Solar

If solar startups Alta Devices and Semprius were in the server business, one would be developing a deluxe high-powered server while the other would be stringing thousands of Linux boxes together. Both approaches, though, are showing promise at bringing the cost of solar power down.

Alta Devices today said it set the record for the most efficient solar cell, able to convert 23.5 percent of sunlight into electricity. The University of California at Berkeley spin-out said the efficiency mark, verified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, is a step toward commercializing its novel solar technology.

The company is making … Read more

In a mashup of biology and electronics, researchers said they've made progress in making low-cost solar cell from plants.

A paper published in Scientific Reports today describes an improved method for making electricity-producing "biophotovoltaics" without the sophisticated laboratory equipment previously needed. Researchers said custom-designed chemicals could be mixed with green plants, even grass clippings, to create a photovoltaic material by harnessing photosynthesis.

"Take that bag (of chemicals), mix it with anything green and paint it on the roof," said MIT researcher Andreas Mershin, who is one of the paper's co-authors, in a statement. He … Read more

SOUTH BOSTON--From this grungy warehouse converted into a startup incubator, Sam White and Sorin Grama plot how to chill milk for poor Indian villagers.

The four-year journey of their startup, Promethean Power, has included several trips to India and dramatic engineering detours. Now finally, their rapid milk chillers, which feature a novel energy-storage technology, will be installed at three milk processing centers in India in the coming months.

The two company co-founders had originally intended to build a solar-powered milk chiller that would improve the lives of Indian farmers and advance renewable energy. But despite engineering some nifty power electronics, … Read more

Even if they haven't installed a solar array in their backyard, a new OnStar program lets Volt drivers recharge their plug-in hybrids with renewable energy.

OnStar is working with electric power systems operator PJM Interconnection to develop technology that could give drivers a choice of the type of electricity used to recharge their Volt. The new system would let drivers establish a renewable energy preference for the Volt and help them use renewably generated electricity to recharge their cars.

PJM monitors the percentage of renewable energy available on the electrical grid, and uploads the forecast to OnStar's cloud. … Read more

A solar farm in California will be the largest to use an emerging type of thin-film solar technology, another competitive force bringing down the price of solar.

Japan-based Solar Frontier will supply solar panels built with solar cells that use a combination of copper, indium, and selenide. The project, which will produce 150 megawatts at peak times, will be in Kearn County, California and is expected to be completed next June.

Project developer Enxco and Solar Frontier said the thin-film technology has a favorable year-round energy production, not only during its peak output. The technology is "compelling to major … Read more

Pushing to stay one step ahead of rivals, First Solar today set a new mark for the efficiency of its solar panels.

The company said that it achieved 14.4 percent efficiency in converting sunlight to electric power for a panel in its research labs. At the individual solar-cell level, the efficiency is 17.3 percent. (Solar cells are assembled and linked together in a solar panel).

For solar-panel manufacturers, efficiency and production costs are the two primary levers to differentiate products. With the ramp-up of well-financed Chinese manufacturers, the price of solar panels has plummeted over the past three … Read more

Few people are getting rich selling solar energy back to the grid, but one homeowner has made enough to pay for his Chevy Volt.

Retired nephrologist Bob Stonerock says that he used the $5,600 he's made over the last two years selling solar electricity to the Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) for the down payment on his red 2012 Chevy Volt.

The Chevrolet Volt is an extended-range electric vehicle that can operate for the first 40 miles on electricity alone before switching on its gas-powered engine. The plug-in hybrid retails for $41,000 and leases for $350 per month. … Read more

Solar Millennium said today it has begun insolvency proceedings, the second German solar manufacturer to do so this month.

The company has been trying to sell its pipeline of large-scale concentrating solar projects in the U.S. But because Solar Millennium was not able to negotiate desired terms, it had to enter into insolvency to "save existing assets," the company said in a statement.

Solar Millennium is considered a concentrating solar power pioneer. The news of Solar Millennium's financial woes is the latest event in a wrenching industry shakeout that has caused bankruptcies at a number of … Read more

Startup GMZ Energy thinks solar hot water panels can pull double duty.

The company today announced it raised $14 million in series C funding to commercialize a product that will draw electricity from solar hot water collectors. It will also make small chips able to convert heat from car exhaust pipes and industrial machines into electricity.

GMZ Energy, which was spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston College in 2008, has created an improved material for converting the energy in heat into electric power. The process works in reverse so an electric current will produce heat.

Thermoelectric … Read more