photovoltaics

Massive solar photovoltaic plants are California-bound

SAN FRANCISCO--Pacific Gas & Electric has inked deals with OptiSolar and SunPower to establish 800 megawatts of solar farms in California, which could become the world's largest set of grid-tied photovoltaic installations.

The new plants would provide 1.65 billion kilowatt hours each year, enough to serve nearly 250,000 homes, according to Jack Keenan, CEO and senior vice president of PG&E.

"This commitment not only moves us forward in meeting our renewable goal, it's also a significant step forward in the renewable energy sector," he said. "Utility-scale deployment of PV (photovoltaic) technology … Read more

More 'star power' for LA landmarks

Soon even more star power than usual will be absorbed by the Staples Center and Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles.

In an initiative to reduce the overall carbon footprint of the two venues, Solar Power Inc., or SPI, has been hired by AEG to install its line of photovoltaic solar-panel power systems on their roofs, beginning in October.

The Staples Center, which seats approximately 20,000, is home to the LA Lakers, LA Sparks, and LA Clippers basketball teams, the LA Kings hockey team and the LA Avengers arena football team, as well as host to concerts and events such … Read more

Competition heats up in concentrating solar firms

There are two approaches to magnifying sunlight to make electricity--either concentrating light to make heat or concentrating light to boost solar cells' production.

Cyrium Technologies on Wednesday said that it has raised $15 million to compete with incumbent concentrating photovoltaic cell manufacturers. The series B round was led by the Quercus Trust.

The company is one of a handful of firms that makes high-end, efficient solar cells. These high-efficiency cells are used in conjunction with mirrors or lenses to boost output of solar arrays.

Commercial versions of these multijunction cells--essentially three cells stacked on top of each other--have an … Read more

Who will make CIGS work for the solar sector?

I've been saying for a while, that with enough money, someone is bound to crack the CIGS nut in thin film, and deliver the cleantech sector another First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) like renaissance for the always around the corner technology.

That's not because it's easy, or even because it's a good idea to try, but when well over a billion dollars in investment pours into a given technology, something is bound to come out the other side - eventually. A seductively high efficiency potential technology with very low potential materials costs, CIGS has been just over … Read more

Tech giant Intel joins IBM and Applied in big solar bet

Following on the 2006 and 2007 announcements of technology giants Applied Materials and IBM moving into the solar sector, Intel has joined the fray in 2008 with the spinout of SpectraWatt, its newly created solar division.

I had a chance to chat with Andrew Wilson, a longtime Intel guy who is the CEO of Spectrawatt, about what he is doing. The venture is the result of the last 3 years of extensive business planning, that Andrew said grew out of an off the cuff conversation he had internally four years ago.

While they have very early stage development in the … Read more

IBM replants chip-cooling tech in solar farms

IBM has developed technology that will let solar cells withstand the heat of more than a 1,000 suns.

At a technical conference on Thursday, representatives from IBM Research's photovoltaics research will present a method for cooling concentrating photovoltaics, a solar design where light is magnified onto high-performance solar cells.

Heat is a serious issue when it comes to concentrating photovoltaics, or CPV. The efficiency of cells degrades at high heat and can damage, and conceivably destroy, equipment at extremely high temperatures.

IBM said that its liquid-metal cooling technique, adapted from high-powered computers' chips, can remove roughly three-quarters of … Read more

Coming to a mall near you: Power-generating windows

Solar company HelioVolt and Architectural Glass & Aluminum on Tuesday announced a partnership to produce glass windows capable of generating electricity.

HelioVolt is one of several new solar manufacturers using different materials to produce thin-film solar cells.

The company intends to make solar cells for rooftop panels and later get into building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), where cells are embedded onto roof shingles, blinds, awnings, or other building components.

The deal with Architectural Glass & Aluminum calls for the companies to design solar-enabled curtain walls, the glass facades on the outside of buildings, or architectural glass in the interior of buildings.

Citing … Read more

Akeena touts the ready-to-install solar panel

Although solar panels can cut electrical bills, there are drawbacks. They cost a lot to install and are incredibly ugly.

Akeena Solar is trying to get around both those problems with what it says it a better rack. The company has developed a completely integrated system, called Andalay, which includes a solar panel, the frame and the wiring that it says cuts down installation costs by around 50 percent. Integration also reduces the number of individual parts by 70 percent, says CEO Barry Cinnamon, who has been toiling in solar since the 70s.

Although the integrated system costs more than … Read more

'Printed' solar cells coming to windows, clothing

NEW YORK--Solar company Konarka wants to bring plastics to life with the sun.

Konarka has developed technology to create rolls of plastic that can convert light to electricity--a design that will result in solar power being embedded in everything from flashing Coke bottles to wireless sensors, the company claims.

Earlier this month, Konarka said that it has demonstrated the use of inkjet printing to manufacture its solar cells. And at a recent investor conference here, chairman and founder Howard Berke described Konarka's longer-term plans to embed small solar plastic cells in hundreds of products.

In the second half of … Read more