Archive for Solar
June 15, 2007 at 8:08 am
· Filed under 2020, Solar
Dow Jones reports on the race to develop cheap, efficient solar panels (thanks, Nicole!).
Dow Jones: Hampered by its high cost, solar power accounts for less than 1% of world-wide electricity generation. It costs 35 to 45 cents to produce a kilowatt hour of electricity from solar panels, compared with about three to five cents burning coal, according to the International Energy Agency. A different approach, known as concentrating solar power, uses huge arrays of mirrors or solar dishes to track the sun and collect its heat to make electricity. Yet even that costs nine to 12 cents to generate one kilowatt hour.
The European Photovoltaic Technology Platform even predicts in a new study, that solar power will be competitive with fossil power generation in Southern Europe by 2015 and in Europe by 2020.
>> Strategic Research Agenda (PDF)
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May 22, 2007 at 7:31 am
· Filed under 2050+, Solar
There is an interesting post on the Entropy Production blog. The author tries to project the future of solar power by extrapolating from historical trends. The article shows many graphs and is in general a good read. His argument: If historical trends continue, solar power will dominate. (via Grist)
Entropy Production: Many people will look at the graphs in disbelief that the easy path photovoltaic power has been travelling can continue. All I can really say in reply is, those are the historical numbers. The learning rate is exceptionally stable. The growth rate has been, if anything, accelerating in the face of a industry silicon shortage. Thin-film technologies seem well positioned to cause the price to continue to fail into the near future. Solar power doesn’t have very far to fall in many European nations before it’s cheaper than residential rates.
As residential solar becomes the cheapest power available that will continue to push demand upward and fuel growth. There’s nothing obvious to me that says ‘Stop’ in solar’s future and it’s a fact of exponential growth that the early years matter the most. Even if the growth rate drops 1 % a year over the next 25-years the eventually outcome seems predetermined, it’s just a question of the timing.
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May 19, 2007 at 6:18 am
· Filed under 2010, Solar, Studies
A new study by German Photon Consulting projects the future costs of solar by decoupling the solar prices from underlying costs. Unfortunatly, the report costs 1.100 Euros.
Photon Consulting: Today, the “true cost” of solar power is under 25¢ per kWh in most locations and is likely to reach 10¢ to 15¢ per kWh by 2010. This includes all costs of manufacturing and installing solar power systems from pre-silicon (i.e. TCS) to connected-installations without incentives or tax benefits.
Already, solar is at a cost level that makes it competitive with residential grid prices in the OECD’s highest-priced markets. It is estimated that the cost of solar power is below the price of residential grid electricity for 5 to 10 percent of OECD consumption (200 to 400 TWh). This equates to 150 to 300 GW of solar power, compared to only 2.7 GW of solar cell/module production in 2006.
Over the next three years, it is expected that the typical fully-loaded cost of solar power will decrease at least 30 percent from $3.60 per W in 2006 to $2.50 per W. In consequence, by 2010, the cost of solar will be below the price of grid electricity for at least 50 percent of OECD residential demand, equivalent to around 1,500 GW of solar power. This is much larger than the 15 GW of cell/module production PHOTON Consulting anticipates for 2010.
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July 14, 2006 at 7:10 am
· Filed under Solar
Germans call their mobile phone “Handy” and Italians call it “Telefonino”. German Fraunhofer Institute introduced a prototype of a solar mobile phone. This makes totally sense to me because the weakest link in all mobile gadgets is always the battery.
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January 31, 2006 at 8:29 pm
· Filed under Solar
InnovaLight, a Californian start-up, is developing light-activated power generating. Silicon ink could lead to a way cheaper manufacturing. Fraunhofer Institute in Germany has been working on nanocrystalline dye (PDF) and organic solar cells for some years.
These cells convert sunlight to electricity with the help of dye, carbon and polymer molecules. Both areas of research are still in the early stages and face technical challenges like keeping the chemicals stable and sealing the solar cells.
In future it could be possible to paint cars with such a silicon paint. Invisible to our eyes, cars could be “rolling solar cells”.
optics.org: “According to Burke, the ability to solution-process the dots in a so-called silicon ink could lead to cheaper manufacturing. ‘You now have the potential to produce thin-film photocells which lends itself to high-throughput manufacturing using existing roll-to-roll printing technology,’ he said. ‘Our modelling indicates that there will be substantial improvements in cost versus how silicon is used today.’Solution-processing also means that InnovaLight can deposit its silicon nanocrystals onto flexible substrates. This opens up a vast array of markets from consumer applications such as clothing to charge up portable electronics through to flexible battery chargers for the military.”
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January 30, 2006 at 12:20 pm
· Filed under Solar
Sunny times for solar in California. And there is also Arni´s One Million Solar Roofs Program to be executed. Looks like someone in the US has been waking up to energy realities.
Solar Incentive Program: “On Jan. 12, 2006, we approved the California Solar Initiative (CSI), a a comprehensive $2.8 billion program that provides incentives toward solar development over 11 years. It also develops complementary policies and rules, sets new incentive levels, and addresses program administration.”
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