Alternative Energy / Solar Energy

• The World’s Largest Solar Plant

  Unfortunately, I know Blythe, California too well. This natural blast furnace is in a God forsaken corner of the state where I hunted jack rabbits as a kid, the Indians survived on Gila monsters for protein, and it regularly reaches 130 degrees in the shade. It is also where Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper crossed the “bridge of no return” over the Colorado River in the cult flick Easy Rider. Blythe has unsurprisingly become ground zero for the global thermal solar movement, which I have been chronicling with great interest in these pages (click here for “The Solar Boom in…

• The Solar Boom in California

  There is a gold rush of a different kind going on in California, the solar variety. There is a stampede by 49 alternative energy projects, including nine solar ones, to get final approval from the California Energy Commission before massive federal incentives offered by Obama’s 2009 stimulus package expire at the end of the year. One massive 392 MW plant, the Ivanpah project by BrightSource Energy  near blasting hot Blythe, California promises to deliver nearly as much solar power as the entire 481 MW in generation installed in the US in all of 2009.  That is enough to provide electricity…

• Improving Solar Cell Technology

  A team of researchers from North Carolina State University and the U.K. has found that the low rate of energy conversion in all-polymer photovoltaic solar-cell technology is caused by the structure of the solar cells themselves. Dr. Harald Ade, professor of physics at NCSU explains, “Solar cells have to be simultaneously thick enough to absorb photons from the sun, but have structures small enough for that captured energy — known as an exciton — to be able to travel to the site of charge separation and conversion into the electricity that we use. The solar cells capture the photons, but…

• White House to Install Solar Panels

  Coinciding with its push for more renewable energy development, the executive branch of the US federal government has decided to install solar panels on the White House. This is a quarter century after President Reagan took down the previous solar panels installed by his predecessor, President Carter. The Obama Administration will install new solar panels as a way of promoting its clean energy program. Solar panels were originally installed at the White House in 1979 following several oil crises. The OPEC oil embargo of 1973 created a severe gasoline shortage in the United States and sent prices through the roof.…

• Indium Shortage Creates problems For Solar Cell Manufacturers

  One principal advantage of thin-film solar cells is that they use far less (maybe 1/100th the amount) of the semiconductor materials that are required to fabricate first-generation solar cells. The disadvantage is that compared with typical efficiencies of 15% for conventional solar cells, a practical efficiency of around 8% is more normal for thin-film cells. Thin-film technologies offer the further prospect that the cells can be printed onto various flexible materials using a kind of ink-jet method, which offers numerous prospects for photo-voltaic devices in the future, beyond the simple scheme of roof-based solar panels. They are also more resistant…

• The Double Play in First Solar

  There is another angle to the solar play, which I bet you haven’t thought of. I have been arguing that companies like First Solar (FSLR) are great proxy for oil, as any price rise in crude raises the breakeven point that alternative power generators must meet to be competitive on a non subsidized basis (click here for “Solar Energy is Poised to Achieve Cost Parity”). I bet you didn’t know that it is a currency play as well. First Solar’s primary competitors are Chinese firms, like Suntech Power (STP) and Yingli Green Energy (YGE), whose costs are based in the…

• The Potential and Future of Concentrated Solar Power

  Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) systems employ lenses or mirrors coupled with tracking systems to concentrate a large area of sunlight into a small beam, rather in analogy with the simple and familiar burning-lense. The concentrated energy may be used to heat a central “boiler” to run a power plant fitted with a conventional steam-turbine from which electricity is generated in the usual manner. A quite broad range of methods may be used to accomplish this, e.g. the parabolic trough, the solar (parabolic) dish and the solar power tower. All such systems contain a working fluid which is heated by the…

• Google Getting Serious about Solar Energy

  A leading solar technologist has joined Google,  a hiring that underscores how serious the search engine giant is about moving beyond the role of cleantech investor and eventually driving innovation from Mountainview, Calif. Doctor Philip Gleckman, chief scientist at solar thermal developer eSolar, has joined Google to spearhead the company’s in- house development of solar technology, G.E.R. has learned. Gleckman will work with Bill Weihl, who oversees Google’s green energy investments, a Google spokesperson tells us. Gleckman’s hiring confirms Google’s stated strategy to boost its in-house green R&D effort. At an industry conference about a year ago, Weihl said the…

• A Look at Solar Planes

  Boeing is one of the most recognizable names in the aviation industry, so when they come up with a new design it generates a great deal of attention and fanfare. In this case the new design is of a solar powered plane. Others have proposed similar in the past. Perhaps Boeing will generate enough interest for long term support of the concept. The world’s first official flight in a solar powered, man carrying aircraft took place on April 29, 1979. The Solar Riser was built by Larry Mauro and was based on the Easy Riser biplane hang glider. Solar Challenger…

• Australia: A Haven for Solar Power?

  Australia’s state governments are taking up the challenge of turning the country into a haven for solar power. The state of Victoria has committed AUD $100 million to the Mallee Solar Park, a 180-megawatt plant proposed by TRUenergy using technology from Arizona-based First Solar. Meanwhile, the state of Western Australia has committed AUD $20 million for a 10-megawatt photovoltaic solar power plant developed in partnership with BP Solar. The moves, though small, suggest that the Australian solar market is heating up. In April, a Siemens executive said there was “a powerful business case” for Australia to lead in solar and…