www.upi.com
1 Nov 2013
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two of the world's leading oil producers, are spearheading a Middle Eastern drive to develop solar power, with plans for projects requiring $1.5 billion in investment by the end of 2014.
The program, designed to free up for export increasing amounts of oil and gas being used domestically for power generation, got a major endorsement from the Arab Forum for Environment and Development Monday.
It urged Arab states to re-evaluate their relationship with oil, the economic mainstay of the Arab world since the 1950s, and phase out state energy subsidies to focus investment in developing renewable energy. "Oil and gas are important, they will continue to be important," said Najib Saab, the forum's secretary-general. "We call for more careful use of oil and gas and for more serious development of renewable energy."
Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter with declared reserves of 267 billion barrels, and the neighboring Emirates, a federation of seven gulf sheikdoms with reserves of 98 billion barrels, seek to add 1,000 MWs of solar capacity over the next few years to meet fast-growing industrial and social demand. That's enough to provide electricity for 200,000 homes.
While the producers want to conserve more of their oil output for exports, particularly with prices above $100 a barrel, Arab countries that rely on imported fuel see carbon-free power as a cheaper alternative.
From Morocco on the Atlantic Ocean eastward to the gulf sultanate of Oman on the Indian Ocean, governments are turning to alternative energy, driven primarily by a lack of gas for power generation, the fall in the cost of renewable technologies and their constantly improving efficiency.
Read More…
Showing posts with label Efficiency. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Efficiency. Show all posts
Thursday, 12 December 2013
Monday, 9 December 2013
Avaco hikes conversion efficiency by 30 percent in CIGS solar cells
www.compoundsemiconductor.net
20 Oct 2013
The company's new ALD process system can provide a solution for buffer layer optimisation in the dry process to effectively convert solar power during photovoltaic development process Avaco has developed a new concept of buffer layer deposition for photovoltaic products.
By using Avaco's atomic layer deposition (ALD) process, the energy conversion efficiency improved to approximately 30% higher than the conventional CIGS solar cell that uses CdS for the buffer layer. The new process enhanced quantum efficiency in both the short wavelength range and near infrared range.
The quantum jump in the short circuit current improvement in the VICOSC-VICOSC curve contributed to higher efficiency CIGS solar cell without affecting the open circuit voltage, Voc. What's more, Avaco has confirmed that its new buffer layer deposition technique can be applied to a wide range of CIGS absorbers regardless of the preparation methods.
"We are pleased with the latest ALD addition in our system product portfolio", says Chuck Kim, business development director of Avaco, "Expansion of our core technology further strengthens and broadens our offering of deposition process solutions enabling Avaco to continue to provide our customers with innovative and leading-edge technology solutions to address today's manufacturing challenges".
Avaco will be showcasing its products at booth #751, and/or education poster presentation at booth #4806 at Solar Power International (SPI) 2013 in Chicago.
Avaco, a publicly traded company headquartered in Daegu, South Korea, is a global supplier of thin-film processing equipment and specialises in the manufacture of sputtering (PVD) vacuum deposition equipment (in-line, cluster, and roll to roll type), ALD equipment, various BEOL equipment, and factory automation equipment such as clean stocker, clean crane, and overhead transfer system for large-scale substrates.
Avaco is known for delivering mass production manufacturing equipment that encompasses all aspects related to thin-film coating such as TCO, metal electrode, and dielectric layer.
The firm uses many target materials for its sputtering system. These include Ag, AGZO, Al, Al2O3, AlNd, AZO, CIGS, Cr, Cu, CuGa, CuIn, GZO, IGZO, In, ITO, IZO, Mo, MoTi, MoW, Ni, Se, SiO2, TiO2, ZnO and others with DC, pulsed-DC, and MF utilising a single or dual magnetron source.
20 Oct 2013
The company's new ALD process system can provide a solution for buffer layer optimisation in the dry process to effectively convert solar power during photovoltaic development process Avaco has developed a new concept of buffer layer deposition for photovoltaic products.
By using Avaco's atomic layer deposition (ALD) process, the energy conversion efficiency improved to approximately 30% higher than the conventional CIGS solar cell that uses CdS for the buffer layer. The new process enhanced quantum efficiency in both the short wavelength range and near infrared range.
The quantum jump in the short circuit current improvement in the VICOSC-VICOSC curve contributed to higher efficiency CIGS solar cell without affecting the open circuit voltage, Voc. What's more, Avaco has confirmed that its new buffer layer deposition technique can be applied to a wide range of CIGS absorbers regardless of the preparation methods.
"We are pleased with the latest ALD addition in our system product portfolio", says Chuck Kim, business development director of Avaco, "Expansion of our core technology further strengthens and broadens our offering of deposition process solutions enabling Avaco to continue to provide our customers with innovative and leading-edge technology solutions to address today's manufacturing challenges".
Avaco will be showcasing its products at booth #751, and/or education poster presentation at booth #4806 at Solar Power International (SPI) 2013 in Chicago.
Avaco, a publicly traded company headquartered in Daegu, South Korea, is a global supplier of thin-film processing equipment and specialises in the manufacture of sputtering (PVD) vacuum deposition equipment (in-line, cluster, and roll to roll type), ALD equipment, various BEOL equipment, and factory automation equipment such as clean stocker, clean crane, and overhead transfer system for large-scale substrates.
Avaco is known for delivering mass production manufacturing equipment that encompasses all aspects related to thin-film coating such as TCO, metal electrode, and dielectric layer.
The firm uses many target materials for its sputtering system. These include Ag, AGZO, Al, Al2O3, AlNd, AZO, CIGS, Cr, Cu, CuGa, CuIn, GZO, IGZO, In, ITO, IZO, Mo, MoTi, MoW, Ni, Se, SiO2, TiO2, ZnO and others with DC, pulsed-DC, and MF utilising a single or dual magnetron source.
Friday, 11 October 2013
Albertans losing no sleep over wind power
www.theglobeandmail.com
8 Oct 2013
Controversy that has marked Ontario's rapid growth in wind power has been largely absent in Alberta, where the industry has operated for two decades and now has the third-largest installed generation capacity of the green energy source in Canada.
Wind farm operators in the Western province have had to work to solve environmental problems, notably bat and bird deaths, which have led to operational changes at some developments.
But public complaints about facilities, which are concentrated in the breezy and sparsely populated southern part of the province best known for fossil fuel development, are almost non-existent, according to recent research into what is seen as one of the most commercially viable forms of alternative energy.
That is in sharp contrast to Ontario, where groups have been established to oppose wind power and publicize potential human-health effects of facilities near homes. Government policies there aimed at promoting green energy have led to brisk activity in wind farm construction.
"We're not seeing the same type of organized push-back in Alberta", said Tim Weis, director of renewable energy and efficiency policy for the Pembina Institute, a non-profit environmental think tank.
Some of the wind farms in Alberta, especially in the southwest, are relatively close to population centres. Public attitudes may be more accepting because many Albertans already have experience living close to conventional energy facilities, Mr. Weis said. In addition, virtually all commercial wind developments in the province are on privately owned land.
Mr. Weis contributed to a Pembina study this summer that found the Alberta Utilities Commission, the provincial regulator governing commercial-scale wind farms, has not received a single complaint related to the facilities since 2000 in 31,000 "contacts" with the public. wind farm operators reported 10 complaints. By contrast, the oil-and-gas regulator has fielded more than 200 complaints per year about fossil fuel operations affecting residents.
Read More…
8 Oct 2013
Controversy that has marked Ontario's rapid growth in wind power has been largely absent in Alberta, where the industry has operated for two decades and now has the third-largest installed generation capacity of the green energy source in Canada.
Wind farm operators in the Western province have had to work to solve environmental problems, notably bat and bird deaths, which have led to operational changes at some developments.
But public complaints about facilities, which are concentrated in the breezy and sparsely populated southern part of the province best known for fossil fuel development, are almost non-existent, according to recent research into what is seen as one of the most commercially viable forms of alternative energy.
That is in sharp contrast to Ontario, where groups have been established to oppose wind power and publicize potential human-health effects of facilities near homes. Government policies there aimed at promoting green energy have led to brisk activity in wind farm construction.
"We're not seeing the same type of organized push-back in Alberta", said Tim Weis, director of renewable energy and efficiency policy for the Pembina Institute, a non-profit environmental think tank.
Some of the wind farms in Alberta, especially in the southwest, are relatively close to population centres. Public attitudes may be more accepting because many Albertans already have experience living close to conventional energy facilities, Mr. Weis said. In addition, virtually all commercial wind developments in the province are on privately owned land.
Mr. Weis contributed to a Pembina study this summer that found the Alberta Utilities Commission, the provincial regulator governing commercial-scale wind farms, has not received a single complaint related to the facilities since 2000 in 31,000 "contacts" with the public. wind farm operators reported 10 complaints. By contrast, the oil-and-gas regulator has fielded more than 200 complaints per year about fossil fuel operations affecting residents.
Read More…
Sunday, 15 September 2013
Shedding new light on the 'electron highways' of organic solar cells
phys.org
2 Sep 2013
(Phys.org)--Sunlight absorbed by organic solar cells must first navigate a nanoscale gauntlet before becoming useable electricity. After hitting the light-absorbing material of the solar cell, called the photoactive layer, absorbed sunlight excites electrons, freeing them to find their way through a maze filled with twists, turns, dead-ends, and collisions. Only the free charges that successfully make it through this maze can be used in a circuit as electricity. So scientists have been looking for ways to ease the electron traffic jam in organic photovoltaics.
Now, researchers at the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University have developed a way to map out the degree of "traffic congestion" on the electron highways within the photoactive layer. Their new measurement and tracking technique uses optical-guided modes--a process of guiding light through precise areas in the horizontal plane of solar cells--to help scientists better understand how the materials used in the photoactive layers influence the speed and efficiency of electron travel.
"With our technique, you can now better understand how far the electrons move through the complex network of the photoactive layer", said Brookhaven physicist Matthew Eisaman, team leader on the new study published online in Advanced Energy Materials on August 25, 2013. "Previous studies revealed the material composition, but our technique illuminates how that structure impacts electron transport".
Unlike the large silicon-based solar cells you might typically see on household roofs or arrayed in large-scale installations to generate electricity, organic solar cells are more like flexible plastics. Organic cells could find widespread applications in portable power generation for commercial and military use or even in so-called "building-integrated photovoltaics", where solar cells are directly integrated into the windows, facade, or roof of a building. Their flexible forms can be made inexpensively using large-scale, roll-to-roll manufacturing. But for now these versatile materials are not as efficient as inorganic options.
Read More…
2 Sep 2013
(Phys.org)--Sunlight absorbed by organic solar cells must first navigate a nanoscale gauntlet before becoming useable electricity. After hitting the light-absorbing material of the solar cell, called the photoactive layer, absorbed sunlight excites electrons, freeing them to find their way through a maze filled with twists, turns, dead-ends, and collisions. Only the free charges that successfully make it through this maze can be used in a circuit as electricity. So scientists have been looking for ways to ease the electron traffic jam in organic photovoltaics.
Now, researchers at the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University have developed a way to map out the degree of "traffic congestion" on the electron highways within the photoactive layer. Their new measurement and tracking technique uses optical-guided modes--a process of guiding light through precise areas in the horizontal plane of solar cells--to help scientists better understand how the materials used in the photoactive layers influence the speed and efficiency of electron travel.
"With our technique, you can now better understand how far the electrons move through the complex network of the photoactive layer", said Brookhaven physicist Matthew Eisaman, team leader on the new study published online in Advanced Energy Materials on August 25, 2013. "Previous studies revealed the material composition, but our technique illuminates how that structure impacts electron transport".
Unlike the large silicon-based solar cells you might typically see on household roofs or arrayed in large-scale installations to generate electricity, organic solar cells are more like flexible plastics. Organic cells could find widespread applications in portable power generation for commercial and military use or even in so-called "building-integrated photovoltaics", where solar cells are directly integrated into the windows, facade, or roof of a building. Their flexible forms can be made inexpensively using large-scale, roll-to-roll manufacturing. But for now these versatile materials are not as efficient as inorganic options.
Read More…
New nanomaterial increases yield of solar cells
phys.org
26 Aug 2013
Researchers from the FOM Foundation, Delft University of Technology, Toyota Motor Europe and the University of California have developed a nanostructure with which they can make solar cells highly efficient. The researchers published their findings on 23 August 2013 in the online edition of Nature Communications.
Smart nanostructures can increase the yield of solar cells. An international team of researchers including physicists from the FOM Foundation, Delft University of Technology and Toyota, have now optimised the nanostructures so that the solar cell provides more electricity and loses less energy in the form of heat.
Solar cells
A conventional solar cell contains a layer of silicon. When sunlight falls on this layer, electrons in the silicon absorb the energy of the light particles (photons). Using this energy the electrons jump across a 'band gap', as a result of which they can freely move and electricity flows.
The yield of a solar cell is optimised if the photon energy is equal to the band gap of silicon. Sunlight, however, contains many photons with energies greater than the band gap. The excess energy is lost as heat, which limits the yield of a conventional solar cell.
Nanospheres
Several years ago the researchers from Delft University of Technology, as well as other physicists, demonstrated that the excess energy could still be put to good use. In small spheres of a semiconducting material the excess energy enables extra electrons to jump across the band gap. These nanospheres, the so-called quantum dots, have a diameter of just one ten thousandth of a human hair.
If a light particle enables an electron in a quantum dot to cross the band gap, the electron moves around in the dot. That ensures that the electron collides with other electrons that subsequently jump across the band gap as well. As a result of this process a single photon can mobilise several electrons thereby multiplying the amount of current produced.
Read More…
26 Aug 2013
Researchers from the FOM Foundation, Delft University of Technology, Toyota Motor Europe and the University of California have developed a nanostructure with which they can make solar cells highly efficient. The researchers published their findings on 23 August 2013 in the online edition of Nature Communications.
Smart nanostructures can increase the yield of solar cells. An international team of researchers including physicists from the FOM Foundation, Delft University of Technology and Toyota, have now optimised the nanostructures so that the solar cell provides more electricity and loses less energy in the form of heat.
Solar cells
A conventional solar cell contains a layer of silicon. When sunlight falls on this layer, electrons in the silicon absorb the energy of the light particles (photons). Using this energy the electrons jump across a 'band gap', as a result of which they can freely move and electricity flows.
The yield of a solar cell is optimised if the photon energy is equal to the band gap of silicon. Sunlight, however, contains many photons with energies greater than the band gap. The excess energy is lost as heat, which limits the yield of a conventional solar cell.
Nanospheres
Several years ago the researchers from Delft University of Technology, as well as other physicists, demonstrated that the excess energy could still be put to good use. In small spheres of a semiconducting material the excess energy enables extra electrons to jump across the band gap. These nanospheres, the so-called quantum dots, have a diameter of just one ten thousandth of a human hair.
If a light particle enables an electron in a quantum dot to cross the band gap, the electron moves around in the dot. That ensures that the electron collides with other electrons that subsequently jump across the band gap as well. As a result of this process a single photon can mobilise several electrons thereby multiplying the amount of current produced.
Read More…
Thursday, 12 September 2013
Shedding light on solar power solutions
www.miningaustralia.com.au
23 Aug 2013
Mining companies are always looking for the most cost and energy efficient power solutions to lower energy costs. They also want to minimise the use of diesel generators to reduce their carbon footprint, but how can they do it in this era of high power costs?
Australian Mining spoke to solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturer FirstSolar about how solar power is providing a compelling economic solution to a sector facing the challenges of high diesel fuel costs.
Vice President of FirstSolar Asia-Pacific Jack Curtis said while the economic advantage of solar PV is not a revelation, the real challenge solar power faces is its technical integration with existing power generator systems.
"As you would be acutely aware, the main concern for mining companies is that their mine runs 24/7. And obviously solar PV is reliant on the sun to generate power.
"What the gap has been to date is helping mining companies understand how solar PVs can integrate with existing power generation sources, which would provide an economic value without disrupting the continual supply of power to the mine", Curtis said.
According to Curtis, the buzz around solar PV has been around for the past two to three years but has really accelerated in the last 12 to 18 months. Mines are now showing a proactive interest in incorporating solar PV on their sites.
23 Aug 2013
Mining companies are always looking for the most cost and energy efficient power solutions to lower energy costs. They also want to minimise the use of diesel generators to reduce their carbon footprint, but how can they do it in this era of high power costs?
Australian Mining spoke to solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturer FirstSolar about how solar power is providing a compelling economic solution to a sector facing the challenges of high diesel fuel costs.
Vice President of FirstSolar Asia-Pacific Jack Curtis said while the economic advantage of solar PV is not a revelation, the real challenge solar power faces is its technical integration with existing power generator systems.
"As you would be acutely aware, the main concern for mining companies is that their mine runs 24/7. And obviously solar PV is reliant on the sun to generate power.
"What the gap has been to date is helping mining companies understand how solar PVs can integrate with existing power generation sources, which would provide an economic value without disrupting the continual supply of power to the mine", Curtis said.
According to Curtis, the buzz around solar PV has been around for the past two to three years but has really accelerated in the last 12 to 18 months. Mines are now showing a proactive interest in incorporating solar PV on their sites.
Saturday, 7 September 2013
Govt puts $37m into Taralga wind far
www.canberratimes.com.au
9 Jul 2013
A contentious wind farm north of Goulburn is the first in the region to receive money from the Australian government's Clean Energy Finance Corporation. The corporation's $37.5 million loan will get the Taralga wind farm, comprising 51 turbines, finally under way.
The clean-energy financier joined an international consortium that provided about $280 million for the wind farm, 45 km from Goulburn and about three km east of Taralga village.
The farm, which should start working this year, is expected to generate enough power to supply 45,000 homes. Operators have a 10 year agreement with EnergyAustralia to supply the grid. The corporation's chief executive, Oliver Yates, said the loan was a catalyst for renewable energy investment in Australia.
The corporation has announced three projects: $50 million for energy efficiency loans; $50 million for a wind farm in Victoria and the Taralga financing package. Taralga's new wind farm will use towers made in Portland, Victoria, using Blue-Scope Steel steel.
Spain's Banco Santander has a 90% stake and renewable energy group CBD Energy will remain the project partner with 10%. The ANZ and Denmark's official credit export agency are also involved. Wind testing has been under way since 2001 in the sheep and cattle grazing district.
Ownership has changed hands during the planning and development stages. For more than a decade the proposal fuelled a bitter debate until the NSW Land and Environment Court concluded that public benefits outweighed private drawbacks that wound up twice in the NSW Environment and Planning Court.
Protesters said turbines would affect the landscape and generate noise. The court concluded the overall public benefits outweighed any private drawbacks either to the Taralga community or specific landowners.
9 Jul 2013
A contentious wind farm north of Goulburn is the first in the region to receive money from the Australian government's Clean Energy Finance Corporation. The corporation's $37.5 million loan will get the Taralga wind farm, comprising 51 turbines, finally under way.
The clean-energy financier joined an international consortium that provided about $280 million for the wind farm, 45 km from Goulburn and about three km east of Taralga village.
The farm, which should start working this year, is expected to generate enough power to supply 45,000 homes. Operators have a 10 year agreement with EnergyAustralia to supply the grid. The corporation's chief executive, Oliver Yates, said the loan was a catalyst for renewable energy investment in Australia.
The corporation has announced three projects: $50 million for energy efficiency loans; $50 million for a wind farm in Victoria and the Taralga financing package. Taralga's new wind farm will use towers made in Portland, Victoria, using Blue-Scope Steel steel.
Spain's Banco Santander has a 90% stake and renewable energy group CBD Energy will remain the project partner with 10%. The ANZ and Denmark's official credit export agency are also involved. Wind testing has been under way since 2001 in the sheep and cattle grazing district.
Ownership has changed hands during the planning and development stages. For more than a decade the proposal fuelled a bitter debate until the NSW Land and Environment Court concluded that public benefits outweighed private drawbacks that wound up twice in the NSW Environment and Planning Court.
Protesters said turbines would affect the landscape and generate noise. The court concluded the overall public benefits outweighed any private drawbacks either to the Taralga community or specific landowners.
Saturday, 27 July 2013
CTRL+P: Printing Australia's largest solar cells
www.theage.com.au
7 Jun 2013
Using the same technology needed to print a T shirt, scientists have produced the largest flexible, plastic solar cells in Australia-10 times the size that they were previously able to.
A team of researchers from the University of Melbourne, CSIRO and Monash University have produced the largest flexible solar cells in Australia. They are now able to print organic photovoltaic cells the size of an A3 sheet of paper thanks to a new printer installed at the CSIRO. The scientists are part of a collaboration between research and industry partners called the Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium (VICOSC).
The new printer, worth AU$200,000, is a big step up for the VICOSC team. In just three years they have gone from making cells the size of a fingernail to cells 10 cm². Now with the new printer they have jumped to cells that are 30 centimetres wide and can roll out 10 metres of solar cells per minute.
VICOSC project co-ordinator and University of Melbourne researcher David Jones says one of the great advantages of the group's approach is that they're using existing and affordable printing techniques, making it a very accessible technology. "We're using the same techniques you would use if you were screen printing an image onto a T-Shirt", says Dr Jones, from the University's Bio21 Institute and School of Chemistry.
Using semiconducting inks, the researchers print the cells straight onto paper-thin flexible plastic or steel. With the ability to print at speeds of up to 10 metres per minute, this means they can produce one cell every two seconds. As the researchers continue to scale up their equipment, the possibilities will become even greater.
"Eventually we see these being laminated to windows that line skyscrapers", Dr Jones says. "By printing directly to materials like steel, we'll also be able to embed cells onto roofing materials". "There are so many things we can do with cells this size", het them into advertising signage, powering lights and other interactive elements. We can even embed them into laptop cases to provide backup power for the computers inside".
According to CSIRO materials scientist Scott Watkins, the organic photovoltaic cells, which produce 10 50 watts of power per m², could even be used to improve the efficiency of more traditional silicon solar panels.
"The different types of cells capture light from different parts of the solar spectrum. So rather than being competing technologies, they are actually very complementary", Dr Watkins says. The scientists predict the future energy mix for the world, including Australia, will rely on many non-traditional energy sources.
"We need to be at the forefront of developing new technologies that match our solar endowment, stimulate our science and support local, high-tech manufacturing", Dr Watkins says. "While the consortium is focused on developing applications with current industrial partners there are opportunities to work with other companies through training programs or pilot-scale production trials", he says.
The Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium is a research collaboration between CSIRO, The University of Melbourne, Monash University, Blue-Scope Steel, Robert Bosch SEA, Innovia Films and Innovia Security. It is supported by the Victorian State Government and the Australian Government through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.
7 Jun 2013
Using the same technology needed to print a T shirt, scientists have produced the largest flexible, plastic solar cells in Australia-10 times the size that they were previously able to.A team of researchers from the University of Melbourne, CSIRO and Monash University have produced the largest flexible solar cells in Australia. They are now able to print organic photovoltaic cells the size of an A3 sheet of paper thanks to a new printer installed at the CSIRO. The scientists are part of a collaboration between research and industry partners called the Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium (VICOSC).
The new printer, worth AU$200,000, is a big step up for the VICOSC team. In just three years they have gone from making cells the size of a fingernail to cells 10 cm². Now with the new printer they have jumped to cells that are 30 centimetres wide and can roll out 10 metres of solar cells per minute.
VICOSC project co-ordinator and University of Melbourne researcher David Jones says one of the great advantages of the group's approach is that they're using existing and affordable printing techniques, making it a very accessible technology. "We're using the same techniques you would use if you were screen printing an image onto a T-Shirt", says Dr Jones, from the University's Bio21 Institute and School of Chemistry.
Using semiconducting inks, the researchers print the cells straight onto paper-thin flexible plastic or steel. With the ability to print at speeds of up to 10 metres per minute, this means they can produce one cell every two seconds. As the researchers continue to scale up their equipment, the possibilities will become even greater.
"Eventually we see these being laminated to windows that line skyscrapers", Dr Jones says. "By printing directly to materials like steel, we'll also be able to embed cells onto roofing materials". "There are so many things we can do with cells this size", het them into advertising signage, powering lights and other interactive elements. We can even embed them into laptop cases to provide backup power for the computers inside".
According to CSIRO materials scientist Scott Watkins, the organic photovoltaic cells, which produce 10 50 watts of power per m², could even be used to improve the efficiency of more traditional silicon solar panels.
"The different types of cells capture light from different parts of the solar spectrum. So rather than being competing technologies, they are actually very complementary", Dr Watkins says. The scientists predict the future energy mix for the world, including Australia, will rely on many non-traditional energy sources.
"We need to be at the forefront of developing new technologies that match our solar endowment, stimulate our science and support local, high-tech manufacturing", Dr Watkins says. "While the consortium is focused on developing applications with current industrial partners there are opportunities to work with other companies through training programs or pilot-scale production trials", he says.
The Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium is a research collaboration between CSIRO, The University of Melbourne, Monash University, Blue-Scope Steel, Robert Bosch SEA, Innovia Films and Innovia Security. It is supported by the Victorian State Government and the Australian Government through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.
Thursday, 18 July 2013
Researchers poke holes in solar cells to improve efficiency
www.designnews.com
3 Jun 2013
Researchers have been working on a variety of ways to improve the efficiency of solar cells, including the use of a spray-coating technique and by working with electrons and photons. Now, government researchers have come up with yet another way--poking holes in silicon wafers so they don't reflect and waste valuable sunlight.
The method, called "dark solar", has been developed by the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and it enables the cells to reflect only 2% of the sunlight that reaches them. The solar cells they've produced through this technology can work at an 18.2% efficiency rate, which is competitive for the type of black silicon cells researchers are working with.
The development of the black solar cells is "quite simple", but is enhanced by the hole-etching technique, according to information about the work provided to Design News by NREL spokesman William Scanlon.
To develop the cells, researchers first put the silicon silver/gray-colored wafer in a liquid solution of silver nitrate and hydrofluoric acid. In that bath, the ionic silver changes to silver nanoparticles. The wafer is then placed in a second bath of hydrofluoric acid and hydrogen peroxide, where the silver nanoparticles act as a catalyst for the oxidation of silicon, according to researchers.
While this process of making black silicon is not new, it's the etching of holes in the second bath of hydrofluoric acid and hydrogen peroxide that NREL has developed to bolster cell efficiency. These holes maximize the cell's sunlight conversion by preventing reflection of sunlight off the cell. To ensure the cells achieve top efficiency through the process, researchers had to consider the depth and size of the cells--they had to be deep and small enough to suppress reflections, but not too deep to impact the conversion efficiency.
"As the wavelengths move deeper and deeper into the holes they change gradually from wavelengths of air to wavelengths of silicon", researchers said in the NREL document provided by Scanlon. "That gradualness is the key. The photons never perceive an abrupt change from gas (air) to solid (silicon), and thus don't bounce back toward the atmosphere". That lack of bounce-back is what allows the photos to be absorbed in the silicon holes and thus non-reflective.
Read More…
3 Jun 2013
Researchers have been working on a variety of ways to improve the efficiency of solar cells, including the use of a spray-coating technique and by working with electrons and photons. Now, government researchers have come up with yet another way--poking holes in silicon wafers so they don't reflect and waste valuable sunlight.The method, called "dark solar", has been developed by the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and it enables the cells to reflect only 2% of the sunlight that reaches them. The solar cells they've produced through this technology can work at an 18.2% efficiency rate, which is competitive for the type of black silicon cells researchers are working with.
The development of the black solar cells is "quite simple", but is enhanced by the hole-etching technique, according to information about the work provided to Design News by NREL spokesman William Scanlon.
To develop the cells, researchers first put the silicon silver/gray-colored wafer in a liquid solution of silver nitrate and hydrofluoric acid. In that bath, the ionic silver changes to silver nanoparticles. The wafer is then placed in a second bath of hydrofluoric acid and hydrogen peroxide, where the silver nanoparticles act as a catalyst for the oxidation of silicon, according to researchers.
While this process of making black silicon is not new, it's the etching of holes in the second bath of hydrofluoric acid and hydrogen peroxide that NREL has developed to bolster cell efficiency. These holes maximize the cell's sunlight conversion by preventing reflection of sunlight off the cell. To ensure the cells achieve top efficiency through the process, researchers had to consider the depth and size of the cells--they had to be deep and small enough to suppress reflections, but not too deep to impact the conversion efficiency.
"As the wavelengths move deeper and deeper into the holes they change gradually from wavelengths of air to wavelengths of silicon", researchers said in the NREL document provided by Scanlon. "That gradualness is the key. The photons never perceive an abrupt change from gas (air) to solid (silicon), and thus don't bounce back toward the atmosphere". That lack of bounce-back is what allows the photos to be absorbed in the silicon holes and thus non-reflective.
Read More…
Scientists develop new way to store renewable energy
www.digitaljournal.com
2 Jun 2013
Scientists based in Canada have developed a new technique for converting electricity into chemical energy. This could lead to improvements to the way that homeowners and businesses capture and re-use solar power. Researchers based at the University of Calgary, Curtis Berlinguette and Simon Trudel, have developed an innovative way to make new affordable and efficient catalysts for capturing solar power.
The innovation, as detailed in the research brief, is a new type of electrolyzer device that uses catalysts to start a chemical reaction that converts electricity into chemical energy by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen fuels. These fuels can then be stored and re-converted to electricity for future use. Key to the new method is the catalyst, the Technology Review notes,which the researchers report is faster, more efficient, and most importantly, cheaper than anything else available.
The technological breakthrough offers a relatively cheaper method of storing and reusing electricity produced by wind turbines and solar panels. The technology is set to be commercialized through a new start-up company called FireWater Fuel Corp. FireWater Fuel Corp, expects to have a commercial product in the current large-scale electrolyser market in 2014, and a prototype electrolyzer--using their new catalysts--ready by 2015 for testing in a home.
2 Jun 2013
Scientists based in Canada have developed a new technique for converting electricity into chemical energy. This could lead to improvements to the way that homeowners and businesses capture and re-use solar power. Researchers based at the University of Calgary, Curtis Berlinguette and Simon Trudel, have developed an innovative way to make new affordable and efficient catalysts for capturing solar power.The innovation, as detailed in the research brief, is a new type of electrolyzer device that uses catalysts to start a chemical reaction that converts electricity into chemical energy by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen fuels. These fuels can then be stored and re-converted to electricity for future use. Key to the new method is the catalyst, the Technology Review notes,which the researchers report is faster, more efficient, and most importantly, cheaper than anything else available.
The technological breakthrough offers a relatively cheaper method of storing and reusing electricity produced by wind turbines and solar panels. The technology is set to be commercialized through a new start-up company called FireWater Fuel Corp. FireWater Fuel Corp, expects to have a commercial product in the current large-scale electrolyser market in 2014, and a prototype electrolyzer--using their new catalysts--ready by 2015 for testing in a home.
Thursday, 11 July 2013
Welcome to Victoria, no wind farms allowed
www.guardian.co.uk
30 May 2013
Welcome to my home state of Victoria, Australia's hub of art and culture, lane-way cafes and wonderful coffee, Aussie Rules football, the miraculous Leadbeater's possum, and magnificent forests. And also, after law changes in 2011, one of the most difficult places in the world to build a wind farm.
Back in 2011, the then-premier of Victoria, Ted Baillieu, enacted laws that, according to The Conversation website, effectively imposes a blanket ban on wind farms in many parts of the state:
The laws were part of the conservative Liberal-National coalition's 2010 election platform to "restore fairness and certainty to the planning process for wind farms". The laws have definitely provided certainty.
A recent report commissioned by the opposition planning spokesperson Brian Tee, demonstrates the kind of certainty that banning wind farms can bring:
If a wind farm company wants to amend their permit or get an extension, they have to apply under the new constraints. The impact of the laws has been to not only stop the development of new wind farms but to also hinder the development of farms already approved.
Andrew Bray, state coordinator of non-profit pro-wind farm community group VicWind noted that many developments that were approved under the earlier laws now would have no chance under the new regime. "Technology has moved on substantially since granting of permits 3-5 years ago", said Bray, "so developers want to alter key aspects such as number of turbines, often using higher capacity turbines to decrease the total number of turbines, turbine placement, or blade tip height to improve viability of the project".
The chilling effect of these planning laws is plain. Only one application to build a new wind farm has been made since the new laws came into effect.
Read More…
30 May 2013
Welcome to my home state of Victoria, Australia's hub of art and culture, lane-way cafes and wonderful coffee, Aussie Rules football, the miraculous Leadbeater's possum, and magnificent forests. And also, after law changes in 2011, one of the most difficult places in the world to build a wind farm.Back in 2011, the then-premier of Victoria, Ted Baillieu, enacted laws that, according to The Conversation website, effectively imposes a blanket ban on wind farms in many parts of the state:
- They effectively give the owners of any dwelling within 2km of a proposed wind farm the power to decide whether or not the development should proceed.
The laws were part of the conservative Liberal-National coalition's 2010 election platform to "restore fairness and certainty to the planning process for wind farms". The laws have definitely provided certainty.
A recent report commissioned by the opposition planning spokesperson Brian Tee, demonstrates the kind of certainty that banning wind farms can bring:
- While the Baillieu Government's reforms were targeted at new wind farms, they have had a major impact on those who already had permission to develop wind farms, prohibiting the extension of permits and making it harder for developers to make small changes to their planning approvals to incorporate state of the art technology and improve efficiency.
If a wind farm company wants to amend their permit or get an extension, they have to apply under the new constraints. The impact of the laws has been to not only stop the development of new wind farms but to also hinder the development of farms already approved.
Andrew Bray, state coordinator of non-profit pro-wind farm community group VicWind noted that many developments that were approved under the earlier laws now would have no chance under the new regime. "Technology has moved on substantially since granting of permits 3-5 years ago", said Bray, "so developers want to alter key aspects such as number of turbines, often using higher capacity turbines to decrease the total number of turbines, turbine placement, or blade tip height to improve viability of the project".
The chilling effect of these planning laws is plain. Only one application to build a new wind farm has been made since the new laws came into effect.
Read More…
Organic polymers show sunny potential
phys.org
29 May 2013
(Phys.org)--A new version of solar cells created by laboratories at Rice and Pennsylvania State universities could open the door to research on a new class of solar power devices.
The photovoltaic devices created in a project led by Rice chemical engineer Rafael Verduzco and Penn State chemical engineer Enrique Gomez are based on block copolymers, self-assembling organic materials that arrange themselves into distinct layers. They easily outperform other cells with polymer compounds as active elements. The discovery is detailed online in the American Chemical Society journal Nano Letters.
While commercial, silicon-based solar cells turn about 20% of sunlight into electricity and experimental units top 25%, there's been an undercurrent of research into polymer-based cells that could greatly reduce the cost of solar power, Verduzco said. The Rice/Penn State cells reach about 3% efficiency, but that's surprisingly better than other labs have achieved using polymer compounds.
"You need two components in a solar cell: one to carry (negative) electrons, the other to carry positive charges", Verduzco said. The imbalance between the two prompted by the input of energy-sunlight-creates useful current.
Since the mid-1980s, researchers have experimented with stacking or mixing polymer components with limited success, Verduzco said. Later polymer/fullerene mixtures topped 10% efficiency, but the fullerenes-in this case, enhanced C-60 buckyballs-are difficult to work with, he said.
Read More…
29 May 2013
(Phys.org)--A new version of solar cells created by laboratories at Rice and Pennsylvania State universities could open the door to research on a new class of solar power devices.The photovoltaic devices created in a project led by Rice chemical engineer Rafael Verduzco and Penn State chemical engineer Enrique Gomez are based on block copolymers, self-assembling organic materials that arrange themselves into distinct layers. They easily outperform other cells with polymer compounds as active elements. The discovery is detailed online in the American Chemical Society journal Nano Letters.
While commercial, silicon-based solar cells turn about 20% of sunlight into electricity and experimental units top 25%, there's been an undercurrent of research into polymer-based cells that could greatly reduce the cost of solar power, Verduzco said. The Rice/Penn State cells reach about 3% efficiency, but that's surprisingly better than other labs have achieved using polymer compounds.
"You need two components in a solar cell: one to carry (negative) electrons, the other to carry positive charges", Verduzco said. The imbalance between the two prompted by the input of energy-sunlight-creates useful current.
Since the mid-1980s, researchers have experimented with stacking or mixing polymer components with limited success, Verduzco said. Later polymer/fullerene mixtures topped 10% efficiency, but the fullerenes-in this case, enhanced C-60 buckyballs-are difficult to work with, he said.
Read More…
Wednesday, 10 July 2013
Dyesol exceeds PV durability test by 400 per cent
www.pacetoday.com.au
29 May 2013
Dyesol Limited has revealed that its solar-enabling technology has exceeded a key international photovoltaic industry standard test for long-term durability by 400%.
Speaking at the European Materials Research Society Conference in Strasbourg, France, Dyesol Limited Chief Scientist, Dr Hans Desilvestro, explained that the "gold-standard" of novel photovoltaic device development is certification by an international standard such as IEC 61646, where one of the harsher tests requires product stability at a constant temperature of 85°C for over 1000 hours.
Dr Desilvestro announced: "Dyesol Limited has tested its industrially scalable Dye Solar Cell (DSSC) materials and the material set maintained over 90% of initial performance after an extremely stressful test of 5000 hours at a constant temperature of 85°C".
This follows the company's recently announced breakthrough in solid state DSSC energy output efficiency performance. Dyesol Limited and its R&D collaboration partners will continue to develop liquid-based and solid-state technologies in parallel to suit applications most relevant to their specific attributes.
Dye Solar Cell technology is a third generation photovoltaic and nanotechnology which is printed onto glass, metal or plastic substrates in a series of very thin layers-many times thinner than a human hair.
The technology can be transparent or opaque, and a number of colour options are possible. On glass, Dye Solar Cell technology can appear like a modern stained glass window-the value-add being it produces clean energy right at the point of consumption. Key markets for Dye Solar Cell technology include: Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV), consumer electronics, and remote sensors.
29 May 2013
Dyesol Limited has revealed that its solar-enabling technology has exceeded a key international photovoltaic industry standard test for long-term durability by 400%.
Speaking at the European Materials Research Society Conference in Strasbourg, France, Dyesol Limited Chief Scientist, Dr Hans Desilvestro, explained that the "gold-standard" of novel photovoltaic device development is certification by an international standard such as IEC 61646, where one of the harsher tests requires product stability at a constant temperature of 85°C for over 1000 hours.
Dr Desilvestro announced: "Dyesol Limited has tested its industrially scalable Dye Solar Cell (DSSC) materials and the material set maintained over 90% of initial performance after an extremely stressful test of 5000 hours at a constant temperature of 85°C".
This follows the company's recently announced breakthrough in solid state DSSC energy output efficiency performance. Dyesol Limited and its R&D collaboration partners will continue to develop liquid-based and solid-state technologies in parallel to suit applications most relevant to their specific attributes.
Dye Solar Cell technology is a third generation photovoltaic and nanotechnology which is printed onto glass, metal or plastic substrates in a series of very thin layers-many times thinner than a human hair.
The technology can be transparent or opaque, and a number of colour options are possible. On glass, Dye Solar Cell technology can appear like a modern stained glass window-the value-add being it produces clean energy right at the point of consumption. Key markets for Dye Solar Cell technology include: Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV), consumer electronics, and remote sensors.
Monday, 8 July 2013
Project to increase windfarm energy yield
www.maritimejournal.com
23 May 2013
Independent UK company, the Carbon Trust, unveiled its latest research project on Tuesday, designed to help cut the cost of offshore wind power by increasing the energy yields from Round 3 wind farms.
The new £2m wake effects measurement project will provide detailed measurement data to the wind industry to help better understand how the wind behaves in complex situations offshore. This will help the industry to improve prediction accuracy, reduce financing costs and optimise layouts at Round 3 windfarms located up to 290km from the UK coast.
The wakes effects measurement campaign project is part of the Carbon Trust's Offshore Wind Accelerator, a world leading industry collaboration with nine UK wind farm developers to identify and commercialise a series of innovations which can dramatically reduce the costs of offshore wind.
Specialist wakes monitoring equipment has been installed on the Rodsand 2 wind farm in Denmark and will measure wakes passing through the wind farm for at least six months. Data gathered from the project will help improve specialist software enabling developers to better predict how the wind will flow offshore to enable them to develop better and more efficient designs and layouts which in turn will increase the energy yields from offshore wind farms and in turn improve the economics of the offshore wind projects.
Commenting on the new research project Phil de Villiers, head of offshore wind at the Carbon Trust said: "Bringing down the cost of offshore wind is an absolute priority for the industry. We believe that industry collaboration on key innovation projects that offer scope for dramatic cost reduction is the best way to go.
"The new wakes effects measurement campaign is very exciting as it will address the shortage of data that has constrained the development of wake effects models for offshore wind. It offers potential to increase energy yields from offshore wind farms and also offer financiers greater certainty on the economics of the projects. We are confident that the data we collect will have a dramatic impact on the future of offshore wind power, for the better".
The project is also critical to help open up debt financing for the construction of Round 3 projects in the UK. At present no UK offshore wind farm has been built with debt finance, in part because of the uncertainties around predicting the energy outputs from wind farms offshore. This project has added importance, as by offering greater certainty on energy yields it will help de-risk projects as they seek debt financing. The project may also result in the layout of offshore wind farms looking very different in the future to how they look today. The project will be of particular value to the 32GW of Round 3 projects as they move into detailed planning phases.
Brian Gribben, technical manager at Frazer-Nash, which are lead technical consultants on the wake effects project said: "We are pleased to be able to apply our significant experience in aerodynamics and wind engineering to such a large scale Carbon Trust led project especially as it has the potential to significantly benefit the industry".
23 May 2013
Independent UK company, the Carbon Trust, unveiled its latest research project on Tuesday, designed to help cut the cost of offshore wind power by increasing the energy yields from Round 3 wind farms.
The new £2m wake effects measurement project will provide detailed measurement data to the wind industry to help better understand how the wind behaves in complex situations offshore. This will help the industry to improve prediction accuracy, reduce financing costs and optimise layouts at Round 3 windfarms located up to 290km from the UK coast.
The wakes effects measurement campaign project is part of the Carbon Trust's Offshore Wind Accelerator, a world leading industry collaboration with nine UK wind farm developers to identify and commercialise a series of innovations which can dramatically reduce the costs of offshore wind.
Specialist wakes monitoring equipment has been installed on the Rodsand 2 wind farm in Denmark and will measure wakes passing through the wind farm for at least six months. Data gathered from the project will help improve specialist software enabling developers to better predict how the wind will flow offshore to enable them to develop better and more efficient designs and layouts which in turn will increase the energy yields from offshore wind farms and in turn improve the economics of the offshore wind projects.
Commenting on the new research project Phil de Villiers, head of offshore wind at the Carbon Trust said: "Bringing down the cost of offshore wind is an absolute priority for the industry. We believe that industry collaboration on key innovation projects that offer scope for dramatic cost reduction is the best way to go.
"The new wakes effects measurement campaign is very exciting as it will address the shortage of data that has constrained the development of wake effects models for offshore wind. It offers potential to increase energy yields from offshore wind farms and also offer financiers greater certainty on the economics of the projects. We are confident that the data we collect will have a dramatic impact on the future of offshore wind power, for the better".
The project is also critical to help open up debt financing for the construction of Round 3 projects in the UK. At present no UK offshore wind farm has been built with debt finance, in part because of the uncertainties around predicting the energy outputs from wind farms offshore. This project has added importance, as by offering greater certainty on energy yields it will help de-risk projects as they seek debt financing. The project may also result in the layout of offshore wind farms looking very different in the future to how they look today. The project will be of particular value to the 32GW of Round 3 projects as they move into detailed planning phases.
Brian Gribben, technical manager at Frazer-Nash, which are lead technical consultants on the wake effects project said: "We are pleased to be able to apply our significant experience in aerodynamics and wind engineering to such a large scale Carbon Trust led project especially as it has the potential to significantly benefit the industry".
Tuesday, 2 July 2013
Wireless sensor for devices harvests solar energy
www.designnews.com
14 May 2013
Two Israel-based providers of electronics components have collaborated to provide solar power harvesting technology that can power wireless sensors so they require little or no battery power to operate.
Sol Chip and Cellergy are offering a high-performance energy harvester that combines Cellergy supercapacitors and Sol Chip's solar power harvesting technology and can be integrated into a range of devices and applications to provide power for short-range wireless communication.
The companies envision the technology being used to enable the so-called Internet of Things in which devices can identify and communicate with one another over the Internet or a network. These devices will be used in a number of industries, including agriculture, smart lighting control, smart water management, environmental monitoring, medical, security, and safety.
The Everlasting Solar Battery--Sol Chip's contribution to the collaboration--addresses the needs of remote or mobile devices that operate autonomously by prolonging battery life, reducing environmental hazard and improving battery-charging technology, Zack Sharon, Sol Chip's sales and marketing director, told Design News. "The technology harvests light energy to extend battery life or replace batteries in many applications and reduces system overall cost", he said.
The Sol Chip device is essentially a single-chip solar cell with integrated battery management and charging circuitry. The device can recharge batteries or charge super-capacitors, and has a patent-pending architecture that provides higher efficiency with an extremely lean and cost saving implementation, Sharon told us. The harvester combines the Everlasting Solar Battery with Cellergy's supercapacitor technology to store the energy, which allows for more energy storage than typical capacitors.
Energy harvesting is becoming a method of choice for low-power devices that typically run on batteries but don't need a lot of energy to power them. A number of semiconductor and electronics components companies are building ultra-low-power components or micro energy-harvesting devices that can be embedded in devices like medical sensors, smoke alarms, security systems, and other devices.
According to Sharon, the addressable market for the Sol Chip-Cellergy technology is estimated at 1 billion units in 2022, with many segments growing more than 10% per year. "Initial target segments include wireless sensors and wireless sensor networks, smart power grids, smart cities, and active RFID", he said.
14 May 2013
Two Israel-based providers of electronics components have collaborated to provide solar power harvesting technology that can power wireless sensors so they require little or no battery power to operate.Sol Chip and Cellergy are offering a high-performance energy harvester that combines Cellergy supercapacitors and Sol Chip's solar power harvesting technology and can be integrated into a range of devices and applications to provide power for short-range wireless communication.
The companies envision the technology being used to enable the so-called Internet of Things in which devices can identify and communicate with one another over the Internet or a network. These devices will be used in a number of industries, including agriculture, smart lighting control, smart water management, environmental monitoring, medical, security, and safety.
The Everlasting Solar Battery--Sol Chip's contribution to the collaboration--addresses the needs of remote or mobile devices that operate autonomously by prolonging battery life, reducing environmental hazard and improving battery-charging technology, Zack Sharon, Sol Chip's sales and marketing director, told Design News. "The technology harvests light energy to extend battery life or replace batteries in many applications and reduces system overall cost", he said.
The Sol Chip device is essentially a single-chip solar cell with integrated battery management and charging circuitry. The device can recharge batteries or charge super-capacitors, and has a patent-pending architecture that provides higher efficiency with an extremely lean and cost saving implementation, Sharon told us. The harvester combines the Everlasting Solar Battery with Cellergy's supercapacitor technology to store the energy, which allows for more energy storage than typical capacitors.
Energy harvesting is becoming a method of choice for low-power devices that typically run on batteries but don't need a lot of energy to power them. A number of semiconductor and electronics components companies are building ultra-low-power components or micro energy-harvesting devices that can be embedded in devices like medical sensors, smoke alarms, security systems, and other devices.
According to Sharon, the addressable market for the Sol Chip-Cellergy technology is estimated at 1 billion units in 2022, with many segments growing more than 10% per year. "Initial target segments include wireless sensors and wireless sensor networks, smart power grids, smart cities, and active RFID", he said.
Wednesday, 26 June 2013
Breakthrough in solar efficiency by UNSW team ahead of its time
www.smh.com.au
6 May 2013
Australian scientists have found a way of hugely increasing the efficiency of solar panels while substantially reducing their cost. The University of New South Wales researchers have come up with improvements in photovoltaic panel design that had not been expected for another decade. This has really got the industry very excited.
The breakthrough involves using hydrogen atoms to counter defects in silicon cells used in solar panels. As a consequence, poor quality silicon can be made to perform like high quality wafers. The process makes cheap silicon "actually better than the best-quality material people are using at the moment", the head of the university's photovoltaics centre of excellence, Professor Stuart Wenham, said.
Silicon wafers account for more than half the cost of making a solar cell. "By using lower-quality silicon, you can drastically reduce that cost", he said. "We've been able to figure out what the secret is that enables hydrogen to sometimes work the way people want it to, and sometimes doesn't". At present, the best commercial solar cells convert between 17% and 19% of the sun's energy into electricity. UNSW's technique, patented this year, should produce efficiencies of between 21% and 23%.
"This has really got the industry very excited, not only in China, but elsewhere as well", said Richard Corkish, head of the university's School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering. Alumni of the school hold senior positions at many of the leading PV producers globally.
Separately, the UNSW's Martin Green, dubbed the "father of photovoltaics" for his work to develop and commercialise silicon solar cell technologies, was last week elected into the UK's renowed Royal Society. Professor Green, whose work includes overseeing research teams and setting the current 25% conversion efficiency record for solar PV, joins 1,450 of the world's top scientists as a Royal Society Fellow.
Prices tumble
The price of solar panels has fallen by about 65% in two years, partly due to a huge rise in production in China. Australians have been taking advantage of lower prices, with the number of homes with solar panels exceeding 1 million.
The phenomenal growth has caused some casualties in the industry as companies have taken on massive debt to expand supply, then struggled with falling prices in saturated markets. Notable among them is the recent debt default by Suntech Power, once the world's largest solar panel maker, founded by former University of New South Wales researcher Shi Zhengrong.
Panel prices are predicted to fall much further. European producers predict they will be 60% cheaper by 2020. "Based on the technological advances we're making, we think that's certainly achievable", Dr Wenham said.
Eight commercial firms have signed up to be a partner in developing the technology to an industrial scale, including Suntech Power, which continues to operate from its base in the eastern Chinese city of Wuxi and has a research unit in Sydney. "It's the kind of advance that other people are anticipating is a decade away,'' Suntech Power R&D Australia managing director Renate Egan said. "It is quite a breakthrough".
Funding
Suntech Power funded much of the early work, including in China. "Suntech Power has the right to use that (intellectual property) and UNSW has the right to licence the technology to third parties", Dr Egan said. Funding to help commercialise the technology will total about $15 million over three years, with the UNSW seeking support from the federal government's Australian Renewable Energy Agency for part of that sum.
The annual funding of $5 million-equivalent to what bidders last month paid for the half-brother of champion race mare Black Caviar-is "a lot of money for us", Dr Corkish said. Already worth about $100 billion a year, the solar industry is expected to swell to about $140 billion by 2018, according to estimates published in April by Transparency Market Research.
Installed PV capacity probably surpassed 100 GWs, worldwide, in the March quarter, according to the International Energy Agency. Some forecasts project capacity will more than triple by the end of the decade. Australia ranked ninth, with installed capacity of 2.4 GW, at the end of 2012.
6 May 2013
Australian scientists have found a way of hugely increasing the efficiency of solar panels while substantially reducing their cost. The University of New South Wales researchers have come up with improvements in photovoltaic panel design that had not been expected for another decade. This has really got the industry very excited.The breakthrough involves using hydrogen atoms to counter defects in silicon cells used in solar panels. As a consequence, poor quality silicon can be made to perform like high quality wafers. The process makes cheap silicon "actually better than the best-quality material people are using at the moment", the head of the university's photovoltaics centre of excellence, Professor Stuart Wenham, said.
Silicon wafers account for more than half the cost of making a solar cell. "By using lower-quality silicon, you can drastically reduce that cost", he said. "We've been able to figure out what the secret is that enables hydrogen to sometimes work the way people want it to, and sometimes doesn't". At present, the best commercial solar cells convert between 17% and 19% of the sun's energy into electricity. UNSW's technique, patented this year, should produce efficiencies of between 21% and 23%.
"This has really got the industry very excited, not only in China, but elsewhere as well", said Richard Corkish, head of the university's School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering. Alumni of the school hold senior positions at many of the leading PV producers globally.
Separately, the UNSW's Martin Green, dubbed the "father of photovoltaics" for his work to develop and commercialise silicon solar cell technologies, was last week elected into the UK's renowed Royal Society. Professor Green, whose work includes overseeing research teams and setting the current 25% conversion efficiency record for solar PV, joins 1,450 of the world's top scientists as a Royal Society Fellow.
Prices tumble
The price of solar panels has fallen by about 65% in two years, partly due to a huge rise in production in China. Australians have been taking advantage of lower prices, with the number of homes with solar panels exceeding 1 million.
The phenomenal growth has caused some casualties in the industry as companies have taken on massive debt to expand supply, then struggled with falling prices in saturated markets. Notable among them is the recent debt default by Suntech Power, once the world's largest solar panel maker, founded by former University of New South Wales researcher Shi Zhengrong.
Panel prices are predicted to fall much further. European producers predict they will be 60% cheaper by 2020. "Based on the technological advances we're making, we think that's certainly achievable", Dr Wenham said.
Eight commercial firms have signed up to be a partner in developing the technology to an industrial scale, including Suntech Power, which continues to operate from its base in the eastern Chinese city of Wuxi and has a research unit in Sydney. "It's the kind of advance that other people are anticipating is a decade away,'' Suntech Power R&D Australia managing director Renate Egan said. "It is quite a breakthrough".
Funding
Suntech Power funded much of the early work, including in China. "Suntech Power has the right to use that (intellectual property) and UNSW has the right to licence the technology to third parties", Dr Egan said. Funding to help commercialise the technology will total about $15 million over three years, with the UNSW seeking support from the federal government's Australian Renewable Energy Agency for part of that sum.
The annual funding of $5 million-equivalent to what bidders last month paid for the half-brother of champion race mare Black Caviar-is "a lot of money for us", Dr Corkish said. Already worth about $100 billion a year, the solar industry is expected to swell to about $140 billion by 2018, according to estimates published in April by Transparency Market Research.
Installed PV capacity probably surpassed 100 GWs, worldwide, in the March quarter, according to the International Energy Agency. Some forecasts project capacity will more than triple by the end of the decade. Australia ranked ninth, with installed capacity of 2.4 GW, at the end of 2012.
Thursday, 6 June 2013
Wind turbine manufacturer Nordex will provide four Turkish projects with 50 turbines
www.balkans.com
22 Apr 2013
wind turbine manufacturer Nordex is able to defend a leading position in the Turkish market. Now it has signed delivery and service contracts with two long-standing customers for four projects entailing a total of 50 turbines with a combined total capacity of 125 MWs. A total of 38 N100/2500 turbines are to be connected to the grid for Eksim Holding by autumn 2013. 20 turbines will be built at the Hasanbeyli wind farm in Eastern Turkey close to the city of Osmaniye.
Located in the foothills of the Taurus mountains in the South East of Turkey at an altitude of around 1,400 metres, they will produce an annual energy yield of around 180 GW/hours. Nordex is also installing a further wind farm for Eksim close to Silivri near Istanbul. Driven by average wind speeds of 7.8 m/s, the 18 2.5 MW turbines will generate 150 GW/hours of electricity a year. Nordex is also supplying Dost Enerji, with which Nordex originally launched its business activities in Turkey, with twelve N90/2500 turbines.
One of these will be added to the Yuntdag wind farm, which has since been enlarged to 23 Nordex turbines. Located to the north of Izmir, this wind farm marked Nordex's first foray into the Turkish market back in 2007. Thanks to the superb wind conditions at this site, the energy yield from this single turbine is expected to come to nine GW/hours a year, equivalent to a capacity factor of 48%.
Nordex is assembling the other eleven turbines at the Geres wind farm in the direct vicinity of Yuntdag. This wind farm is to produce 100 GW/hours of clean energy a year. Dost Enerji is one of the pioneers in the commercial utilisation of wind power in Turkey. Says Lars Bondo Krogsgaard, a member of Nordex's Management Board: "We are delighted that our long-standing customers Dost Enerji and Eksim Holding have again opted for Nordex turbines.
This underscores the favourable experience which they have gained with our technology and skills. As well as this, it testifies to two superb partnerships precisely in the Turkish wind power market, which is characterised by strong growth potential and excellent wind conditions". The OECD predicts for Turkey an average growth of GDP of 5.2%.
Says Dr. Ruchan Hamamci, Coordinator of Renewable Energies at Eksim Holding: "We are currently operating wind farms with a capacity of 140 MW and will be adding a further 95 MW to this with our Hasanbeyli and Silivri wind farms. Our goal is to become the leading supplier of CO₂ free electricity from wind in Turkey. Nordex has supplied us with reliable and efficient wind power systems allowing us to come closer to reaching our goal from day to day". Source; Nordex
22 Apr 2013
wind turbine manufacturer Nordex is able to defend a leading position in the Turkish market. Now it has signed delivery and service contracts with two long-standing customers for four projects entailing a total of 50 turbines with a combined total capacity of 125 MWs. A total of 38 N100/2500 turbines are to be connected to the grid for Eksim Holding by autumn 2013. 20 turbines will be built at the Hasanbeyli wind farm in Eastern Turkey close to the city of Osmaniye.
Located in the foothills of the Taurus mountains in the South East of Turkey at an altitude of around 1,400 metres, they will produce an annual energy yield of around 180 GW/hours. Nordex is also installing a further wind farm for Eksim close to Silivri near Istanbul. Driven by average wind speeds of 7.8 m/s, the 18 2.5 MW turbines will generate 150 GW/hours of electricity a year. Nordex is also supplying Dost Enerji, with which Nordex originally launched its business activities in Turkey, with twelve N90/2500 turbines.
One of these will be added to the Yuntdag wind farm, which has since been enlarged to 23 Nordex turbines. Located to the north of Izmir, this wind farm marked Nordex's first foray into the Turkish market back in 2007. Thanks to the superb wind conditions at this site, the energy yield from this single turbine is expected to come to nine GW/hours a year, equivalent to a capacity factor of 48%.
Nordex is assembling the other eleven turbines at the Geres wind farm in the direct vicinity of Yuntdag. This wind farm is to produce 100 GW/hours of clean energy a year. Dost Enerji is one of the pioneers in the commercial utilisation of wind power in Turkey. Says Lars Bondo Krogsgaard, a member of Nordex's Management Board: "We are delighted that our long-standing customers Dost Enerji and Eksim Holding have again opted for Nordex turbines.
This underscores the favourable experience which they have gained with our technology and skills. As well as this, it testifies to two superb partnerships precisely in the Turkish wind power market, which is characterised by strong growth potential and excellent wind conditions". The OECD predicts for Turkey an average growth of GDP of 5.2%.
Says Dr. Ruchan Hamamci, Coordinator of Renewable Energies at Eksim Holding: "We are currently operating wind farms with a capacity of 140 MW and will be adding a further 95 MW to this with our Hasanbeyli and Silivri wind farms. Our goal is to become the leading supplier of CO₂ free electricity from wind in Turkey. Nordex has supplied us with reliable and efficient wind power systems allowing us to come closer to reaching our goal from day to day". Source; Nordex
Thursday, 30 May 2013
Top-rated weather services get wind turbines up and running faster
www.utilityproducts.com
18 Apr 2013
Wind farms rely on the weather around the clock, for better or for worse. Windy days help turbines pump clean power across the grid, while quiet days require other forms of electricity to keep reliable power flowing.
But, how weather impacts wind farm construction is considered less often. Towering turbines and wide-open locations mean crews must be certain about weather conditions before bringing in equipment or scaling structures. To ensure the safety of crews, efficient project budgets and reasonable customer expectations, a weather forecasting service is an essential, indispensable tool during construction and subsequent maintenance.
Relying on generic, publicly available weather forecasting is risky to crews and is not cost-effective for operations. Instead, location-specific, customizable weather forecasting and alerts that display conditions in real-time will give construction crews the information they need to complete work and communicate project expectations or delays to the customer. Users of Schneider Electric's MxVision WeatherSentry Online, for example, find its real-time lightning displays and detections are critical for determining when to continue construction and when to leave the area. When using another tool that doesn't display lightning until long after it has happened, crews have less certainty about whether to continue working, which can cost time and money.
Read More…
18 Apr 2013
Wind farms rely on the weather around the clock, for better or for worse. Windy days help turbines pump clean power across the grid, while quiet days require other forms of electricity to keep reliable power flowing.
But, how weather impacts wind farm construction is considered less often. Towering turbines and wide-open locations mean crews must be certain about weather conditions before bringing in equipment or scaling structures. To ensure the safety of crews, efficient project budgets and reasonable customer expectations, a weather forecasting service is an essential, indispensable tool during construction and subsequent maintenance.
Relying on generic, publicly available weather forecasting is risky to crews and is not cost-effective for operations. Instead, location-specific, customizable weather forecasting and alerts that display conditions in real-time will give construction crews the information they need to complete work and communicate project expectations or delays to the customer. Users of Schneider Electric's MxVision WeatherSentry Online, for example, find its real-time lightning displays and detections are critical for determining when to continue construction and when to leave the area. When using another tool that doesn't display lightning until long after it has happened, crews have less certainty about whether to continue working, which can cost time and money.
Read More…
Nanowires boost efficiency of solar cells
www.compoundsemiconductor.net
19 Apr 2013
ZnO quantum dots could translates fabrication of large-area films making solar panels Solar cells made from quantum dots could be low-cost, flexible, and easy to make. But the efficiency with which they convert light into electricity remains too low for practical use. Capitalising on this, researchers' at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have combined nanowires with quantum dot solar cells.
The cell's efficiency increases the cells' efficiency by 35%. Quantum dots are semiconductor nanocrystals that absorb different wavelengths of light depending on their size. Solar cells made from different-sized crystals should absorb light over a much wider range of colours than silicon devices.
What's more, because quantum dots are made in solution, they could be easily printed or painted onto flexible surfaces. Scientists have calculated that quantum dots could be used to make thin-film solar cells that could convert light to electricity with 15% efficiency, the same as commercial silicon devices.
The best-performing quantum dot solar cells consist of a lead sulphide quantum dot layer butted up against a zinc oxide or titanium dioxide layer. The quantum dots absorb light, and electrons created in the process travel to the metal oxide layer to reach the electrical circuit.
The problem is that the quantum dot layer has to be thick enough to absorb light efficiently, but thin enough for the electrons to quickly traverse it. The MIT researchers, led by electrical engineering and computer science professor Vladimir Bulovic, overcame that trade off by replacing the flat ZnO layer with an array of vertical zinc oxide nanowires.
Nanowires penetrate the quantum dot layer, providing conductive paths for the electrons to follow out to the electrical circuit, says Joel Jean, a graduate student in Bulovic's group. The researchers published their results in the journal Advanced Materials.
The researchers start with glass substrates that are coated with indium tin oxide transparent electrodes. They deposit a ZnO layer on top and float the entire susbtrate upside down in an aqueous solution of zinc precursors.
An array of aligned nanowires grows downwards from the ZnO layer. After about an hour, the researchers rinse the substrates. Finally, they deposit PbS quantum dots, which fill up the space between the nanowires, and top it off with a gold electrode.
The nanowires boost the output current of the devices by 50% and the efficiency by 35% over planar ZnO devices. The overall light-to-electricity conversion efficiency of the new devices is 4.9%, among the highest reported for ZnO-based quantum dot solar cells, Jean says.
The researchers believe the efficiency could be further enhanced by using thicker light-absorbing layers and longer nanowires, as well as by controlling the spacing between nanowires to better accommodate quantum dots.
The idea of using ZnO nanowires to increase efficiency in quantum dot solar cells is not new, but this is the first significant implementation of the concept, says Matthew Beard, a senior scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. "The observed efficiency boost is promising and significant", he says. "The efficiencies for these types of solar cells are increasing rapidly and this work demonstrates that the improvements in efficiency will continue".
A key advantage of the nanowire-quantum dot cells, says Jean, is that they could be made on large areas. "One of the main benefits of quantum dots is that they're grown in and deposited from solution", he adds.
"This translates to fabrication of large-area films, which is necessary for making solar panels. Zinc oxide nanowires are also grown in an aqueous solution process. Scalability should be one of the primary practical advantages of this type of solar cell".
19 Apr 2013
ZnO quantum dots could translates fabrication of large-area films making solar panels Solar cells made from quantum dots could be low-cost, flexible, and easy to make. But the efficiency with which they convert light into electricity remains too low for practical use. Capitalising on this, researchers' at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have combined nanowires with quantum dot solar cells.The cell's efficiency increases the cells' efficiency by 35%. Quantum dots are semiconductor nanocrystals that absorb different wavelengths of light depending on their size. Solar cells made from different-sized crystals should absorb light over a much wider range of colours than silicon devices.
What's more, because quantum dots are made in solution, they could be easily printed or painted onto flexible surfaces. Scientists have calculated that quantum dots could be used to make thin-film solar cells that could convert light to electricity with 15% efficiency, the same as commercial silicon devices.
The best-performing quantum dot solar cells consist of a lead sulphide quantum dot layer butted up against a zinc oxide or titanium dioxide layer. The quantum dots absorb light, and electrons created in the process travel to the metal oxide layer to reach the electrical circuit.
The problem is that the quantum dot layer has to be thick enough to absorb light efficiently, but thin enough for the electrons to quickly traverse it. The MIT researchers, led by electrical engineering and computer science professor Vladimir Bulovic, overcame that trade off by replacing the flat ZnO layer with an array of vertical zinc oxide nanowires.
Nanowires penetrate the quantum dot layer, providing conductive paths for the electrons to follow out to the electrical circuit, says Joel Jean, a graduate student in Bulovic's group. The researchers published their results in the journal Advanced Materials.
The researchers start with glass substrates that are coated with indium tin oxide transparent electrodes. They deposit a ZnO layer on top and float the entire susbtrate upside down in an aqueous solution of zinc precursors.
An array of aligned nanowires grows downwards from the ZnO layer. After about an hour, the researchers rinse the substrates. Finally, they deposit PbS quantum dots, which fill up the space between the nanowires, and top it off with a gold electrode.
The nanowires boost the output current of the devices by 50% and the efficiency by 35% over planar ZnO devices. The overall light-to-electricity conversion efficiency of the new devices is 4.9%, among the highest reported for ZnO-based quantum dot solar cells, Jean says.
The researchers believe the efficiency could be further enhanced by using thicker light-absorbing layers and longer nanowires, as well as by controlling the spacing between nanowires to better accommodate quantum dots.
The idea of using ZnO nanowires to increase efficiency in quantum dot solar cells is not new, but this is the first significant implementation of the concept, says Matthew Beard, a senior scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. "The observed efficiency boost is promising and significant", he says. "The efficiencies for these types of solar cells are increasing rapidly and this work demonstrates that the improvements in efficiency will continue".
A key advantage of the nanowire-quantum dot cells, says Jean, is that they could be made on large areas. "One of the main benefits of quantum dots is that they're grown in and deposited from solution", he adds.
"This translates to fabrication of large-area films, which is necessary for making solar panels. Zinc oxide nanowires are also grown in an aqueous solution process. Scalability should be one of the primary practical advantages of this type of solar cell".
Friday, 24 May 2013
Hawaiian Governor welcomes new 5 megawatt solar farm
Power Engineering Magazine
The Governor of Hawaii, Neil Abercrombie, joined representatives of the Department of Hawaiian Homelands (DHHL) and Hawaiian Electric Company, to dedicate the new 5 MW Kalaeloa Solar Farm in West Oahu. The ceremony which took place on March 8, 2013 was hosted by Bright Plan Energy LLC, the solar farms management company, along with SunPower Corp who designed and constructed the project. Bright Plan Energy, in partnership with an affiliate of D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments, L.L.C., was responsible for the acquisition in November 2012. Governor Abercrombie applauded all of the partners involved stating that this will be the most productive Solar Farm, created to date, on the island. He based this on, not only the large renewable energy output capacity, but the abundant amount of sunshine on Oahu. "It will have significant positive impact on the states renewable energy portfolio standards goal of 40% by 2030." Abercrombie said.
SunPower installed their ultra efficient photo voltaic panels on a SunPower ® T0 Tracker system at the 36 acre site. The system positions the panels according to the location of the sun at any time of day resulting in a 25% increase of captured sunlight over typical fixed position units. This also permits less land usage per watt. According to SunPower CEO Tom Warner, the system will generate cost competitive power for at least 20 years. It is the first project of its type located on state lands.
The Kalaeloa Solar Farm is known as an on grid system which feeds the renewable energy directly into the power grid owned by Hawaiian Electric. The utility has agreed to purchase the power produced by the farm. The US Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that the production of solar power will reduce carbon emission by 9500 tons per year. That is the equivalent of over 400,000 barrels of oil being used over the 20 year purchase agreement period.
Hawaii was ranked third, right behind New Jersey and Arizona in solar rating per capita in January 2013. With the addition of this project Hawaii now leads the nation in per capita solar production according to Robbie Elm, Hawaiian Electric executive vice president. "This and other utility-scale projects will help Hawaii maintain our solar leadership and reduce our unsustainable and expensive dependence on foreign oil." Elm said.
The unchallenged US leader in the overall number of installations is still California, where a 4.2 MW installation brought the number to over 121,000 installs. That is over 15 times greater than number two ranked New Jersey with 7700. That top spot is not likely to ever be taken due to the geographical size, available land and number of sunny days in the Golden State and a very high ecological awareness of the population. You can read more about the installation at Power Engineering Magazine.
The Governor of Hawaii, Neil Abercrombie, joined representatives of the Department of Hawaiian Homelands (DHHL) and Hawaiian Electric Company, to dedicate the new 5 MW Kalaeloa Solar Farm in West Oahu. The ceremony which took place on March 8, 2013 was hosted by Bright Plan Energy LLC, the solar farms management company, along with SunPower Corp who designed and constructed the project. Bright Plan Energy, in partnership with an affiliate of D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments, L.L.C., was responsible for the acquisition in November 2012. Governor Abercrombie applauded all of the partners involved stating that this will be the most productive Solar Farm, created to date, on the island. He based this on, not only the large renewable energy output capacity, but the abundant amount of sunshine on Oahu. "It will have significant positive impact on the states renewable energy portfolio standards goal of 40% by 2030." Abercrombie said.
SunPower installed their ultra efficient photo voltaic panels on a SunPower ® T0 Tracker system at the 36 acre site. The system positions the panels according to the location of the sun at any time of day resulting in a 25% increase of captured sunlight over typical fixed position units. This also permits less land usage per watt. According to SunPower CEO Tom Warner, the system will generate cost competitive power for at least 20 years. It is the first project of its type located on state lands.
The Kalaeloa Solar Farm is known as an on grid system which feeds the renewable energy directly into the power grid owned by Hawaiian Electric. The utility has agreed to purchase the power produced by the farm. The US Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that the production of solar power will reduce carbon emission by 9500 tons per year. That is the equivalent of over 400,000 barrels of oil being used over the 20 year purchase agreement period.
Hawaii was ranked third, right behind New Jersey and Arizona in solar rating per capita in January 2013. With the addition of this project Hawaii now leads the nation in per capita solar production according to Robbie Elm, Hawaiian Electric executive vice president. "This and other utility-scale projects will help Hawaii maintain our solar leadership and reduce our unsustainable and expensive dependence on foreign oil." Elm said.
The unchallenged US leader in the overall number of installations is still California, where a 4.2 MW installation brought the number to over 121,000 installs. That is over 15 times greater than number two ranked New Jersey with 7700. That top spot is not likely to ever be taken due to the geographical size, available land and number of sunny days in the Golden State and a very high ecological awareness of the population. You can read more about the installation at Power Engineering Magazine.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)