Technut News

‘New solar dish from MIT concentrates sunlight intensely enough to melt steel.’ -

The solar industry is booming. With waves of investment and grants, the solar power industry is for the first time becoming a serious business. New power plants will soon be pumping power out to consumers, while other firms market to sell panels directly to the consumer, providing them with a more direct means of experiencing solar energy.

There are many forms of solar power technology. Today the most dominant is photo-voltaics , which comprise the traditional solar panels that come to mind when one thinks of solar power. However, there are other promising ways of capturing the sun’s energy that are merely less developed.

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Researchers at the A*STAR Institute of Microelectronics in Singapore, led by Chang-yun Jiang, have developed highly bendable “dye-sensitized” solar cells made from zinc oxide nanowire photoelectrodes on plastic substrates. The researchers found that the nanowires are highly resistant to cracking because gaps between the nanowires allow them to efficiently release bending stresses. The devices, which conserve their photovoltaic properties even when they are extremely bent, have a variety of potential application in flexible and portable devices, such as solar-cell mobile phone chargers, clothes, and umbrellas.

The photoanodes in dye-senzitised solar cells (DSCCs) are usually made from a film of titanium dioxide or zinc oxide nanocrystals. The problem is that these thick films are fragile and crack easily when bent. Moreover, nanocrystals work well at high temperatures, which are disastrous for the plastic-film substrates. The scientists solved this problem by creating flexible DSSCs that are based on this substrate, so that their properties are conserved even when bent.

More about the zinc oxide nanowire flexible cells can be found here (translated via Google).

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The Florida Public Service Commission has “unanimously and enthusiastically” approved a plan to build America’s largest commercial solar-power plant in the state. The committee also gave the green light to a further two facilities, due to go on-line in 2009.

Florida Power & Light have selected SunPower to construct the three solar-power plants in the center of the state. The largest, a 75-megawatt plant in Martin County on the East Coast, will be connected to a natural gas plant. Another 25-megawatt plant in DeSoto County will be the largest photovoltaic facility in the country, while a third, 10-megawatt photovoltaic facility is to be housed at the Kennedy Space Center.

Speaking about the project, Howard Wenger, SunPower’s Senior Vice President, Global Business Units said, “These agreements confirm the growing trend in the U.S. to build solar power plants at a scale rivalling those in market-leading countries such as Germany and Spain.”

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Just when it looked like things were getting dark for solar, the tide has taken a turn for the better.

I’m not going to stand by idly while this revolution is taking place. I’m buying alternative energy stocks, damnit!

Another recent energy-related article of interested is the one about Al Gore’s ambitious plan to go 100% carbon neutral in only 10 years.

Enjoy the read.

No more solar cells covering a roof, but around the edges of a flat glass panel, as shown in the artist’s representation by NSF.

MIT engineers say they’ve created a new approach to harnessing the sun’s energy that provide windows with a clear view and illuminate rooms at the same time without the need for tracking devices.

According to a news release from MIT , the solar concentrator collects light at the edges, and dye molecules coated on the glass absorb sunlight and re-emits it at different wavelengths. The light is trapped within the glass and transported to solar cells along the edge, creating electricity and allowing light into the room as well.

The mixture of dyes is applied to the surface of the glass and allows light to travel a much longer distance. Mapel said, that as a result, light transportation losses were significantly reduced, resulting in a “tenfold increase in the amount of power converted by the solar cells.”

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Also see See-Through Solar Hack Could Double Panel Efficiency and New Windows Double As Solar Panels.

Solar is doing incredibly well. Humanity can wean itself off oil in no time if it so desires.

Just have a look at these articles that have recently appeared:

1. Cheaper Solar Power
2. Another Silicon Valley?
3. Cost Of Solar Panels Expected To Plummet
4. IBM Research Reveals Breakthrough In Solar Farm Technology
5. Solar Power Goes To Extremes For 5Cents Per Kwh
6. Solar Power Just About Ready For Prime Time
7. It’s Solar Power’s Time To Shine

We may or may not be running out of oil, but it would still be better for the environment if our energy was clean.

Then, ofcourse, there’s always people who want to stop solar in its tracks because of environmental concerns.

Say wha?

Yes, you read it right. Worried about the environmental impact of solar…

[update]

The moratorium has been lifted.

This shows more common sense than I had anticipated.

The Bureau of Land Management has buckled under the heavy pressure from the public.

If only things would go the same way for stem cells… but that’s probably too much to ask.

New NanoMaterial Directly Converts Radiation into Electricity

Researchers have developed a nanomaterial that turns radiation directly into electricity, which could be used to produce a new era of spacecrafts and even Earth-based vehicles powered by high-powered nuclear batteries. These new batteries may allow passenger vehicles to travel for thousands of miles with little or no maintance at a fraction of the cost of gasoline and would even be much superior to Plug-in-Hybrids.

Liviu Popa-Simil, from the Alabama A&M University, developed the material along with his team.

Beginning in the 1960s, the US and Soviet Union used thermoelectric materials that convert heat into electricity to power spacecraft using nuclear fission or decaying radioactive material.

Though dispensing with the steam and turbines makes those systems smaller and less complicated, thermoelectric materials have very low efficiency.

Now, US researchers have developed highly efficient materials that can convert the radiation, not heat, from nuclear materials and reactions into electricity.

The List: The World’s Largest Solar Energy Projects

Record-breaking oil prices, soaring greenhouse-gas emissions, and the rise of carbon trading all add up to one thing: a new dawn for solar power. From New Mexico to Australia, governments and businesses are collaborating to create new megaplants that will bring clean electricity to tens of thousands.

Together, these plants will produce nearly 2000 megawatts!!!

‘In Vitro Synthetic Biology’ Hydrogen Process Could Lead To Sugar-Fueled Cars

Chemists are describing development of a “revolutionary” process for converting plant sugars into hydrogen, which could be used to cheaply and efficiently power vehicles equipped with hydrogen fuel cells without producing any pollutants.

The process involves combining plant sugars, water, and a cocktail of powerful enzymes to produce hydrogen and carbon dioxide under mild reaction conditions. They say it is the world’s most efficient method for producing hydrogen.

The new system helps solve the three major technical barriers to the so-called “hydrogen economy,” researchers said. Those roadblocks involve how to produce low-cost sustainable hydrogen, how to store hydrogen, and how to distribute it efficiently, the researchers say.

“This is revolutionary work,” says lead researcher Y.-H. Percival Zhang, Ph.D., a biochemical engineer at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va. “This has opened up a whole new direction in hydrogen research. With technology improvement, sugar-powered vehicles could come true eventually.”

Start-up: Affordable solar power possible in a year

A Silicon Valley start-up says it has developed technology that can deliver solar power in about a year at prices competitive with coal-fired electricity, a milestone that would leapfrog other more established players and turbocharge the fast-growing industry.

SUNRGI’s “concentrated photovoltaic” system relies on lenses to magnify sunlight 2,000 times, letting it produce as much electricity as standard panels with a far smaller system. Craig Goodman, head of the National Energy Marketers Association, is expected to announce the breakthrough Tuesday.

Under its plans, which experts call promising but highly ambitious, SUNRGI would initially target utilities and large industrial and commercial customers. The company — founded by veterans of computer, digital design, aerospace and solar industries — would market to homes within three years.

Executives of the year-old company say they’ll start producing solar panels by mid-2009 that will generate electricity for about 7 cents a kilowatt hour, including installation. That’s roughly the price of cheap coal-fired electricity. “We’re bringing the cost of solar electricity down to be competitive with” fossil fuels, says Bob Block, a co-founder of SUNRGI.

Only 7 cents.

That’s absolutely nothing.

Conventional energy costs about 12, 13, 14 cents per kilowatt hour, depending on who your electricity supplier is.

The future of energy looks bright, folks.

Whenever you see an optimist predicting that we’ll have 20% renewable energy by 2020, do him a favor… burst out in uncontrollable laughter for about 5 minutes or so.

Also see Google-Backed Solar Startup Picks Up Steam, $130 Million.

MIT, Chesonis Foundation announce solar revolution

Promising to transform solar power from a “boutique” option to an affordable, dependable, mainstream energy solution, MIT and the Chesonis Family Foundation today launched a “solar revolution” with the ultimate aim of making solar energy America’s primary carbon-free fuel.

The Solar Revolution Project (SRP), funded by a $10 million gift from the Foundation, will explore new materials and systems that could dramatically accelerate the availability of solar energy. The SRP will complement and interact closely with other large solar projects at MIT, creating one of the largest solar energy clusters at any research university.

The Chesonis gift will allow MIT to explore bold approaches that are essential for transforming the solar industry. Specifically, it will focus on three elements –capture, conversion and storage — that will ultimately make solar power a viable, near-term energy source.

“Solar is thought of as an ultimate energy technology off in the distant future. The goal of SRP is to move this timeframe nearer to the present. The SRP will make solar a practical alternative, by committing a 10-year timeframe for establishing the new base of scientific knowledge it will take to draw a market-competitive energy supply from the sun,” said Daniel Nocera, the Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy and Professor of Chemistry at MIT, who will direct the SRP. “With SRP, think ’solar’ and think ‘now.’ This is the revolution that is implied in the project name.”

Professor Ernest Moniz, director of the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI), said, “Climate change makes the search for more environmentally benign sources of energy urgent and hugely important. Many experts have concluded that solar energy is a key, if not the key answer to our global energy challenges in the long term.

eSolar Announces Breakthrough Pre-Fabricated Solar Power Plants

Today, eSolar, a producer of scalable solar thermal power plants, announced that it has closed $130 million in funding from Idealab, Google.org, Oak Investment Partners, and other investors for the construction and deployment of pre-fabricated power plants. Designed to address the complex issues surrounding large or utility-scale power projects, eSolar’s distributed solar thermal plants achieve economies of scale at 33 MW, and are modularly scaled to fit the needs of large and small utilities.

“The eSolar™ power plant is based on mass manufactured components, and designed for rapid construction, uniform modularity, and unlimited scalability,” said Asif Ansari, CEO of eSolar. “Rather than over-engineering the solution, eSolar’s smart scalable solar architecture targets what we see as the four key business obstacles facing the sector: price, scalability, rapid deployment, and grid impact.”

In order to deliver on the promise of Big Solar, the typical utility-scale installation faces huge construction costs and requires large tracts of real estate, combined with expensive transmission line improvements to bring the power out of the deserts and into the cities. eSolar’s modular approach stands in direct contrast to this ‘bigger is better’ strategy. eSolar has replaced expensive steel, concrete, and brute force with inexpensive computing power and elegant algorithms. This new method of installing a solar power plant minimizes costly civil construction and the use of heavy equipment, dramatically reducing project cost and deployment time.

Centering on eSolar’s 33 MW pre-fab form-factor, the company’s modular design translates to minimal land requirements. The company’s solar power plant solutions are tailored to fit local resources and produce a low environmental footprint, favoring a straightforward siting and permitting process. Myriad locations combined with a multitude of interconnection options mean that eSolar can deliver more clean, carbon free power where it is needed: near the cities and towns where it is consumed.

“eSolar’s primary business goal is nothing short of making solar electricity for less than the price of coal, without subsidies,” said Bill Gross, eSolar Chairman and Founder of Idealab. “This is not only attainable, but will truly change the world.”

Also see:

Is Algae BioFuel Ready to Hit the US Market?

Algae: ‘The ultimate in renewable energy’

New Wind Power Record in Spain: 40.8% of Total Demand!

Last year we wrote about Spain’s wind power production record, which was 27% at the time. That seemed like a lot, but a week ago, Spain’s wind turbines produced 40.8% of total demand, or 9,862 megawatts of power.

There’s a catch, though. The previous record was 10,032 megawatts, but that was 28% of total consumption because it happened during a week day and demand was higher. So this new record is a relative record, while the previous one stands as the absolute best in electricity produced. Still, it’s impressive and we hope that others will pay attention and realize that it can be done.

Solar Power Paint Is 2.5 Years Away

According to a UK scientist Dr. Dave Worsley, commercial panels of architectural steel, painted with special solar-power paint capable of generating electricity should be available in as little as two and a half years. Dr Worsley and Dr Trystan Watson of Swansea University have developed a new paint based on dye-sensitized solar cells. This new solar paint is a result of previous research into different ways of preventing metal buildings from degrading due to the elements. Dr. Worsley describes the idea as “a collision between two existing technologies – one for generating electricity and one for applying paint to steel.”

The paint works by giving energy boosts to free electrons causing them to jump from dyed titanium dioxide into a layer of electrolyte. This causes excess energy to flow into the collecting circuit before the electrons jump back into the dyed titanium dioxide pigment. This process, unlike typical silicon based photovoltaic cells, where the suns energy is absorbed, is less efficient, however this also means that expensive solar grade silicon is not needed thereby lowering the cost.

Konarka Tests The First Inkjet Printed Solar Cells

Konarka Technologies is a company which is trying to develop new ways of producing solar energy, with its headquarters in Lowell, Massachusetts and it was founded in 2001. On 4th of March they announced that they have successfully tested the manufacturing process of inkjet printed solar cells. This project was published in a journal called “Advanced Materials” entitled “High Photovoltaic Performance of Inkjet Printed Polymer:Fullerene Blends” and it was developed by a Konarka team consisting of Dr. Stelios A. Choulis, Claudia N. Hoth, Dr. Pavel Schilinsky and Dr. Christoph J. Brabec.

According to Rick Hess, president and CEO at Konarka, this a big step for more efficient solar cells and here are a few of his words: “demonstrating the use of inkjet printing technology as a fabrication tool for highly efficient solar cells and sensors with small area requirements is a major milestone”, also he said: “this essential breakthrough in the field of printed solar cells positions Konarka as an emerging leader in printed photovoltaics”.