Solar Electricity

Nicole Kuepper, a 23 year old solar cell scientist, has been voted Australia's favourite scientist in the Australian Museum Eureka Prizes People's Choice Award. Kuepper, a PhD student and lecturer at the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering at the University of New South Wales, the Eureka Prizes People's Choice Award was her second Eureka prize. She also won the British Council Eureka Prize for Young Leaders in Environmental Issues and Climate Change.

Suniva is a company spun off from Georgia Tech's Center for Excellence in Photovoltaics. They have developed solar panel technology which today is 18% efficient, over 50% more efficient than normal solar panels, and they have a clear roadmap leading to 20% efficiency Real Soon Now. Further they claim an inexpensive cost, under $1 per watt, again Real Soon Now. They are just entering mass production with funding for a production facility capable of producing 25 megawatt's of panels per year.

"Cost has always been one of solar’s biggest problems. Traditional solar cells require silicon, and silicon is an expensive commodity ... Nanosolar’s cells use no silicon, and the company’s manufacturing process allows it to create cells that are as efficient as most commercial cells for as little as 30 cents a watt. In San Jose, Nanosolar has built what will soon be the world’s largest solar-panel manufacturing facility. CEO Martin Roscheisen claims that once full production starts early next year, it will create 430 megawatts’ worth of solar cells a year..."

"First Solar, which makes cadmium-telluride solar cells, is having one of those years that corporate managers and investors dream about." They're having great sales etc but the article asks why there aren't competitors coming into the market to make cadmium-telluride solar panels. They discuss several aspects but it appears there are two.

The article discusses two businesses, Conergy and Standard Renewable Energy who are offering expertise to help businesses and homeowners through the confusing terrain of alternative or renewable energy technologies. Rather than a business or homeowner becoming an expert in the technology, they would rely on a company who's developed that expertise to do the work.

Researchers at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) have developed an inexpensive solar cell that can be painted or printed on flexible plastic sheets. "The process is simple," said lead researcher and author Somenath Mitra, PhD, professor and acting chair of NJIT's Department of Chemistry and Environmental Sciences.

Harvesting energy directly from abundant solar radiation using solar cells is increasingly emerging as a major component of future global energy strategy, said Mitra.