, are participating in the research to be carried out by the institute to promote innovation and excellence in research, university officials said.

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source:
http://www.techvision21.com/news/101206.html
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/solar%5Famerica/.

ST. LOUIS, MO, 10.12.06

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Samuel W. Bodman today announced more than $13 million to fund new research in solar technologies. This funding, part of President Bush’s $148 million Solar America Initiative, will support the development of more efficient solar panels, known as photovoltaic devices. “This investment is a major step in our mission to bring clean, renewable solar power to the nation,” Secretary Bodman said. “If we are able to harness more of the sun’s power and use it to provide energy to homes and businesses, we can increase our energy diversity and strengthen our nation’s energy security.”

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Friday December 1, 10:30 am ET
Press Release    Source: PrimeStar Solar, Inc. /Yahoo business News
LONGMONT, Colo., Dec. 1 /PRNewswire/

PrimeStar Solar, Inc. announced today that Ken Zweibel, a respected thin film PV R&D program manager from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Solar Program joined the company December 1, 2006 as President and Chairman. “Mr. Zweibel has been instrumental in advancing thin film PV during his 27 years at NREL. He has worked tirelessly to foster collaboration between government labs and industry to develop PV as a cost-competitive solution to the world’s growing energy needs,” said Dr. Brian Murphy, CEO of PrimeStar. “We are very excited to have attracted a solar industry leader of his caliber and experience.”

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