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.
Showing posts with label Photovoltaic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Photovoltaic. Show all posts
Monday, 9 December 2013
Wednesday, 9 October 2013
Solar energy could help South Australia break away from oil and coal
www.hydrogenfuelnews.com
6 Sep 2013
Wind and solar energy are gaining ground in Australia
The Australian Energy Market Operator has issued a new report concerning solar power in South Australia. The report suggests that the state could receive at least 50% of its energy from solar power within the next 10 years. Other forms of renewable energy could also help the state reach this goal. The report notes that nearly one in five homes in South Australia are equipped with rooftop photovoltaic systems.
Solar power continues to attract strong support
Solar energy has become a major focus throughout Australia. The country is currently working to distance itself from fossil fuels in order to find more economically viable forms of energy and mitigate its impact on the environment. Because the country is exposed to significant amounts of solar radiation year-round, Solar power has become one of the most popular forms of clean power. Solar energy does not encompass the country's interests in clean power, however, as wind power has also established itself as a priority.
Wind energy is also picking up momentum
The report shows that wind power already accounts for nearly 27% of the electricity in South Australia. New wind farms are scheduled to become active in the state in the coming years and these systems will contribute to the state's overall clean energy goals. The report notes that approximately 31% of the state's energy needs in the latter months of 2012 and early months of 2013 were met through wind power systems alone.
Over the next decade, wind and solar power are likely to begin reducing the need for fossil fuels in South Australia. The development of new renewable energy systems is also expected to have some impact on the state's economy. As new projects take root in the state, the need for workers spikes. New projects create new jobs, which help stimulate the local economy and provides the state with some degree of economic stability while it transitions away from conventional forms of energy.
6 Sep 2013
Wind and solar energy are gaining ground in Australia
The Australian Energy Market Operator has issued a new report concerning solar power in South Australia. The report suggests that the state could receive at least 50% of its energy from solar power within the next 10 years. Other forms of renewable energy could also help the state reach this goal. The report notes that nearly one in five homes in South Australia are equipped with rooftop photovoltaic systems.
Solar power continues to attract strong support
Solar energy has become a major focus throughout Australia. The country is currently working to distance itself from fossil fuels in order to find more economically viable forms of energy and mitigate its impact on the environment. Because the country is exposed to significant amounts of solar radiation year-round, Solar power has become one of the most popular forms of clean power. Solar energy does not encompass the country's interests in clean power, however, as wind power has also established itself as a priority.
Wind energy is also picking up momentum
The report shows that wind power already accounts for nearly 27% of the electricity in South Australia. New wind farms are scheduled to become active in the state in the coming years and these systems will contribute to the state's overall clean energy goals. The report notes that approximately 31% of the state's energy needs in the latter months of 2012 and early months of 2013 were met through wind power systems alone.
Over the next decade, wind and solar power are likely to begin reducing the need for fossil fuels in South Australia. The development of new renewable energy systems is also expected to have some impact on the state's economy. As new projects take root in the state, the need for workers spikes. New projects create new jobs, which help stimulate the local economy and provides the state with some degree of economic stability while it transitions away from conventional forms of energy.
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…
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.
Polymer-based organic solar cells developed in UAE
www.business-standard.com
10 Jul 2013
A UAE-based university has claimed that its researchers have fabricated the very first polymer based organic solar cell, marking a technological breakthrough for the oil-rich country in the clean energy sector.
Mejd Alsari, a UAE national student, and Samuele Lilliu, a post-doctoral fellow working at the Nano-Optics and Optoelectronics Research (NOOR) Laboratory have fabricated the first polymer-based organic photovoltaic solar cell (OPV), which can also be conveniently printed on flexible substrates, Masdar Institute of Science and Technology said in a statement.
This has been achieved using Masdar Institute's cleanroom facilities internally without any assistance from external fabrication facilities or expertise, the institute said.
"The OPVs with advanced aesthetic characteristics such as colours and design will be developed with inkjet-printing deposition techniques. These prototypes could be highly interesting for Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) applications and designers globally and in the region. ]
Further to the OPVs research, large area organic photo-detectors based on the same technology, with potential applications in the medical, security and entertainment industry could also be prepared", it said. These are also the very first solar cells fabricated at the Masdar Institute cleanroom. A start-up venture based in Masdar City to transfer prototypes into final products may also be set up at a later stage, it added.
"The outstanding feat of our researchers and faculty consolidates the status of Masdar Institute as a research-driven institution, continuously striving to contribute to the Abu Dhabi's long-term objectives in advanced technology", Fred Moavenzadeh, President, Masdar Institute, said.
The first bulk-heterojunction OPV solar cells fabricated at Masdar Institute are part of a new major research project on organic photo-detectors undertaken by Dr. Lilliu and Dr. Dahlem from the NOOR Laboratory.
Established as an on-going collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US, Masdar Institute integrates theory and practice to incubate a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship, working to develop the critical thinkers and leaders of tomorrow.
10 Jul 2013
A UAE-based university has claimed that its researchers have fabricated the very first polymer based organic solar cell, marking a technological breakthrough for the oil-rich country in the clean energy sector.
Mejd Alsari, a UAE national student, and Samuele Lilliu, a post-doctoral fellow working at the Nano-Optics and Optoelectronics Research (NOOR) Laboratory have fabricated the first polymer-based organic photovoltaic solar cell (OPV), which can also be conveniently printed on flexible substrates, Masdar Institute of Science and Technology said in a statement.
This has been achieved using Masdar Institute's cleanroom facilities internally without any assistance from external fabrication facilities or expertise, the institute said.
"The OPVs with advanced aesthetic characteristics such as colours and design will be developed with inkjet-printing deposition techniques. These prototypes could be highly interesting for Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) applications and designers globally and in the region. ]
Further to the OPVs research, large area organic photo-detectors based on the same technology, with potential applications in the medical, security and entertainment industry could also be prepared", it said. These are also the very first solar cells fabricated at the Masdar Institute cleanroom. A start-up venture based in Masdar City to transfer prototypes into final products may also be set up at a later stage, it added.
"The outstanding feat of our researchers and faculty consolidates the status of Masdar Institute as a research-driven institution, continuously striving to contribute to the Abu Dhabi's long-term objectives in advanced technology", Fred Moavenzadeh, President, Masdar Institute, said.
The first bulk-heterojunction OPV solar cells fabricated at Masdar Institute are part of a new major research project on organic photo-detectors undertaken by Dr. Lilliu and Dr. Dahlem from the NOOR Laboratory.
Established as an on-going collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US, Masdar Institute integrates theory and practice to incubate a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship, working to develop the critical thinkers and leaders of tomorrow.
Friday, 23 August 2013
Renewable energy use gaining worldwide:IEA
www.heraldsun.com.au
27 Jun 2013
RENEWABLES like solar and wind power represent the fastest-growing source of energy generation and will make up a quarter of the global power mix by 2018, the International Energy Agency IEA says. The IEA said that in 2016 renewable energy will overtake natural gas as a power source and will be twice that of nuclear, and second only to coal as a source of power.
The growth of renewables has been bolstered by increased competitiveness with conventional energy. It is "a bright spot in an otherwise bleak assessment of global progress towards a cleaner and more diversified energy mix", said IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven. The report listed Australia as one of several countries where renewable energy was becoming more competitive.
It said Australian wind generation is cost-effective next to new coal and gas-fired plants with carbon pricing. It also noted the success of onshore wind turbines in Brazil and South Africa. Renewable energy is growing especially fast in China and other developing and emerging countries. The IEA said non-hydroelectric renewable power, mainly wind and solar photovoltaics, is projected to grow from 4% of all power generation in 2011 to 8% in 2018.
"As their costs continue to fall, renewable power sources are increasingly standing on their own merits versus new fossil fuel generation", said van der Hoeven. "This is good news for a global energy system that needs to become cleaner and more diversified, but it should not be an excuse for government complacency, especially among OECD countries".
Still, the IEA, an institute backed by major energy consuming countries, cautioned that the continued growth of alternatives to oil, gas and coal faces some important challenges.
These include uncertainty about long-term government policies that discourages investment, reduced subsidies in some countries because of economic problems, and tough competition from other energy sources, such as the US, where a boom in shale gas has made that fuel more competitive. The report comes on the heels of recent research suggesting the threat of climate change is greater than earlier estimates.
An IEA report released earlier this month warned the world is on track to surpass by more than double the two-degree Celsius warming goal set by the United Nations, unless urgent measures are taken. The IEA's recommendations include curtailing coal-fired power stations and phasing out fossil fuel subsidies.
27 Jun 2013
RENEWABLES like solar and wind power represent the fastest-growing source of energy generation and will make up a quarter of the global power mix by 2018, the International Energy Agency IEA says. The IEA said that in 2016 renewable energy will overtake natural gas as a power source and will be twice that of nuclear, and second only to coal as a source of power.
The growth of renewables has been bolstered by increased competitiveness with conventional energy. It is "a bright spot in an otherwise bleak assessment of global progress towards a cleaner and more diversified energy mix", said IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven. The report listed Australia as one of several countries where renewable energy was becoming more competitive.
It said Australian wind generation is cost-effective next to new coal and gas-fired plants with carbon pricing. It also noted the success of onshore wind turbines in Brazil and South Africa. Renewable energy is growing especially fast in China and other developing and emerging countries. The IEA said non-hydroelectric renewable power, mainly wind and solar photovoltaics, is projected to grow from 4% of all power generation in 2011 to 8% in 2018.
"As their costs continue to fall, renewable power sources are increasingly standing on their own merits versus new fossil fuel generation", said van der Hoeven. "This is good news for a global energy system that needs to become cleaner and more diversified, but it should not be an excuse for government complacency, especially among OECD countries".
Still, the IEA, an institute backed by major energy consuming countries, cautioned that the continued growth of alternatives to oil, gas and coal faces some important challenges.
These include uncertainty about long-term government policies that discourages investment, reduced subsidies in some countries because of economic problems, and tough competition from other energy sources, such as the US, where a boom in shale gas has made that fuel more competitive. The report comes on the heels of recent research suggesting the threat of climate change is greater than earlier estimates.
An IEA report released earlier this month warned the world is on track to surpass by more than double the two-degree Celsius warming goal set by the United Nations, unless urgent measures are taken. The IEA's recommendations include curtailing coal-fired power stations and phasing out fossil fuel subsidies.
SOLEIR forges lease agreement for $100m solar project in Australia
solar.energy-business-review.com
27 Jun 2013
Australian solar power company SOLEIR has forged a 30 year lease agreement for a $100m solar project at Molong in central New South Wales (NSW). As per the terms of the agreement, SOLEIR has secured a three year option over a 100 hectare site to house a 50MW photovoltaic (PV) solar power project.
With lease agreement in place, the company is seeking development consent with the NSW State Government along with a connection agreement with TransGrid. It expects to secure both of them to be over in the next few months.
SOLEIR is planning to raise funds to finance the project from a major financial institution. The solar company, acquired by exploration firm Red Sky earlier in November 2012, is currently working on its first renewable project, the Dubbo Solar One Project located in central NSW.
First solar module is scheduled for installation at Dubbo project over next two months. In addition, the company is also expecting to obtain regulatory approval and connection agreement within next two months.
27 Jun 2013
Australian solar power company SOLEIR has forged a 30 year lease agreement for a $100m solar project at Molong in central New South Wales (NSW). As per the terms of the agreement, SOLEIR has secured a three year option over a 100 hectare site to house a 50MW photovoltaic (PV) solar power project.
With lease agreement in place, the company is seeking development consent with the NSW State Government along with a connection agreement with TransGrid. It expects to secure both of them to be over in the next few months.
SOLEIR is planning to raise funds to finance the project from a major financial institution. The solar company, acquired by exploration firm Red Sky earlier in November 2012, is currently working on its first renewable project, the Dubbo Solar One Project located in central NSW.
First solar module is scheduled for installation at Dubbo project over next two months. In addition, the company is also expecting to obtain regulatory approval and connection agreement within next two months.
Saturday, 10 August 2013
Innovative inspection method for photovoltaic systems
www.nanowerk.com
20 Jun 2013
Scientists at the Institute of Photovoltaic at the University of Stuttgart have developed an innovative method, enabling damage to the photovoltaic modules to be revealed quickly, above all for the first time also independent of lighting conditions with the help of luminescence images.
The Stuttgart Solar Centre, a working group from the Institute of Photovoltaic at the University of Stuttgart and the Steinbeis Centre for Photovoltaic, integrated together with HighFinesse GmbH the daylight luminescence method into the measurement system DaySy. This enables the luminescence to also be measured for the first time during the day.
A solar cell generates power from light and vice versa light from power. However, the solar cell only shines in places in which it is intact. This electrical luminescence is, however, not visible to the human eye. In the image of a camera optimised for the solar cell luminescence, the dark places reveal where there are defects.
Before new photovoltaic modules leave the factory, they are checked for defects as standard practice. However, damage could already occur on the transport route in the form of micro cracks and cell breakages. Incorrect assembly adds other defects. This damage generally only becomes noticeable after several years in the form of reduced output. Exchanging badly damaged modules is advisable since they could have a disproportionate impact on the performance of the system.
Up to now defective PV modules were able to be ascertained either by means of a thermal imaging camera; however, this could only be done from a solar irradiation exceeding 700 W/m², or by means of electrical luminance. The latter procedure was, however, only successful in the evening or at night since during the day the solar irradiation superimposes the considerably weaker luminescence of the systems.
The daylight luminescence method DaySy not only functions irrespective of daylight; it can also clearly classify the type of damage through the combination of electrical luminescence and photo luminescence measurements. After a short measurement time of approx. 30 seconds per module, DaySy ascertains the most frequent defects occurring with photovoltaic systems: broken cell connectors, (micro-) cracks, inactive cell surfaces, losses through series resistances, bad weak light conditions as well as potential-induced degradation (PID).
20 Jun 2013
Scientists at the Institute of Photovoltaic at the University of Stuttgart have developed an innovative method, enabling damage to the photovoltaic modules to be revealed quickly, above all for the first time also independent of lighting conditions with the help of luminescence images.
The Stuttgart Solar Centre, a working group from the Institute of Photovoltaic at the University of Stuttgart and the Steinbeis Centre for Photovoltaic, integrated together with HighFinesse GmbH the daylight luminescence method into the measurement system DaySy. This enables the luminescence to also be measured for the first time during the day.
A solar cell generates power from light and vice versa light from power. However, the solar cell only shines in places in which it is intact. This electrical luminescence is, however, not visible to the human eye. In the image of a camera optimised for the solar cell luminescence, the dark places reveal where there are defects.
Before new photovoltaic modules leave the factory, they are checked for defects as standard practice. However, damage could already occur on the transport route in the form of micro cracks and cell breakages. Incorrect assembly adds other defects. This damage generally only becomes noticeable after several years in the form of reduced output. Exchanging badly damaged modules is advisable since they could have a disproportionate impact on the performance of the system.
Up to now defective PV modules were able to be ascertained either by means of a thermal imaging camera; however, this could only be done from a solar irradiation exceeding 700 W/m², or by means of electrical luminance. The latter procedure was, however, only successful in the evening or at night since during the day the solar irradiation superimposes the considerably weaker luminescence of the systems.
The daylight luminescence method DaySy not only functions irrespective of daylight; it can also clearly classify the type of damage through the combination of electrical luminescence and photo luminescence measurements. After a short measurement time of approx. 30 seconds per module, DaySy ascertains the most frequent defects occurring with photovoltaic systems: broken cell connectors, (micro-) cracks, inactive cell surfaces, losses through series resistances, bad weak light conditions as well as potential-induced degradation (PID).
Sunday, 28 July 2013
U.S. photovoltaic power installations rise 33 pct in 1st quarter
www.reuters.com
11 Jun 2013
New solar photovoltaic power installations in the United States totaled 723 MWs (MW) during the first quarter, up 33% over the same period in 2012, industry analysts said in a report on Tuesday.
GTM Research and Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) forecast that during 2013, the industry will install 4.4 GWs of photovoltaic power facilities-enough to power about 800,000 average American homes. That will rise to nearly 9.2 GW annually in 2016.
As the cost of solar photovoltaic panels declines, solar power is one of the fastest-growing new energy sources in United States "Installations will speed up over the next four years as projects become economically preferable to retail power in more locations", said Shayle Kann, vice president of research at renewable power information company GTM, a unit of Greentech Media.
Kann warned, however, that changes to net metering and electricity rate structures could serve as the market's primary barrier. SEIA is an industry trade group.
The report said the average residential photovoltaic system price fell below $5.00 per watt, while the average nonresidential system price fell below $4.00 per watt. The report also said concentrating solar power capacity is expected to make "major gains" by the end of the year, adding more than 900 MW of capacity.
The report looked at both photovoltaic power, which uses solar panels to generate power, and concentrating solar power, which uses mirrors to concentrate sunlight on a tower or other structure to heat liquid to produce steam to power a turbine. It said the United States now has more than 8.5 GW of installed solar capacity and is expected to add 5.3 GW in 2013.
Some of the biggest solar power companies include units of Abengoa SA, Consolidated Edison Inc, Electricite de France SA, Enel Green Power SpA, FirstSolar Inc, Iberdrola SA, NextEra Energy Resources, NRG Energy Inc, Sempra Energy and SunPower Corp.
11 Jun 2013
New solar photovoltaic power installations in the United States totaled 723 MWs (MW) during the first quarter, up 33% over the same period in 2012, industry analysts said in a report on Tuesday.
GTM Research and Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) forecast that during 2013, the industry will install 4.4 GWs of photovoltaic power facilities-enough to power about 800,000 average American homes. That will rise to nearly 9.2 GW annually in 2016.
As the cost of solar photovoltaic panels declines, solar power is one of the fastest-growing new energy sources in United States "Installations will speed up over the next four years as projects become economically preferable to retail power in more locations", said Shayle Kann, vice president of research at renewable power information company GTM, a unit of Greentech Media.
Kann warned, however, that changes to net metering and electricity rate structures could serve as the market's primary barrier. SEIA is an industry trade group.
The report said the average residential photovoltaic system price fell below $5.00 per watt, while the average nonresidential system price fell below $4.00 per watt. The report also said concentrating solar power capacity is expected to make "major gains" by the end of the year, adding more than 900 MW of capacity.
The report looked at both photovoltaic power, which uses solar panels to generate power, and concentrating solar power, which uses mirrors to concentrate sunlight on a tower or other structure to heat liquid to produce steam to power a turbine. It said the United States now has more than 8.5 GW of installed solar capacity and is expected to add 5.3 GW in 2013.
Some of the biggest solar power companies include units of Abengoa SA, Consolidated Edison Inc, Electricite de France SA, Enel Green Power SpA, FirstSolar Inc, Iberdrola SA, NextEra Energy Resources, NRG Energy Inc, Sempra Energy and SunPower Corp.
Saturday, 27 July 2013
New Design for solar panels that can simultaneously generate and store energy
www.azonano.com
18 Jul 2013
The potential energy available via solar power might seem limitless on a sunny summer day, but all that energy has to be stored for it to be truly useful. If you see a solar panel on a rooftop, in a large-scale array, or even on a parking meter, a bulky battery or supercapacitor is hidden just out of sight, receiving energy from the panel through power lines.
However, that's a storage method that doesn't scale well for solar-powered devices with no space for a battery pack. In a quest for a smaller, more self-sustaining solar power source, a UW-Madison electrical engineer has proposed a design for solar panels that can simultaneously generate power from sunlight and store power reserves for later, all within a single device.
Hongrui Jiang and his students developed the idea, published in the journal Advanced Materials June 6. Jiang is the Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of electrical and computer engineering at UW-Madison and specializes in microscale devices. He and his students developed the technology as an offshoot of a National Institutes of Health grant to design a self-focusing contact lens that adapts to the eyes of adults suffering from presbyopia, a natural aging process that stiffens the lens and reduces the eye's ability to focus, especially at short distances.
To power that contact lens, Jiang and his team have worked out a design that balances energy harvesting, storage and usage. "We needed a multi-functional and small-form-factor device in order to integrate it all into a single contact lens structure", says Jiang.
The top layer of each photovoltaic cell is a conventional photo electrode, converting sunlight into electrons. During that conversion process, the electrons split off into two directions: most electrons flow out of the device to support a power load, while some are directed to a polyvinylidene fluoride polymer (PVDF) coated on zinc oxide nanowires. The PVDF has the high dielectric constant required to serve as an energy storage solution. "When there's no sunlight, the stored power will come back through the nano wires to power the load".
Read more
18 Jul 2013
The potential energy available via solar power might seem limitless on a sunny summer day, but all that energy has to be stored for it to be truly useful. If you see a solar panel on a rooftop, in a large-scale array, or even on a parking meter, a bulky battery or supercapacitor is hidden just out of sight, receiving energy from the panel through power lines.However, that's a storage method that doesn't scale well for solar-powered devices with no space for a battery pack. In a quest for a smaller, more self-sustaining solar power source, a UW-Madison electrical engineer has proposed a design for solar panels that can simultaneously generate power from sunlight and store power reserves for later, all within a single device.
Hongrui Jiang and his students developed the idea, published in the journal Advanced Materials June 6. Jiang is the Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of electrical and computer engineering at UW-Madison and specializes in microscale devices. He and his students developed the technology as an offshoot of a National Institutes of Health grant to design a self-focusing contact lens that adapts to the eyes of adults suffering from presbyopia, a natural aging process that stiffens the lens and reduces the eye's ability to focus, especially at short distances.
To power that contact lens, Jiang and his team have worked out a design that balances energy harvesting, storage and usage. "We needed a multi-functional and small-form-factor device in order to integrate it all into a single contact lens structure", says Jiang.
The top layer of each photovoltaic cell is a conventional photo electrode, converting sunlight into electrons. During that conversion process, the electrons split off into two directions: most electrons flow out of the device to support a power load, while some are directed to a polyvinylidene fluoride polymer (PVDF) coated on zinc oxide nanowires. The PVDF has the high dielectric constant required to serve as an energy storage solution. "When there's no sunlight, the stored power will come back through the nano wires to power the load".
Read more
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, 11 July 2013
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.
Nearly 20% of Australia’s PV home systems substandard, watchdog finds
www.pv-magazine.com
27. MAY 2013
Up to 200,000 photovoltaic units on homes across Australia could be improperly installed and some even posing a danger, according to the country's Clean Energy Regulator. Australia's Clean Energy Regulator estimates that up to 200,000 solar panel systems on homes throughout the country may have been improperly installed. While Australia boasts more than a million homes installed with photovoltaic systems throughout the country, the federal watchdog reckons nearly 20% could be in less than acceptable condition.
The regulator conducted random checks on 7,000 photovoltaic units and determined 19% were substandard and in need of repairs and shut down 4% of the systems on the spot, saying they were found to be unsafe. Based on the review, the regulator estimates that 190,000 systems could be in poor condition and up to 40,000 units possibly posing a danger, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Speaking to a parliamentary committee on the matter, Andrew Livingston, the Clean Energy Regulator's executive general manager in charge of renewables and carbon farming, said installers had reacted quickly to requests to repair the substandard or unsafe photovoltaic units, the newspaper said. While the watchdog lacks the power to force installers to make the necessary repairs, it can fine the licensed agents who contracted installers for the jobs up to A$3,500 ($3,378, €2,610).
The regulator is currently weighing legal action against installers in five cases, Livingston added. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission received 1,613 complaints about solar systems in 2012, up from 1,229 the previous year, and in addition to grievances made to state-based authorities.
27. MAY 2013
Up to 200,000 photovoltaic units on homes across Australia could be improperly installed and some even posing a danger, according to the country's Clean Energy Regulator. Australia's Clean Energy Regulator estimates that up to 200,000 solar panel systems on homes throughout the country may have been improperly installed. While Australia boasts more than a million homes installed with photovoltaic systems throughout the country, the federal watchdog reckons nearly 20% could be in less than acceptable condition.
The regulator conducted random checks on 7,000 photovoltaic units and determined 19% were substandard and in need of repairs and shut down 4% of the systems on the spot, saying they were found to be unsafe. Based on the review, the regulator estimates that 190,000 systems could be in poor condition and up to 40,000 units possibly posing a danger, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Speaking to a parliamentary committee on the matter, Andrew Livingston, the Clean Energy Regulator's executive general manager in charge of renewables and carbon farming, said installers had reacted quickly to requests to repair the substandard or unsafe photovoltaic units, the newspaper said. While the watchdog lacks the power to force installers to make the necessary repairs, it can fine the licensed agents who contracted installers for the jobs up to A$3,500 ($3,378, €2,610).
The regulator is currently weighing legal action against installers in five cases, Livingston added. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission received 1,613 complaints about solar systems in 2012, up from 1,229 the previous year, and in addition to grievances made to state-based authorities.
Wednesday, 26 June 2013
Solar Power: Australian scientists successfully print solar panels
www.policymic.com
21 May 2013
3D printing is all the rage at the moment, from the debate over 3D printed guns to plans to print pizza with a 3D food printer. Scientists in Australia, however, have shown that regular printing can still do amazing things too. Researchers at Australia's Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium (VICOSC)--a collaboration between the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the University of Melbourne, Monash University and industry partners--have successfully printed an A3 sheet of photovoltaic cells.
The sheets are the largest flexible, plastic solar cells that have been printed in Australia, having gone from printing cells the size of a finger nail just a few years ago. Research Dr David Jones eventually sees the cells, which produce 10 50 watts of power per m², "being laminated to windows that line skyscrapers [and] we'll also be able to embed cells onto roofing materials". Given the cost of the printer alone, $200,000, and its size (see below), this is not exactly the kind of thing that just anyone can start doing.
21 May 2013
3D printing is all the rage at the moment, from the debate over 3D printed guns to plans to print pizza with a 3D food printer. Scientists in Australia, however, have shown that regular printing can still do amazing things too. Researchers at Australia's Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium (VICOSC)--a collaboration between the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the University of Melbourne, Monash University and industry partners--have successfully printed an A3 sheet of photovoltaic cells.The sheets are the largest flexible, plastic solar cells that have been printed in Australia, having gone from printing cells the size of a finger nail just a few years ago. Research Dr David Jones eventually sees the cells, which produce 10 50 watts of power per m², "being laminated to windows that line skyscrapers [and] we'll also be able to embed cells onto roofing materials". Given the cost of the printer alone, $200,000, and its size (see below), this is not exactly the kind of thing that just anyone can start doing.
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.
Meridian alters buyback rates for solar customers
www.stuff.co.nz
5 Apr 2013
Meridian Energy says it will start promoting solar power generation now that it has changed its buyback rates. The company has ended its one-for-one pricing for its solar customers with grid-connected systems, which had allowed them to buy and sell the energy at the same rate. Meridian Energy said it was making a substantial loss from doing so, and this month moved to a two-stage pricing system. Its buyback energy rate for customers is now 25¢ a unit-a kW hour-for the first five units exported each day, and 10¢ a unit after that.
"We are committed to supporting solar, and now that we are no longer making a substantial loss from doing so, we will be able to start promoting it", said Bill Highet, the company's general manager retail. An increasing number of consumers are investing in grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) solar panel systems as the cost has reduced and the price of power had increased. The Nelson City Council is planning to hold a workshop of interested parties to discuss whether they could collaborate on solar initiatives.
Meridian Energy had about 750 solar customers, and that number was increasing by about two customers per day, Mr Highet said. "We understand that our pricing for those customers remains the most attractive available". He said Meridian Energy's analysis showed that most customers with on-site renewable generation would not see a significant difference in their power bills with the staged pricing, because their real savings were made by reducing the amount of electricity they bought from the company.
However, if they had installed major solar systems, the economics of their installation would be affected, as the 10¢ rate to buy back units in excess of five a day was more reflective of the wholesale rate that Meridian Energy paid when the sun was shining. "On cold days when the sun is not shining, the wholesale rate is much higher than 10¢ and regularly much higher than 25¢ but, unfortunately, solar panels are not much help to the customers or us at those times".
The change came into effect on April 8. Mr Highet said it had been explained to existing and prospective solar customers who had contacted Meridian Energy. "But regrettably, we do not know all of the contractors and solar suppliers who may have led customers to believe that our old one-for-one pricing would continue". TrustPower rubbished suggestions that energy retailers should be required to pay one-for-one rates.
Its community relations manager, Graeme Purches, said local network and transmission charges came in two parts-a fixed component, which formed part of the daily charge on a bill, and a variable component, which formed part of the unit charge. In some regions there are also capacity and congestion charges.
"So if a retailer was to pay back home generators the same unit price as they charged for power, they would effectively be paying the local network company for the variable line charge and paying the same charge to the consumer as well.
"While some may argue that because they have solar, they don't use the lines as much and therefore should pay less, that is reflected in the lower number of units they consume due to their solar offsetting some of their consumption, and if they are exporting, they still need to use the lines to get the power out anyway-so little has changed", Mr Purches said. This was why Meridian Energy had reduced its buyback, and TrustPower believed that its current rate was too high, he said.
TrustPower, which pays an average 7¢ a unit, has fewer than 10 solar PV customers. Mr Purches said the company was not in the business of subsidising home generators, and it could buy power cheaper off the ASX or on the spot market than it could paying the prices some competitors had been paying to solar PV customers. If there were to be subsidies, they needed to come from government sources, he said.
Such schemes had fallen over, as in South Australia, where the projected benefits of government subsidies for solar were not being realised, Mr Purches said. However, TrustPower had a massive test system operating now to develop technology to get a better capacity factor from solar PV, he said. This would ensure that the company was in the best position to take advantage of the technology when eventually it became financially viable without subsidies.
"When it is viable, there is a real advantage for consumers and the payback period is reasonable, we expect to be a major player in the market". Contact Energy has for the past five years kept the same 17.28¢ a unit rate for excess energy generated. It said that while it was interested in monitoring developments in the solar area, it was not a key area of focus. "We have seen a small rise in the number of residential and SME solar customers over the past year, but our solar customer base remains modest".
5 Apr 2013
Meridian Energy says it will start promoting solar power generation now that it has changed its buyback rates. The company has ended its one-for-one pricing for its solar customers with grid-connected systems, which had allowed them to buy and sell the energy at the same rate. Meridian Energy said it was making a substantial loss from doing so, and this month moved to a two-stage pricing system. Its buyback energy rate for customers is now 25¢ a unit-a kW hour-for the first five units exported each day, and 10¢ a unit after that.
"We are committed to supporting solar, and now that we are no longer making a substantial loss from doing so, we will be able to start promoting it", said Bill Highet, the company's general manager retail. An increasing number of consumers are investing in grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) solar panel systems as the cost has reduced and the price of power had increased. The Nelson City Council is planning to hold a workshop of interested parties to discuss whether they could collaborate on solar initiatives.
Meridian Energy had about 750 solar customers, and that number was increasing by about two customers per day, Mr Highet said. "We understand that our pricing for those customers remains the most attractive available". He said Meridian Energy's analysis showed that most customers with on-site renewable generation would not see a significant difference in their power bills with the staged pricing, because their real savings were made by reducing the amount of electricity they bought from the company.
However, if they had installed major solar systems, the economics of their installation would be affected, as the 10¢ rate to buy back units in excess of five a day was more reflective of the wholesale rate that Meridian Energy paid when the sun was shining. "On cold days when the sun is not shining, the wholesale rate is much higher than 10¢ and regularly much higher than 25¢ but, unfortunately, solar panels are not much help to the customers or us at those times".
The change came into effect on April 8. Mr Highet said it had been explained to existing and prospective solar customers who had contacted Meridian Energy. "But regrettably, we do not know all of the contractors and solar suppliers who may have led customers to believe that our old one-for-one pricing would continue". TrustPower rubbished suggestions that energy retailers should be required to pay one-for-one rates.
Its community relations manager, Graeme Purches, said local network and transmission charges came in two parts-a fixed component, which formed part of the daily charge on a bill, and a variable component, which formed part of the unit charge. In some regions there are also capacity and congestion charges.
"So if a retailer was to pay back home generators the same unit price as they charged for power, they would effectively be paying the local network company for the variable line charge and paying the same charge to the consumer as well.
"While some may argue that because they have solar, they don't use the lines as much and therefore should pay less, that is reflected in the lower number of units they consume due to their solar offsetting some of their consumption, and if they are exporting, they still need to use the lines to get the power out anyway-so little has changed", Mr Purches said. This was why Meridian Energy had reduced its buyback, and TrustPower believed that its current rate was too high, he said.
TrustPower, which pays an average 7¢ a unit, has fewer than 10 solar PV customers. Mr Purches said the company was not in the business of subsidising home generators, and it could buy power cheaper off the ASX or on the spot market than it could paying the prices some competitors had been paying to solar PV customers. If there were to be subsidies, they needed to come from government sources, he said.
Such schemes had fallen over, as in South Australia, where the projected benefits of government subsidies for solar were not being realised, Mr Purches said. However, TrustPower had a massive test system operating now to develop technology to get a better capacity factor from solar PV, he said. This would ensure that the company was in the best position to take advantage of the technology when eventually it became financially viable without subsidies.
"When it is viable, there is a real advantage for consumers and the payback period is reasonable, we expect to be a major player in the market". Contact Energy has for the past five years kept the same 17.28¢ a unit rate for excess energy generated. It said that while it was interested in monitoring developments in the solar area, it was not a key area of focus. "We have seen a small rise in the number of residential and SME solar customers over the past year, but our solar customer base remains modest".
Friday, 14 June 2013
New all-solid sulfur-based battery outperforms lithium-ion technology
m.phys.org
5 Jun 2013
(Phys.org) —Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have designed and tested an all-solid lithium sulfur battery with approximately four times the energy density of conventional lithium-ion technologies that power today's electronics.
The ORNL battery design, which uses abundant low-cost elemental sulfur, also addresses flammability concerns experienced by other chemistries. "Our approach is a complete change from the current battery concept of two electrodes joined by a liquid electrolyte, which has been used over the last 150 to 200 years," said Chengdu Liang, lead author on the ORNL study published this week in Angewandte Chemie International Edition. Scientists have been excited about the potential of lithium sulfur batteries for decades, but long-lasting, large-scale versions for commercial applications have proven elusive. Researchers were stuck with a catch-22 created by the battery's use of liquid electrolytes: On one hand, the liquid helped conduct ions through the battery by allowing lithium polysulfide compounds to dissolve. The downside, however, was that the same dissolution process caused the battery to prematurely break down.
The ORNL team overcame these barriers by first synthesizing a never-before-seen class of sulfur-rich materials that conduct ions as well as the lithium metal oxides conventionally used in the battery's cathode. Liang's team then combined the new sulfur-rich cathode and a lithium anode with a solid electrolyte material, also developed at ORNL, to create an energy-dense, all-solid battery. "This game-changing shift from liquid to solid electrolytes eliminates the problem of sulfur dissolution and enables us to deliver on the promise of lithium sulfur batteries," Liang said. "Our battery design has real potential to reduce cost, increase energy density and improve safety compared with existing lithium-ion technologies."
The new ionically-conductive cathode enabled the ORNL battery to maintain a capacity of 1200 milliamp-hours (mAh) per gram after 300 charge-discharge cycles at 60° Celsius. For comparison, a traditional lithium-ion battery cathode has an average capacity between 140-170 mAh/g. Because lithium sulfur batteries deliver about half the voltage of lithium-ion versions, this eight-fold increase in capacity demonstrated in the ORNL battery cathode translates into four times the gravimetric energy density of lithium-ion technologies, explained Liang. The team's all-solid design also increases battery safety by eliminating flammable liquid electrolytes that can react with lithium metal.
Chief among the ORNL battery's other advantages is its use of elemental sulfur, a plentiful industrial byproduct of petroleum processing. "Sulfur is practically free," Liang said. "Not only does sulfur store much more energy than the transition metal compounds used in lithium-ion battery cathodes, but a lithium sulfur device could help recycle a waste product into a useful technology." Although the team's new battery is still in the demonstration stage, Liang and his colleagues hope to see their research move quickly from the laboratory into commercial applications. A patent on the team's design is pending.
5 Jun 2013
(Phys.org) —Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have designed and tested an all-solid lithium sulfur battery with approximately four times the energy density of conventional lithium-ion technologies that power today's electronics.
The ORNL battery design, which uses abundant low-cost elemental sulfur, also addresses flammability concerns experienced by other chemistries. "Our approach is a complete change from the current battery concept of two electrodes joined by a liquid electrolyte, which has been used over the last 150 to 200 years," said Chengdu Liang, lead author on the ORNL study published this week in Angewandte Chemie International Edition. Scientists have been excited about the potential of lithium sulfur batteries for decades, but long-lasting, large-scale versions for commercial applications have proven elusive. Researchers were stuck with a catch-22 created by the battery's use of liquid electrolytes: On one hand, the liquid helped conduct ions through the battery by allowing lithium polysulfide compounds to dissolve. The downside, however, was that the same dissolution process caused the battery to prematurely break down.
The ORNL team overcame these barriers by first synthesizing a never-before-seen class of sulfur-rich materials that conduct ions as well as the lithium metal oxides conventionally used in the battery's cathode. Liang's team then combined the new sulfur-rich cathode and a lithium anode with a solid electrolyte material, also developed at ORNL, to create an energy-dense, all-solid battery. "This game-changing shift from liquid to solid electrolytes eliminates the problem of sulfur dissolution and enables us to deliver on the promise of lithium sulfur batteries," Liang said. "Our battery design has real potential to reduce cost, increase energy density and improve safety compared with existing lithium-ion technologies."
The new ionically-conductive cathode enabled the ORNL battery to maintain a capacity of 1200 milliamp-hours (mAh) per gram after 300 charge-discharge cycles at 60° Celsius. For comparison, a traditional lithium-ion battery cathode has an average capacity between 140-170 mAh/g. Because lithium sulfur batteries deliver about half the voltage of lithium-ion versions, this eight-fold increase in capacity demonstrated in the ORNL battery cathode translates into four times the gravimetric energy density of lithium-ion technologies, explained Liang. The team's all-solid design also increases battery safety by eliminating flammable liquid electrolytes that can react with lithium metal.
Chief among the ORNL battery's other advantages is its use of elemental sulfur, a plentiful industrial byproduct of petroleum processing. "Sulfur is practically free," Liang said. "Not only does sulfur store much more energy than the transition metal compounds used in lithium-ion battery cathodes, but a lithium sulfur device could help recycle a waste product into a useful technology." Although the team's new battery is still in the demonstration stage, Liang and his colleagues hope to see their research move quickly from the laboratory into commercial applications. A patent on the team's design is pending.
Wednesday, 12 June 2013
IBM applies supercomputer cooling to solar collector for 80% efficiency
www.gizmag.com
25 Apr 2013
Solar power may provide a clean, abundant source of energy, but we know the sun's rays are capable of much, much more. Aside from generating electricity, we've seen solar power harnessed to produce drinkable water as well, so why not combine the two processes into one system? That's what IBM and its collaborators are hoping to do with an affordable High Concentration Photovoltaic Thermal (HCPVT) system that uses cooling technology from supercomputers to harvest solar power more efficiently, and produce purified water at the same time.
The current prototype consists of a large parabolic dish made up of several mirrors, connected to a sun-tracking system. The majority of the sunlight hitting the dish is reflected and focused onto hundreds of triple-junction photovoltaic chips, all fitted to microchannel-liquid cooled receivers. Individually, each chip measures just 1 cm x 1 cm and can generates an average of 200-250 watts over an eight-hour period on a sunny day, at an efficiency of about 30%.
Thus far, this roughly matches the electrical power output and basic design of other concentrated solar systems in existence, but the cooling system is what really makes the HCPVT system stand apart. IBM adapted the cooling technology it developed for supercomputers like Aquasar and SuperMUC for use with photovoltaics to create a system that continually pumps water just a few micrometers away from each chip through micro-structured layers.
IBM says this method is 10 times more effective than using air-cooling, and maintains a stable temperature over the chips to prevent them from melting. The cooling system would allow the chips to remain operational at 2,000 times the intensity of the sun's rays, but IBM claims it can still provide a safe temperature up to 5,000 times concentration.
Read More…
25 Apr 2013
Solar power may provide a clean, abundant source of energy, but we know the sun's rays are capable of much, much more. Aside from generating electricity, we've seen solar power harnessed to produce drinkable water as well, so why not combine the two processes into one system? That's what IBM and its collaborators are hoping to do with an affordable High Concentration Photovoltaic Thermal (HCPVT) system that uses cooling technology from supercomputers to harvest solar power more efficiently, and produce purified water at the same time.The current prototype consists of a large parabolic dish made up of several mirrors, connected to a sun-tracking system. The majority of the sunlight hitting the dish is reflected and focused onto hundreds of triple-junction photovoltaic chips, all fitted to microchannel-liquid cooled receivers. Individually, each chip measures just 1 cm x 1 cm and can generates an average of 200-250 watts over an eight-hour period on a sunny day, at an efficiency of about 30%.
Thus far, this roughly matches the electrical power output and basic design of other concentrated solar systems in existence, but the cooling system is what really makes the HCPVT system stand apart. IBM adapted the cooling technology it developed for supercomputers like Aquasar and SuperMUC for use with photovoltaics to create a system that continually pumps water just a few micrometers away from each chip through micro-structured layers.
IBM says this method is 10 times more effective than using air-cooling, and maintains a stable temperature over the chips to prevent them from melting. The cooling system would allow the chips to remain operational at 2,000 times the intensity of the sun's rays, but IBM claims it can still provide a safe temperature up to 5,000 times concentration.
Read More…
John Laing plans $76 million investment in wind and solar energy
www.bloomberg.com
25 Apr 2013
John Laing Plc, a U.K, developer of hospitals, schools and roads, estimates it will spend about 50 million pounds ($76 million) this year on onshore wind and photovoltaic power projects in Britain and Sweden.
The company plans to invest in five developments this year, using debt to fund 50% to 70% of each plant, Ross McArthur, head of renewable energy for London-based John Laing, said in an interview. It wants to invest in areas with different regulatory structures to reduce reliance on one kind, he said.
The company completed three wind and two solar deals last year. While it's currently focused on northern European markets including the UK, John Laing is able to access the Australian and North American markets through locally based teams, said Andy Harmer, head of waste and energy. This may bring opportunities over the next year to 18 months, he said.
Sweden plans to get half of its energy from clean sources by 2020, from 47% now, and the U.K, is aiming for 15%, up from about 9.4%. Both subsidize renewable energy by placing an obligation on electricity suppliers to buy a certain portion of their power from low-carbon sources.
25 Apr 2013
John Laing Plc, a U.K, developer of hospitals, schools and roads, estimates it will spend about 50 million pounds ($76 million) this year on onshore wind and photovoltaic power projects in Britain and Sweden.
The company plans to invest in five developments this year, using debt to fund 50% to 70% of each plant, Ross McArthur, head of renewable energy for London-based John Laing, said in an interview. It wants to invest in areas with different regulatory structures to reduce reliance on one kind, he said.
The company completed three wind and two solar deals last year. While it's currently focused on northern European markets including the UK, John Laing is able to access the Australian and North American markets through locally based teams, said Andy Harmer, head of waste and energy. This may bring opportunities over the next year to 18 months, he said.
Sweden plans to get half of its energy from clean sources by 2020, from 47% now, and the U.K, is aiming for 15%, up from about 9.4%. Both subsidize renewable energy by placing an obligation on electricity suppliers to buy a certain portion of their power from low-carbon sources.
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