Solaria is developing a "new form of low-concentration solar PV multiplying technology that produces two to three times the number of PV cells from the same amount of silicon material." http://www.Solaria.com/
Entech uses inexpensive Fresnel lenses capture the sunlight, and focus it onto small solar cells, thereby reducing electricity costs compared to conventional flat-plate (planar) solar energy approaches. This method concentrates the sunlight 20 times, while also reducing the use of silicon cell material by 95%. http://www.entechsolar.com/
Maxxun
is developing luminescent solar energy concentrators with special coatings to
enhance the light output of these concentrators by 2-3 times. The concentrators
are combined with highly efficient photovoltaic cells and it is anticipated that
these systems will provide solar energy at a cost which is competitive with the
standard electric grid. http://www.maxxun.com/
Solenergy
is an Australian company which has developed Sunflower SRC Solar Ridge
Concentrators which are a simple, reliable and low cost way to generate
twice as much energy as fixed modules. They have achieved a recordable 12
cents per kW-hour energy cost. Ridge concentrators do not
require precise tracking, which makes them
very simple in installation and reliable in operation. http://www.solenergy.com.au/
Stellaris has demonstrated Concentrating
Photovoltaic Glazing (CPG) can lower manufacturing costs of solar modules by
more than 40% versus those of leading competitors in the solar industry.
Superior encapsulation technique also increases efficiency by over 20% and
provides greater protection of the photovoltaic (PV) material. Final module
cost approaches $1/watt. http://www.stellaris-corp.com/
Sliver Solar Cells - New manufacturing process
developed at the Australian National University uses as little as
1/30th the amount of hyper-pure silicon as in square solar PV technology.
Manufacturing plant is complete, and process testing is underway. The thinness
of the wafers makes them flexible and both top and bottom surfaces are
active. Can be used for curved surfaced
such as car/truck roofs.
PARC
concentrator PV (CPV) module reduces the size of the CPV design into a smaller,
thin, flat, molded glass tile and yields an even more high-performance,
cost-effective product. An offshoot, Sol Solution is developing a
photovoltaic system that takes advantage of chromatic aberration called a
'Rainbow Concentrator' to separate and concentrate the solar spectrum. This
will allow higher efficiencies for solar cells that are optimized for a
specific range of wavelengths
parc.com/research/projects/cleantech/cpv.html
H2Go has committed to first generation design incorporating non-imaging compound concentrating optics employing the Spectrolab triple junction cells. The concentration ratio is 500 suns, allowing for passive cooling. http://www.h2go.org/
Infinia produces a 3 Kw Solar Stirling product for
commercial
and residential users which will generate electricity more
efficiently and economically than Photovoltaic (PV) systems.
It concentrates sunlight on a free-piston Stirling engine made
from common materials using low-cost manufacturing
techniques, delivering a net system efficiency of over 24%.
Note to Thai entrepreneurs: Stirling engines could be
manufactured under license http://www.infiniacorp.com/
Sunengy Liquid Solar Array - The LSA system is based on floating solar collectors made mostly of plastic. Each has a very small area of silicon photovoltaic cells at the water surface with a 1 meter square, 2 mm thick plastic focusing lens rotating slowly above to track the sun. The collectors can be arrayed on a raft on a lake. If the a strong wind whips up, sensors cause the collectors to automatically submerge until the threat is passed. Has the potential to produce electricity for 3 US cents (one baht) per Kw hour and has a 20% efficiency rating – which is high. http://www.sunengy.com/
Pyron Solar - Developed in cooperation
with Boeing-Spectrolab a low-profile floating system with short-focal-length
lenses concentrating direct sunlight by 400X onto photovoltaic cells. These
advanced multi-junction cells produce 800 times more electricity than
conventional non-concentrating cells the same size. High efficiency and low
material requirements make the new system competitive with conventional power
plants. http://www.pyronsolar.com/US/
SV
Solar or Silicon
Valley Solar manufactures flat plate, internal concentrator solar
modules, that produce 16% more power with half the solar cells. Sol-X modules do not require tracking and
uses no moving parts. Additionally, it is efficient, reliable, cost effective
and easy to install.
http://www.sv-solar.com/
Energy
Innovations - Standing over five feet square and five feet high, the
Sunflower™ has 25 mirrors that track the sun, reflecting light onto the
receiver. The solar cell array turns concentrated light into electricity while
fans keep operating temperatures low.
Cost is about two-thirds that of comparably rated PV-based systems. http://www.energyinnovations.com/
Total
Spectrum Solar Concentrator - United Innovations first
concentrates the solar energy via parabolic reflectors, then splits the light
through a prism to focus the wavelengths onto solar collectors optimized for a
given spectrum.
Solarsphere Technology
combines elements of both direct intercept dishes and Solar Towers. The design
focuses on spheres and lightweight, thin film materials. Concentrators can be
ramped up to larger scale which are low-cost and can be mass produced.
http://www.seao2.com/solarsphere/csp.htm
Cool Earth Solar is a company which has developed an inflatable solar
concentrator technology that slashes materials costs, making solar farms competitive with commercial
electricity generation systems.
NuEdison - has created a low concentration photovoltaic module that gets up to twice the power out of any other solar cell, requires no tracking, is simple to manufacture. Can be installed on a roof. http://www.nuedison.com
Solaria - applies existing technologies from the semi-conductor
and optics industries to established form factors and testing methodologies of
current PV production. The result is a new form of low-concentration solar PV
technology that produces two to three times the number of PV modules from the
same amount of silicon material.
http://www.solaria.com/
Israeli
Solar - DiSP’s unique concept
in solar energy is a
miniature concentrating photovoltaic (MCPV) unit that increases
efficiency to 79% by capturing and transforming the sun’s heat as well. In areas of sustained sun, the cost could be lower than utility prices, about 15x better than flat panel PV systems. http://www.disp.co.il/
Flagsol has their New Solar Collector which are a new
line of parabolic trough collectors that will reduce costs by 15%-20%. Flagsol
is showing that solar thermal energy costs-per-Kw can match or beat cost-per-Kw
for coal or fossil fuels. http://www.flagsol.com
For added info on Parabolic Trough Technology:
http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2007/04/parabolic_trough.html
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19. Organizations Which Promote Alternative Energy
Palang Thai is a Thailand-based non-profit organization that works to ensure that the transformations that occur in the region's energy sector are economically rational, and that they augment, rather than undermine, social and environmental justice and sustainability. http://www.palangthai.org/
Algarve Energy Park is an innovative concept at national and European level, focused on developing specialized renewable energy solutions by creating a nucleus platform for the advanced training, research and development of energy technologies. The Algarve Energy Park in Portugal aims to complete the solutions circuit by integrally launching product demonstration, communication and commercialization from this platform. contact@algarveenergypark.com
Renewable Energy Fund is for investors who choose to invest in companies which are directly involved with alternative energy products and projects. Tel# in Miami, Florida: (305) 666 5053
The Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC) an initiative of the Club of Rome. TREC is a group of scientists, engineers and politicians developing a collaboration amongst countries in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa (EUMENA) to take advantage of the truly enormous quantities of solar energy falling as sunlight on the world's hot deserts. http://www.trecers.net/index.html
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North Africa and solar could be like a marriage made in heaven. The Sahara desert and its southern perimeter, the Sahel are ideal locations for solar. There’s no limit its power-generating potential – if there was willingness and investment funds. North Africa could be a solar harvester – shipping valuable power to Europe, the Middle East, and other parts of Africa.
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The
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
coined the name ‘TroughNet’ to describe trough solar technology, which offers the lowest cost solar electric option for large power plant applications. TroughNet is a technical resource that offers information about the various components of a solar trough. http://www.nrel.gov/csp/troughnet/
TREC-UK is a group of volunteers, mainly in
the UK, who are developing concepts developed by TREC and aim to raise
awareness of those concepts in the UK and beyond. TREC-Australia http://www.trec.net.au/
The UK branch is; http://www.trec-uk.org.uk/index.htm
42.8% Solar Cell Efficiency
Using a novel technology that adds multiple innovations to a very high-performance
crystalline silicon solar cell platform, a consortium led by the University of
Delaware (UD) has achieved a record-breaking combined solar cell efficiency of 42.8 percent. Details: http://www.cis.udel.edu/~honsberg/Refs/50percent-hawaii.pdf
While still in development, intermediate band solar cells
could promise efficiencies up to 63.2%! To be cost effective, the design will
only be applicable in highly concentrated sunlight applications suited to
utility-grade solar power.
Details: http://www.insidegreentech.com/node/1365
Soliant
Energy has designed a solar concentrator
that combines both lenses and mirrors in a compact roof-mounted system that tracks the sun, focusing light on small areas of photovoltaic material. They are manufactured at half the cost of conventional solar panels. http://www.soliant-energy.com/
Nevada Solar One is one of the world's largest solar installations, and generates 64 megawatts from Boulder City, Nevada. It covers 300 acres (750 rai) and contains 760 mirror arrays, each measuring about 100 meters. The mirrors direct sunlight onto an oil-filled tube which creates steam to turn a turbine, which in turn generates cheap electricity. Press release: http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/18718/
Nevada Solar One has also built a new large solar thermal power plant, has begun
supplying electricity to the Nevada state grid. Similar and larger plants are being
constructed in California's Mojave Desert, where an existing solar thermal plant has
been supplying commercial loads of electricity for over 20 years.
http://news.com.com/Solar+thermal+energy+making+a+comeback/21
00-11392_3-6189468.html?tag=cd.lede
Delta
Electronics has developed a
manufacturing process for modules using the high efficiency solar cells
recently developed by Spectrolab The new
concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) modules will get greater than 35% efficiency http://www.delta.com.tw/
Balloon technology cuts solar cost 90% Cool Earth Solar could make solar
energy cheaper than coal within a year, using inflatable solar PV concentrators
suspended above farmland. The company hopes to cut the cost of electricity to 29 cents per watt by 2010 http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0221-coolearth.html
Practical Instruments is in partnership with installers for the Heliotube. It reduces solar electric costs using 10 small reflective solar troughs that rotate to catch the
sun for longer periods, and requires less silicon in
construction.
http://www.practical-instruments.com/
A California startup company, SolFocus says it can slash the cost of solar power with its concentrator technology. At the heart of their system are thousands of small diameter (10 baht-sized) mirrors that focus sunlight on photovoltaic "dots" just one millimeter in size http://www.solfocus.com/
Prism Solar Technologies of NY has developed a proof-of-concept solar module that uses holograms to concentrate light, possibly cutting the cost of solar modules by as much as 75 %, making them competitive with electricity generated from fossil fuels. http://www.prismsolar.com/
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20. Using Solar to Produce Hydrogen
Isracast
claims zinc powder will drive your hydrogen car
By concentrating solar energy to produce zinc, which can be stored and shipped, and then deployed for hydrogen release on demand. Said to be clean, safe and inexpensive; it’s been developed by a cooperation of scientists from Israel, Sweden, Switzerland and France. http://www.isracast.com/
Sunlight Used to Produce Hydrogen From Water. Solar
Hydrogen Energy Corporation has demonstrated that solar energy can be
concentrated to over 1500°F and used to produce Hydrogen. Press release:
http://www.pureenergysystems.com/
news/2004/07/09/6900033_Solar_Hydrogen/index.html
N E W S I T E M F R O M B A N G K O K P O S T
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[author’s comments appear in brackets]
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The world’s four largest nuclear technology manufacturers have expressed interest in bidding for Thailand’s proposed nuclear power project.
Toshiba and Mitsubishi from Japan, Areva from France and General Electric from the US have each contacted the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) about submitting proposals to build a new nuclear plant.
Thailand hopes to have four nuclear plants, each costing at least $1 billion, in operation by 2020-21. Vietnam and Indonesia are expected to have nuclear plants operational by the same time.
[comment: Agence France Presse recently announced that Thailand’s first nuclear power plant is estimated (by Egat’s own experts) to cost 6 million dollars. Which is it – the $1 billion each in this article, or the $6 billion each reported within the same week by one of Europe’s most respected wire services? It’s a moot point, really. Regardless of whether the proposed cost is 1 or 6 or 12 billion bucks each, you can bet the actual cost will be much higher than the estimate. It’s doubtful whether a mega project has ever stayed on budget since Siam changed to Thailand.]
Kamol Takabut, Egat’s assistant governor for power plant engineering, said Candu from Canada was also keen but that its technology may cost more. GE and Toshiba, which earlier acquired 100% of Westinghouse, have offered boiling water reactor (BWR) technology that is used by 21% of the world’s 442 nuclear power plants.
Mitsubishi and Areva propose the more popular pressurized water reactor (PWR) used by 60% the world’s utilities.
”Both BWR and PWR require pretty much the same in terms of cost, but PWR is slightly better in terms of safety for personnel that operate the plant, so it is more popular,” Mr Kamol said.
However, he insisted that all types of nuclear power plants are safe and are fitted with automatic shutdown features. They generate no greenhouse gases.
[comment: Mr. Kamol conveniently skirts the fact that considerable amounts of greenhouse gases are released in relation to nuclear energy. There are fossils fuels (FF) burned to mine and process the fuel, FF burned to transport it, FF burned to build and maintain the plants, and FF burned to deal with the radioactive waste, and ultimately to decommission the plant.]
Egat expects to complete a nuclear proposal within three years. If the government decides to begin the project, construction could start in 2015, he said. Mr Kamol said that without nuclear power, Thailand was going to lose competitiveness to regional rivals.
[comment. Egat, in its own preliminary studies, has
indicated it will survey sites before deciding which sites to pick. Yes, you read that right. According to Egat, the surveying takes
place
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