IBM Concentrator PhotoVoltaic (CPV) Solar Power Research Breakthrough

by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 05.17.08

The initial results of this project will be presented at the 33rd IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists conference today, where the IBM researchers will detail how their liquid metal cooling interface is able to transfer heat from the solar cell to a copper cooling plate much more efficiently than anything else available today.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/05/ibm-concentrator-photo-voltaicsolar-power_.php

News release: "MIT opens new 'window' on solar energy

A Q&A by the MIT research team led by Marc A. Baldo, the Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Career Development Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering, on solar concentrators

We demonstrated a large improvement in the performance of low-cost solar concentrators. Our new devices increase the power obtained from solar cells by a factor of over 40 without needing to track the sun. Our results are at least a factor of four better than previous results.¹

When will these concentrators make it into production? The technology is being further developed for commercialization by Covalent Solar, a company being spun out of MIT by three of its inventors: Michael Currie, Jon Mapel, and Shalom Goffri. The team believes that it could be implemented within three years.

References 1. Currie, M. J., Mapel, J. K., Heidel, T. D., Goffri, S. & Baldo, M. A. High-efficiency Organic Solar Concentrators for Photovoltaics. Science. In Press.

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

'Solar Concentrator' Windows Could Also Generate Energy- MIT

Dye painted on existing solar panels increases efficiency 50%

http://www.scientificblogging.com/news_releases/solar_concentrator_windows_could_also_generate_energy

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25628993/

SUNRGI Develops XCPV System That Produces Solar Power As Cheap As Fossil Fuels

Posted by Sun May 09, 2008 at 11:07 PM in Mass Production

http://pointfocus.com/

Solar Concentrators and Solar Thermal Power

http://www.parc.com/research/publications/files/5706.pdf

Suncube Rooftop Solar Concentrator, Green and Gold Energy Company, Australia

On May 17, 2008, Greg Watson, CEO, Green and Gold Energy Pty., Ltd wrote:

As an update, SunCube production has been held up (about 8 months) waiting on the Emcore CPV receiver module to pass our qualification tests. It is now in production with the first 40,000 receivers (1.3 MWs) shipped to ES System of Korea who have just placed a direct order for 70 MWs.

Square Engineering of India will finish their dedicated 100 MW per year SunCube manufacturing facility in a few months (photos on the GGE web site) and will be placing their order for around 50 MW in the first 12 months and 100 MWs in the second year.

Spain, Israel and Australia will follow shortly with first year SCIG volume around 200 MW and 2nd year at around 400 MWs. http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Green_and_Gold_Energy

http://indicview.blogspot.com/2007/03/sun-cube-innovative-solar-power.html

http://www.greenandgoldenergy.com.au/Documents/GGESpain20080407a.ppt

eSolar Announces Breakthrough Pre-Fabricated Solar Power Plants

“The eSolar™ power plant is based on mass manufactured components, and designed for rapid construction, uniform modularity, and unlimited scalability,” said Asif Ansari, CEO of eSolar. This new method of installing a solar power plant minimizes costly civil construction and the use of heavy equipment, dramatically reducing project cost and deployment time. Centering on eSolar’s 33 MW pre-fab form-factor, the company’s modular design translates to minimal land requirements. Bandel Carano, Managing Partner of Oak Investment Partners, added, “eSolar is the only cost effective solution that can deliver gigawatts of solar energy generation at market prices today, because they have developed a truly disruptive scalable solution that can be deployed rapidly.”

eSolar has secured land rights in the southwest United States to support the production and transmission of over 1 GW of power. eSolar will have a fully operational power plant later this year in southern California. “eSolar’s primary business goal is making solar electricity for less than the price of coal, without subsidies,” said Bill Gross, eSolar Chairman and Founder of Idealab. “This is not only attainable, but will truly change the world.”

http://www.esolar.com/eSolar_Announcement_4_21_2008.pdf

Energy Inovations

The World’s First, High-Concentration PV System

http://www.energyinnovations.com/products/sunflower/

By combining the world's most efficient solar cell with custom designed lenses and a unique self-powered two-axis tracking system, we are able to provide more energy per watt of system installed than traditional PV panels and do it at a substantial discount. The Sunflower is scheduled to be available to commercial customers in 2008.