Techno gadget » Solar Technology

Flexible Rooftop Solar Panels

krish — Thu, 13 May 2010 14:02:27 +0000

One of many companies vying to lower the cost of solar energy, has introduced a line of flexible panels for commercial rooftops. The company makes thin-film solar cells from a combination of copper, indium, gallium, and selenium (CIGS) which is placed on a flexible foil. Its first product line is a set of solar panels designed for the flat roofs of commercial buildings. The panels are lighter than glass-encased panels and can be installed quicker than other technologies, SoloPower CEO Tim Harris said in a statement. The panels can be laminated onto rooftops and mounted on racks to tilt the panels, Harris told Gunther Portofolio. There are many companies trying to make CIGS solar cheaper than the incumbent technology of silicon solar cells. SoloPower earlier this year said that it had achieved 11 percent efficiency for its panels, which is relatively good compared with other CIGS makers. To make cells, it uses a roll-to-roll electroplating process, which the company says makes it cost-competitive with other solar manufacturers.

PlanetSolar, World’s Largest Solar Boat

krish — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:58:07 +0000

A skipper’s dream of sailing across the ocean using solar power is about to come true. More impressively, he’ll be sailing on the world’s largest pollution-free yacht, the PlanetSolar, which is unveiled Thursday at the HDW Shipyard in Germany. Raphael Domjan, the skipper and CEO of the PlanetSolar project, regards this event as a confirmation that “the solar-powered boat is now a reality”. Since the 1980s, Domjan has been dreaming of touring the world using the minimum amount of energy. He envisioned a solar-powered boat in 2004 and the PlanetSolar project has been in full swing since early 2008. Now he looks forward to the solar-powered around-the-world trip.

2010 World’s Most Efficient Solar Technology

krish — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 07:22:56 +0000

As long we waited for an commercial deployment of the world’s most efficient & powerful solar technology that has appeared now near Phoenix, in a 1.5-megawatt, 60-unit deployment of Stirling Energy Systems’ solar thermal collectors.The major project will serve as a precursor to the deployment of larger commercial projects previously announced in California and Texas that stats total more than 1,600 MW.The SunCatcher consists of a solar concentrator in a dish structure that consists of an array curved glass mirrors. Iterations of the SunCatcher have been among the world’s most efficient machines for solar-to-grid electric conversion for twenty years, most recently breaking the record last year with the highest-ever conversion rate of 31.25%.

Which was announced last week, the 60-dish Maricopa Solar project will be the first commercial-solar scale facility built using Stirling Energy Systems/Tessera Solar’s SunCatcher concentrating on solar technology. “It’s going knock our new solar technology door,” said Sean Gallagher, vice president of marketing and regulatory affairs for Stirling Energy Systems, in an interview earlier this summer. Gallagher added that the credit crunch made a demo project more critical than before to win financial support. “We think that the lenders and investors are going to want to see more of a slice of a system operating and some data before they are willing to finance larger projects.” Finally the vice president and team members expecting this going to be a challenge in solar technology.

At its most it is am important spot, the heat produced is equivalent to a blistering 13,000 suns, “That’ll melt almost anything known to man,” Sandia says National Laboratories’ engineer Chuck Andraka. “It’s incredibly hot.” Sandia has worked extensively on developing the new iteration of the technology.The SunCatcher is a 40-foot wide, 25-kilowatt-electrical (kWe) solar dish Stirling system designed to automatically track the sun and collect and focus solar energy onto a Power Conversion Unit (PCU), which then generates electricity and extreme powerful.