Solar panels - big improvements in 3 years

Stuckupahill

People considering photovoltaic (electric) solar energy may find this interesting...maybe worth waiting a while before buying a system now..

Boffins at Massachsetts university claim they've discovered a way of making photovoltaic solar panels 10 times more powerful. They also claim you can see through them - so could replace windows....

but won't be available until three years time. see links below

Andy

Http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/solarcells-0710.html
MIT opens new 'window' on solar energy
Cost effective devices expected on market soon
Elizabeth A. Thomson, News Office
July 10, 2008

Imagine windows that not only provide a clear view and illuminate rooms, but also use sunlight to efficiently help power the building they are part of. MIT engineers report a new approach to harnessing the sun's energy that could allow just that.
The work, to be reported in the July 11 issue of Science, involves the creation of a novel "solar concentrator." "Light is collected over a large area [like a window] and gathered, or concentrated, at the edges," explains Marc A. Baldo, leader of the work and the Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Career Development Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering.
As a result, rather than covering a roof with expensive solar cells (the semiconductor devices that transform sunlight into electricity), the cells only need to be around the edges of a flat glass panel. In addition, the focused light increases the electrical power obtained from each solar cell "by a factor of over 40," Baldo says.
Because the system is simple to manufacture, the team believes that it could be implemented within three years--even added onto existing solar-panel systems to increase their efficiency by 50 percent for minimal additional cost. That, in turn, would substantially reduce the cost of solar electricity.

• Fact sheet: MIT's solar concentrators

In addition to Baldo, the researchers involved are Michael Currie, Jon Mapel, and Timothy Heidel, all graduate students in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Shalom Goffri, a postdoctoral associate in MIT's Research Laboratory of Electronics.
"Professor Baldo's project utilizes innovative design to achieve superior solar conversion without optical tracking," says Dr. Aravinda Kini, program manager in the Office of Basic Energy Sciences in the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science, a sponsor of the work. "This accomplishment demonstrates the critical importance of innovative basic research in bringing about revolutionary advances in solar energy utilization in a cost-effective manner."
Solar concentrators in use today "track the sun to generate high optical intensities, often by using large mobile mirrors that are expensive to deploy and maintain," Baldo and colleagues write in Science. Further, "solar cells at the focal point of the mirrors must be cooled, and the entire assembly wastes space around the perimeter to avoid shadowing neighboring concentrators."
The MIT solar concentrator involves a mixture of two or more dyes that is essentially painted onto a pane of glass or plastic. The dyes work together to absorb light across a range of wavelengths, which is then re-emitted at a different wavelength and transported across the pane to waiting solar cells at the edges.
In the 1970s, similar solar concentrators were developed by impregnating dyes in plastic. But the idea was abandoned because, among other things, not enough of the collected light could reach the edges of the concentrator. Much of it was lost en route.
The MIT engineers, experts in optical techniques developed for lasers and organic light-emitting diodes, realized that perhaps those same advances could be applied to solar concentrators. The result? A mixture of dyes in specific ratios, applied only to the surface of the glass, that allows some level of control over light absorption and emission. "We made it so the light can travel a much longer distance," Mapel says. "We were able to substantially reduce light transport losses, resulting in a tenfold increase in the amount of power converted by the solar cells."
This work was also supported by the National Science Foundation. Baldo is also affiliated with MIT's Research Laboratory of Electronics, Microsystems Technology Laboratories, and Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies.
Mapel, Currie and Goffri are starting a company, Covalent Solar, to develop and commercialize the new technology. Earlier this year Covalent Solar won two prizes in the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition. The company placed first in the Energy category ($20,000) and won the Audience Judging Award ($10,000), voted on by all who attended the awards.

other links

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/solarcells-faq-0710.html

http://www.eecs.mit.edu/cgi-bin/announcements.cgi?page=2008/data/237.dat
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111903&org=NSF

Chalkster

Definatley worth waiting for advances I think.

These guys are still at an early stage in terms of devlopment but it shows solar power is on it's way towards being much more cost effective especially with current energy prices.

Also see: http://venturebeat.com/2008/06/16/xtreme-energetics-ultra-efficient-pretty-solar-systems-catch-hps-eye/

Covalent Solar, a startup being spun out by team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has yet another idea for concentrating solar photovoltaics: Layered glass with organic dyes that let some wavelengths of light through, and trap others, channeling the light to solar cells at the perimeter of the “panel”.

The concentrators, which would look a bit like windows, could be used as cheaper alternatives to rooftop solar panel installations. And unlike other concentrating panels, they would not require cooling, because the solar cells used can be specially made to capture light of the wavelength being sent to them.

Oddly enough, a number of reports appearing today (for example, in the Associated Press) suggested that Covalent’s concentrators would be of use in actual windows, but co-founder John Mapel made no mention of that possibility when we talked last week. That’s no great surprise — it would be difficult to get high-intensity light into vertically-positioned windows, much less windows placed on the wrong side of a building.

In the northern hemisphere, that often means any side besides the southern wall — also a good criticism against Xtreme Energetics, which recently received a ton of attention from press for its supposed utility in architecture (our own coverage focuses on the technology). A final problem is that once Covalent’s concentrators were installed as windows, they would modify the light entering the building, turning it odd colors and diminishing its strength. Call it a replacement for stained glass, perhaps.

Those problems notwithstanding, windows or skylights (which have their own problems) are a potential use in the future, if Covalent’s technology proves cheap enough. How far away that point is, Mapel isn’t certain. The main costs for the concentrators come from the glass itself, which is dirt cheap at $5 to $10 per square meter, and the more costly dyes, which are about $50 per kilogram and are applied by a thermal evaporation technique. The end product may cost $100 to $400 per square meter, not including the solar cells around the edge.

At the moment, though, Covalent is still in its research stage, and most of its data is uncertain. The company will be showing off to potential investors at Copenmind, a cleantech event taking place this year in Denmark, and it is considering a venture round. Mapel says that will either be for $1-2 million, or a great deal more than that, if certain research goals are met.

A report on Covalent’s technology will also be published in tomorrow’s edition of the journal Science.



http://venturebeat.com/2008/07/10/covalent-solar-offers-another-window-into-concentrating-solar-technology/

xman

great info thanks!

Lokolo

Also something you should consider. With electric and gas prices going to be rising it maybe worth getting the panels in 5-10 years time!!