Saturday, 28 June 2014

The Future Of Solar Technology Could Be As Thin And Flexible As A Piece Of Paper

Here is some reading for you on how thin the solar cells could be made into. This article is about printed organic solar cell. Check the video on the original site [ link provided below ]. You can ask plasticphotovoltaics.org to ship you a free sample of this thin film organic solar cell. That is what the presenter promises in the video. Don't hold me responsible if they dont ship you the organic cells. I am only trying to give you a source. You can use this for your school projects, research.

Here is the article.

Researchers in Denmark recently claimed a major breakthrough in the production of organic photovoltaic (OPV) solar cells. Unlike traditional silicon solar cells, used in rooftop solar panels and large-scale solar farms, OPVs use organic semiconductors — made from plastics and other flexible materials — and are much lighter, more flexible and less expensive.

Because they use environmentally friendly materials and can be produced quickly with lower processing and materials costs, OPVs can be used in much more innovative ways, according to Jade Jones, Solar Analyst with GTM research. The flexibility of OPVs has its proponents thinking of potential uses that never would have been possible — solar cells on electronics, backpacks, clothing, windows. Jones said she’s even heard of researchers talking about using them for curtains.

Organic photovoltaics could be particularly useful in places that don’t see a lot of sunlight, Dr. Fernando Castro with the U.K. National Physical Laboratory recently told The Atlantic. Because they don’t require direct sunlight like traditional silicon cells, OPVs can generate power for a larger portion of the day.

While Castro said it has improved significantly in recent years, the most commonly cited downside of OPVs is the fact that they are less efficient than traditional solar cells. This is what the team at the Technical University of Denmark sought to address by accomplishing the first roll-to-roll manufacture of tandem OPV modules. By stacking the layers on top of one another, they were able to print them out rapidly on a large sheet. The team argued that by spreading the cells over a large area, the lack of efficiency becomes less of an issue.

“If I have made a kilometre of solar cells, then I am not interested if one module has an efficiency of 10 percent and the rest are two percent — I think what is important is what you can make for the public,” Frederik Krebs, head of the research team, told Chemistry World. “I am the guy that makes a lot of it and tries to look for the average and what is practical, and then there are the other guys that look at what is obtainable. Everybody has their role to play and hopefully we will meet some day, probably somewhere in the middle.”

Krebs and his team started the freeOPV initiative, which builds on the concept that polymer solar cells should be made available to anyone interested in them. Krebs encourages anyone with a technical or academic interest in OPVs to “make use of this special offer to study, posses, claim, reverse engineer, copy, and use these OPV modules that have been created to propagate OPV and hopefully enable us to reach the objective of supplying the globe with energy from OPV in the future.”

Another key limitation of organic photovoltaics is the short lifespan, something researchers in Germany are hoping to address by embedding the solar modules in flexible glass to better protect the components. “Glass is not only the ideal encapsulating material, it also tolerates process temperatures of up to 400 degrees,” explained Danny Krautz, project manager at Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research. The specialized glass is fracture-resistant, extremely strong, and can be used to make layers that are only 100 micrometers thick — roughly the same thickness as a sheet of paper.

While recent technological advancements could be promising, Jones said it’s important to point out that “there is a difference between commercial cell efficiency and research cell efficiency. A cell produced in the lab will have a higher efficiency than a cell produced at mass scale.”

And until the efficiency and durability of organic photovoltaics is improved, we likely won’t see them produced on a large scale. “OPV is still in the research/working group phase,” said Jones. “We aren’t seeing any big commercial manufacturers talk OPV.”

Nevertheless, citing the vast potential for mass adoption of the technology, the German government recently invested €16 million ($21 million) into the research and development of organic photovoltaics. The project will be spearheaded by Merck, the pharmaceutical, chemical and life science giant, and by developing more stable and efficient OPV materials, seeks to facilitate large-scale deployment for uses such as powering onboard electronic systems in cars and solar-powered glass facades on buildings.

Source : http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/06/23/3451684/future-of-solar-technology/

Solar panel manufactures will evolve to become energy service providers.

Here is something that I read a few days ago on the Forbes website. If you are a solar panel manufacturer today then you can dream big to evolve into a energy service provider. Here is one company in the USA called SOLAR POWER that has evolved to compete in the energy market. I am still wondering why the governments take up such projects and manage it themselves when they know that energy is one of the foremost needs of the people. Just like how the hydro-electric power plants are managed by the government we must have huge solar farms in areas where the sun is in plenty and the land / terrain is not conducive for agriculture. Nothing to complain about the private firms doing this. They are probably the drivers of this market and the ones responsible for the evolution of this technology.

Here is the article from the Forbes site.

A year after describing energy storage as part of a “fundamental change in how solar companies compete,” SunPower’s CEO, Tom Werner, said Tuesday the company is now testing technologies in a pilot project with homebuilder KB Home. SunPower will offer around a dozen lithium-ion battery systems free to buyers of KB’s homes in three California communities and install them by the end of the year, Werner told me. The goal is to see how well these battery systems work with solar panels from SunPower, which has sold nearly 3,000 solar energy systems to KB’s customers since the two companies started the partnership four years ago.

“The combination of solar, batteries and energy management will give consumers total control over their energy bills,” Werner said. “We see this as the beginning of that journey.”

The project is worth watching for several reasons. Energy storage makes is new and promises to be lucrative. It makes it possible to use solar electricity not just during the day, when the solar panels are able to capture sunlight. For businesses, they could use stored energy during times of the day when electricity from their utilities costs more. And, of course, having energy storage would make blackouts, especially prolonged ones from big storms or other natural disasters, more tolerable.

Energy storage technology remains pricy, though, and banks that are interested in financing installations want to see solid field performance data first. Public incentives will be a big driver for the market to grow. California promises to be a big market because its three investor-owned utilities are under mandate to buy 1,325 megawatts of energy storage services by 2020.

SunPower has morphed from being a solar panel maker to an energy service provider. It sells solar panels and other equipment to installers, and it develops solar power projects for business and utility customers. SunPower and KB plan to promote energy storage as a way for homeowners to bank solar electricity for use as backup power. Collecting performance data will help SunPower figure out the best way to manage solar energy production and the charging and discharging of electricity from storage.

SunPower is developing its own software to manage the battery system, Werner said. The plan is to integrate that with its software for managing the solar energy production and another software for managing the home’s overall energy use, he added. That will allow SunPower will make money from selling the equipment and software to developers and from developing its own projects.

For the pilot projects, the company is testing lithium-ion batteries from different suppliers. One of them is a battery system vendor from California, Sunverge Energy, Werner said. Sunverge, incidentally, raised $15 million in Series B recently from investors such as Total Energy Ventures International. Total Energy Ventures is part of the French oil and gas giant, Total, which is a major SunPower shareholder.

The pilot project will take place in KB’s communities in Irvine, El Dorado Hills and San Diego. SunPower and KB hope to start selling energy storage to homebuyers starting in 2015. Some of SunPower’s rivals are bullish about the energy storage market. There is SolarCity, which has been touting its lithium-ion battery systems from Tesla Motors. SunEdison has been testing different technologies. SunPower also has been running a pilot project in Australia and plans to start one in Germany in a couple of quarters, Werner said.

The company has been testing not just lithium-ion batteries. It’s also been investigating flow batteries, lead acid batteries and ice energy. Werner said SunPower remains interested in using different battery technologies for the three market segments: residential, commercial and utility.

Source : http://www.forbes.com/sites/uciliawang/2014/06/24/sunpowers-growth-strategy-developing-software-to-manage-solar-and-storage/

world's largest mobile solar powered generator

Hi folks,

Its a while since I posted some stuff. I hope I can get regular with this. I was busy with some office work and a little bit of badminton.

Many companies are looking at being creative with their way of using solar panels. Take a look at this from Ecosphere. It looks like a container is converted into an array of solar panels. It surely is creative. Good job Ecosphere.



Manufacturing firm Ecosphere Technologies has announced completion of the first Ecos PowerCube, the world’s largest mobile, deployable solar powered generator. The device can generate up to 15 kilowatts and offers numerous applications from military to disaster relief, to humanitarian efforts, residential and retail.

Designed to meet the growing demand for off-grid energy and telecommunications, with a unique array of stacked solar panels, the patented Ecos PowerCube maximizes the total amount of solar power generation possible in 10', 20' and 40' standard ISO shipping container footprints.

"This innovative patented solar technology has the potential to be one of the most important solar patented innovations of our generation," Dean Becker, director and intellectual property strategist for Ecosphere Technologies, said in a statement. "The company is ready to begin immediate demonstrations and looks forward to working with strategic partners across a wide variety of industries and applications globally to monetize this unique asset."

According to the company, the Ecos PowerCube is one of more than 35 patented and patent-pending technologies owned by the firm. Last year, Ecosphere Technologies reported revenue of $22.1 million, up $19.9 million compared to the previous year.

Now find your own ways of doing something like this. Get some solar panels on top of your car / truck / home.

Source : http://www.pennenergy.com/articles/pennenergy/2014/06/ecos-manufactures-first-powercube-mobile-energy-storage-device.html