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"The solar energy industry will grow faster than expected during the next few years as American utilities invest heavily in large-scale solar farms, analysts with Barclays Capital said Tuesday in a research note. Barclays analyst Vishal Shah noted that demand for utility-scale solar projects could eventually make up half of the U.S. market. Major utilities could install about 5 gigawatts of solar photovoltaic projects during the next three years, the analyst said. Solar power is still a tiny player on the American electrical grid, however. The utility-scale projects currently in operation in the U.S. provide 444 megawatts of energy to the grid according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. That's enough to power 2.8 million homes, and it's only a fraction of the power generated by another alternative energy source, the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station near Phoenix. That amount is expected to jump more than 12-fold in the next few years, however, with dozens of new solar plants under development in California, Arizona, Florida and Hawaii."
Solar industry to see faster than expected growth
Associated Press, 23 June 2009

"Britain could become a booming market for solar power from next year when the UK introduces a support system used successfully by dozens of other countries. Last week 240 MPs signed a parliamentary motion supporting the mass rollout of solar photovoltaic (PV) power. The support was the biggest of any such motion introduced in this parliament. Colin Challen MP, who tabled the motion, said: 'There is an enormous opportunity to drive forward this technology through the forthcoming feed-in tariffs.' Feed-in tariffs (FITs) work by paying a guaranteed, above-market price for any electricity fed into the grid for a period of 20-25 years. They have been designed to offer returns close to 10%, thereby reducing payback times for any household investing in a PV system to 10 years or less."
Sunnier times ahead for solar energy as MPs back tariff boost for photovoltaic power
Guardian, 15 June 2009

"The desolate, sun-baked deserts of southwestern Bolivia are poised to become the energy battleground of the 21st century, with China and Japan staking early and aggressive claims in the great lithium land-grab. Japan, observers say, may have won the first round, but, with its mainstream resource ambitions thwarted on the Rio Tinto deal, China could redouble its efforts to gain a foothold in the salt flats of South America and the all-important technology metals. The flurry of ruthlessly competitive diplomatic and corporate overtures to Bolivia from both Tokyo and Beijing is driven by the same dream: ultimate control of the future global market for electric vehicles. An ample supply of lithium, at least using current technology, is the critical weapon in that quest and Bolivia is to lithium what Saudi Arabia is to oil, say geologists. Masao Kando, director-general of the metals strategy department of the Japanese Government, told The Times: 'We all know that China is becoming the world's biggest car producer and we see them as our biggest rival. Looking at the Rio Tinto case, we see that China is moving to secure resources by throwing incredibly abundant capital at the effort and it is sometimes hard to compete with that.'...At present, Chile is the world's biggest annual producer of lithium, but half the planet's known reserves of the metal are thought to lie under the Salar De Uyuni in Bolivia. The right relationship with La Paz will hold the key to everything, according to senior Japanese officials. For the two rival Asian economic giants, control of lithium supplies - or at least a firm guarantee of stable future flows - is vital. For Japan, whose export-led economy is dominated by the lithium-hungry auto and electronics industries, it is a fight for survival of the status quo. With reliable long-term sources of lithium, Japanese companies can continue producing batteries for the world's laptops, digital cameras and mobile phones. With the same guarantee, Japanese car companies will be able to convert their manufacturing prowess to mass production of electric vehicles. Yet for China the motivation for lithium dominance is even more compelling: the United States, Germany and Japan led the world in the development of petrol-driven cars in the 20th century and it would take many years for Chinese carmakers to match that expertise. Electric vehicles, on the other hand, represent a blank slate: these are pioneering days in the post-combustion engine era and a potentially huge opportunity for China to lunge for early leadership, increasingly nervous Japanese automaker executives believe....China, whose lands hold about a tenth of the estimated global reserves of lithium, is the world's third-largest producer and several of its companies have rapidly grown to become substantial global players in lithium battery production. Beijing's efforts to butter-up the authorities in La Paz have included a donation of cash to help to build a school in the town where President Morales was born and a gift of about 50 military vehicles, including two ships."
Japan and China fight it out for right to mine lithium under Bond's battlefield
London Times, 15 June 2009

"U.S. demand for residential solar power installations is surging despite an economic recession, thanks to government financial incentives, some easing in credit availability, and increasing public recognition of its environmental benefits, industry executives said on Tuesday. Companies represented at the PV America solar conference in Philadelphia said the volume of their installations as much as tripled in 2008 and they see further gains this year as more people recognize that they can cut their electricity bills by at least 15 percent with an array of solar panels installed on the roof of their homes....Faced with a cost of about $50,000 for installation of a 7-kilowatt system on a typical 2,500-square-foot house, a New Jersey homeowner can defray the expense with a $12,500 rebate from the state and a federal tax credit of $11,000, Naik said. After the first year, the homeowner can also expect a refund check for about $3,200 from the local utility in return for installing the solar panels, Naik said. The owner can expect to save about $1,700 a year in electricity bills, and should recoup the initial investment within five to eight years, he said. According to industry trade group the Solar Energy Industries Association, there was an overall 16 percent increase in solar capacity, including commercial installations, in 2008. Jeffrey Wolfe, chief executive of Vermont-based installer groSolar, said the market has also been boosted by lower prices for solar panels due in part to an increase in the supply of the polysilicon, the raw material used for their construction. Wolfe argued the industry is benefiting from a cultural change that is more accepting of the need to find alternatives to fossil fuels, in part because of last year's surge in gasoline prices to more than $4 a gallon. 'People have seen what energy prices can do, and they have come to the end of their rope in denying climate change,' Wolfe said. Companies are also getting creative in bringing the upfront costs of solar power down for customers. groSolar, for one, is providing financing to customers who are unable to front the $40,000-$50,000 price tag for a typical solar installation. Wolfe's company now operates a lease program requiring a down payment of $1,000 and then regular monthly payments for use of the system. In California, Arizona and Oregon, SolarCity installs systems without any down payment from the customer, who then pays a lease fee which typically ranges from $25 to $60 a month, said David Arfin, vice president of customer financing. The company owns and maintains the system but the homeowner benefits from the reduced utility bills, he said."
U.S. demand for residential solar rising in '09
Reuters, 9 June 2009

"China said it will introduce a preferential tariff it will pay energy companies that use solar power for their generating capacity, as part of the government's push for greater use of clean technology. The preferential tariff -- the price that China's two state-owned electricity transmission and distribution companies will pay energy companies for their solar power -- aims to make solar power competitive against traditional fuels, such as coal..."
China to Encourage Solar Use
Wall St Journal, 3 June 2009

"The U.S. solar market is poised to triple next year as federal stimulus funds become available and access to financing for renewable energy projects is unfrozen, Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd Chief Strategy Officer Steven Chan said on Tuesday. Despite the weak economy, Chan also said he expects the solar market in the United States to be about flat in 2009 compared with 2008. At the same time, Suntech expects to double its U.S. market share to 20 percent this year from 10 percent last year. 'The prospects for 2010 and beyond are quite significant,' Chan told the Reuters Global Energy Summit via phone. 'Next year, I wouldn't be surprised if the U.S. market tripled off of this year.'"
Suntech sees U.S. solar tripling in 2010
Reuters, 2 June 2009

"President Barack Obama Wednesday announced over $467 million from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act to expand and accelerate the development, deployment, and use of geothermal and solar energy across the United States. The funding is intended to help the solar and geothermal industries overcome technical barriers, demonstrate new technologies, and provide support for clean energy jobs. 'We have a choice,' said the President, addressing armed services personnel and legislators at Nellis Air Force Base. We can remain the world’s leading importer of oil, or we can become the world’s leading exporter of clean energy. We can hand over the jobs of the future to our competitors, or we can confront what they have already recognized as the great opportunity of our time: the nation that leads the world in creating new sources of clean energy will be the nation that leads the 21st century global economy. That’s the nation I want America to be."
Obama Invests $467M in Solar and Geothermal Development
Environment News Service, 28 May 2009

"Europe should scrap its support for wind energy as soon as possible to focus on far more efficient emerging forms of clean power generation including solar thermal energy, one of the world’s most distinguished scientists said yesterday. Professor Jack Steinberger, a Nobel prize-winning director of the CERN particle physics laboratory in Geneva, said that wind represented an illusory technology — a cul-de-sac that would prove uneconomic and a waste of resources in the battle against climate change. 'Wind is not the future,' he told the symposium of Nobel laureates at the Royal Society. Instead, he said, technologies such as solar thermal power — for which parabolic mirrors reflect the Sun’s rays to generate heat and electricity — represent a more promising way of supplanting fossil fuels. 'I am certain that the energy of the future is going to be thermal solar,' he told The Times. 'There is nothing comparable. The sooner we focus on it the better.' Professor Steinberger said that all known reserves of fossil fuels would be depleted within 60 years and that a network of solar energy farms in the Sahara could reliably supply nearly 80 per cent of Europe’s energy needs by the middle of this century. He called for European governments to fund a big pilot project in North Africa linked to Europe via high-voltage undersea cables. Solar thermal power was already economic and on the brink of big advances that would place it way ahead of rival forms of wind, geothermal, wave and tidal energy, he said. 'Governments need to focus on this area right now.' A 3-3.5 gigawatt solar thermal project in North Africa, which would generate enough electricity to supply two million homes, would cost �20 billion to build. 'I am certain you could make electricity and ship it to Europe at a price equivalent to fossil fuels.' He said that intermittent energy sources, such as wind, required back-up power generation, which undermined their contribution to emissions reductions. In contrast, solar thermal power could generate heat energy that could reliably generate 24-hour electricity. Britain has made wind energy a priority in reducing carbon emissions by 34 per cent by 2020. The Government plans to build 33 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2020, which the professional services organisation Ernst & Young estimates will cost more than �100 billion. Professor Steinberger said that it would cost about �440 billion and take 30 years for Europe to remove its reliance on fossil fuels, which supply 80 per cent of its energy needs, but that governments needed to make bold decisions about which technologies to support. Commercial-scale solar thermal power plants were operating in Spain, the US and Germany, but further research was needed to refine the technology and cut costs, he said."
Solar power should replace wind energy, says Jack Steinberger
London Times, 27 May 2009

"The government intends to make mandatory the use of solar heating systems in all functional buildings under the first phase of the proposed National Solar Mission. To be implemented between 2009 and 2012, the Mission proposes to make it compulsory for all hospitals, guest houses, hotels and nursing homes to install solar water heaters. This will be applicable to residential complexes too if a minimum plot area of 500 square metres is available...The Mission also proposes to further expand the solar lighting system to provide access to lighting for 3 million households by 2012 in urban and rural areas. The setting up of solar charging stations are also proposed for solar lanterns currently being distributed on a large scale in the rural areas. This is estimated to cost Rs.1,200 crore."
Mandatory use of solar heating system
The Hindu, 25 May 2009

"Solar power stations that concentrate sunlight could generate up to one-quarter of the world's electricity needs by 2050, according to a study by environmental and solar industry groups. The technology, best suited to the desert regions of the world, could also create hundreds of thousands of new jobs and save millions of tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere. Concentrating solar power (CSP) uses mirrors to focus sunlight onto water. This produces steam that can then turn turbines and generate electricity. It differs from photovoltaics, which use solar panels to turn sunlight directly into electricity and can operate even on overcast days. CSP only works in places where there are many days with clear skies and is a proven, reliable technology. At the end of 2008 CSP capacity was around 430MW, and worldwide investment in the technology will reach €2bn (�1.8bn) this year, according to Sven Teske of Greenpeace International and co-author of the report. He said investment could increase, under a relatively moderate scenario, to €11.1bn by 2010 and provide 7% of the world's generating capacity by 2030. By 2050 investment could reach €92.5bn, creating almost 2m jobs by 2050 and saving 2.1bn tonnes of CO2 every year. 'Due to the feed-in tariff in Spain and a few schemes in the US, this technology is actually taking off and we wanted to highlight that we have a third big technology to fight climate change — wind, photovoltaics and now CSP,' said Teske. Spain is leading the field on CSP: more than 50 solar projects in the country have been approved for construction by the government and, by 2015, it will generate more than 2GW of power from CSP, comfortably exceeding current national targets. Spanish companies are also exporting their technology around the world. Environmentalists argue that many countries in the 'sun-belt' around the equator would benefit from CSP technology — including desert regions in the southern United States, north Africa, Mexico, China and India. The new study, carried out by Greenpeace International, the European Solar Thermal Electricity Association and the International Energy Agency's (IEA) SolarPACES group, looked at three scenarios of future growth in CSP. The first was business-as-usual reference scenario that assumed no increases at all in CSP; the second continued the CSP investments seen in recent years in places such as Spain and the US; while the advanced scenario was most optimistic, removing all political and investment barriers to give figures for the true potential of CSP. Under the third, most optimistic, scenario there could be a giant surge in investments to €21bn a year by 2015 and €174bn a year by 2050, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. In this case, solar plants would have installed capacity of 1,500GW by 2050 and provide 25% of the world's electricity capacity. Even in the second scenario, which sees only modest increases, the world's combined CSP capacity could reach 830GW by 2050, representing up to 12% of the world's energy generation needs. Teske acknowledged that these estimates were far higher than official figures from the IEA. It says that by 2050, CSP would provide only0.2% of global power generation. But Teske added that the IEA analysis does not assume any increases in production capacity in the next few decades, hence CSP forms a very small part of the overall energy mix. The new report also said that CSP technology was improving rapidly, with many new power plants fitted with storage systems for steam so that they could continue to operate at night. In addition it said the cost of the electricity produced , currently at €0.15 to €0.23 a kilowatt, would fall to €0.10-€0.14 by 2020 if governments continued to support the technology with incentives such as feed-in tarriffs."
Concentrated solar power could generate 'quarter of world's energy'
Guardian, 26 May 2009

"Australia plans to build the world's largest solar power station with an output of 1000 megawatts in a A$1.4 billion (US$1.05 billion) investment, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on Sunday.The plant would have three times the generating capacity of the current biggest solar-powered electricity plant, which is in California, Rudd said during a tour of a power station. Tender details will be announced later in the year, and successful bidders will be named in the first half of 2010. Rudd said the project was aimed at exploiting the country's ample sunshine, which he called 'Australia's biggest natural resource'' It was also aimed at helping the country become a leader in renewable, clean energy, he said....The project should eventually lead to a network of solar-powered stations across the country, Rudd said, with locations chosen to fit in with the existing electricity grid and ensure good access to sunshine....Rudd also said Australia would become a full member of the International Renewable Energy Agency, which will have its first global meeting in June."
Australia to build world's largest solar energy plant: PM
Reuters, 17 May 2009

"San Francisco took a major step today toward building California's largest solar photovoltaic system -- a plan that would more than triple the city's solar energy output by carpeting the rooftop of its biggest reservoir with almost 25,000 panels. Recurrent Energy, a San Francisco firm, will install and operate the 5 megawatt array atop the reservoir, an area roughly the size of 12 football fields. Standing atop the Sunset Reservoir -- so named because it lies in the city's Sunset District -- Newsom signed an ordinance into law this morning that enables the installation project and a 25-year contract with the distributed power firm Recurrent Energy to go forward."
San Francisco Moves Ahead with Plans to Build 5MW Solar Farm
Reuters, 15 May 2009

"New York wants to install up to 100 megawatts of solar photovoltaic power at public and private facilities to help meet the state's aggressive renewable mandate, the governor said in a release Friday. Specifically, the state-owned power generating company, the New York Power Authority (NYPA), will seek parties interested in entering into public-private partnerships with the state to install the solar arrays. The solar power generated by the arrays would power about 15,000 homes, according to NYPA. Proposals are due by July 7. The state said any proposals it selects would likely start in 2010.The solar power would help the state meet the governor's 45-by-15 program. By 2015, the governor wants New York to receive 45 percent of its electricity through energy efficiency and renewable power. The state has estimated the 45-by-15 program would create about 50,000 new jobs. Officials at the governor's office were not immediately available for comment. The state did not estimate how much it would cost to build 100 MW of solar power. Solar photovoltaic power is one of the most expensive types of generation. A kilowatt costs an estimated $6,000, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. It could cost about $600 million to build 100 MW of solar photovoltaic power. Wind power, meanwhile, costs about $1,900 per kilowatt to build onshore and $3,800 per kilowatt offshore, while combined cycle natural gas-fired generation costs about $1,000 per kilowatt and coal-fired generation costs about $2,000 per kilowatt. Unlike natural gas and coal-fired generation, wind and solar power are only available about a third of the time."
NY wants to install 100 MW of solar power
Reuters, 15 May 2009

"Declaring it a record total, Pacific Gas & Electric on Wednesday announced an expansion of solar-power contracts with Oakland's BrightSource Energy for a total of 1,310 megawatts of electricity — enough to power 530,000 California homes during peak hours of noon to 7 p.m. The power purchase agreements, which will now include seven power plants, add to a previous contract the two companies struck in April 2008 for up to 900 megawatts of solar thermal power. BrightSource called it the largest solar deal ever. The company now has 2,610 megawatts under contract, which it said is more than any other solar thermal company and represents more than 40 percent of all large-scale solar thermal contracts in the United States."
PG&E strikes huge solar power deal with BrightSource
Mercury News, 13 May 2009

"The Mohave Sun Power company is planning a project in Mohave County that could begin construction in the fourth quarter of 2010. It will use 4,000 acres of land and employ concentrating solar power. Molten salt will be the storage medium. Mitchell Dong, the company's CEO explained the technology, 'It's a parabolic trough, or a 'U'-shaped mirror that reflects or concentrates the sunlight by a factor of 100 to this thin tube of transfer fluid. In this case, it's a synthetic oil heated to 800 degrees by the sun's light. There are rows and rows of these collectors and this 800 degree oil is pumped to a central power block, a central location where that hot oil goes to a boiler. It makes steam and drives a single steam turbine. Of course the whole installation would use many arrays of parabolic troughs. Energy generated by the plant would be purchased by California, Nevada, Arizona and Colorado. If the planning and construction processes go smoothly the plant could starting producing electricity by 2013. The planning actually has been going on for some time: 'We have been working on this for over a year,' said Mohave County Supervisor Buster Johnson. (Mohave County has already had a different 200 MW project planned for construction.) This larger one will depend upon federal stimulus money for financing. If approved and funded, the project could generate an estimated 1,500 jobs during the construction phase, and require 100 employees when operational. Such a large plant would also generate local tax revenues. Construction cost is estimated at two billion dollars."
World's Largest Solar Thermal Plant Planned for Arizona
Reuters, 13 May 2009

"Calling Silicon Valley 'the most innovative place in the world,' Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday told an audience of solar technology executives and industry representatives that 'we need to find ways to reduce our use of fossil fuel and use what we have in abundance in California — the sun.' 'I'm a big believer in solar technology,' he told about 350 people attending a daylong 'solar summit' in San Jose meant to accelerate the state's solar economy. 'We want to make this state the solar state.' Schwarzenegger has already played a major role in pushing for solar in California. At his direction in 2006, the California Solar Initiative created a $3.3 billion, 10-year program to put solar panels on 1 million roofs in the state. The program includes state renewable energy incentives and a rebates program. But he is frustrated by the public's capricious reception to solar energy, the popularity of which seems to fluctuate with gas prices. 'You've got to look ahead 20 to 30 years,' he said. 'Every time oil prices go down, we abandon that vision. '... You've got to have a plan and stick with that plan.' The conference focused on developing standards to reduce installation time and costs for solar-power systems."
Schwarzenegger touts solar technology in San Jose
Mercury News, 8 May 2009

"Solar company Konarka has developed a transparent solar cell that it hopes will be built onto electricity-generating windows. The Lowell, Mass.-based company on Tuesday said it has reached an agreement with Arch Aluminum & Glass to use Konarka's plastic solar cells in building materials, including windows. Under its Arch Active Solar Glass development, the company has built prototypes of windows with the solar cells between two panes of glass. The photovoltaic cells can be tinted different colors.....But these organic photovoltaics aren't very efficient at converting sunlight to electricity and won't last as long as a rooftop solar panel, which is typically under warranty for 25 years. Konarka said late last year that it achieved 6 percent efficiency in its labs but that's not yet available in its products. A high-efficiency silicon solar cell, the most common cell material, can be over 20 percent. Konarka's factory is turning out red solar cells but has started making the transparent cells in limited runs for prototypes and development, according to a representative. Although Konarka has raised over $100 million and has signed a number of partnerships, there are many people who are skeptical that the company can be profitable. 'The real key will be to see if they can make building-integrated products that can stand the weather for 20-plus years,' clean-tech venture capitalist Rob Day from @Ventures told Greentech Media in December last year. Konarka also faces growing competition in the building-integrated photovoltaics field. Thin-film solar manufacturers, including Heliovot, also make flexible cells that can be fitted onto glass or building structures such as awnings but are more efficient. Nanosolar's cells made from CIGS (copper indium gallium selenide), for example, are in the 9 percent to 10 percent range."
Transparent plastic solar cells fitted into windows | Green Tech
CNET News, 8 May 2008

"Cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells, once hailed by President George W. Bush as a pollution-free solution for reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, will not be practical over the next 10 to 20 years, the energy secretary said Thursday, and the government will cut off funds for the vehicles’ development. Developing those cells and coming up with a way to transport the hydrogen is a big challenge, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in releasing energy-related details of the administration’s budget for the year beginning Oct. 1. Dr. Chu said the government preferred to focus on projects that would bear fruit more quickly. The retreat from cars powered by fuel cells counters Mr. Bush’s prediction in 2003 that “the first car driven by a child born today could be powered by hydrogen, and pollution-free.” The Energy Department will continue to pay for research into stationary fuel cells, which Dr. Chu said could be used like batteries on the power grid and do not require compact storage of hydrogen."
U.S. Drops Research Into Fuel Cells for Cars
New York Times, 7 May 2009

"Just as we already have a problem with peak oil having caused last year's massive price spike at the pumps, there may be a similar paucity in the world's capacity to produce lithium, the miracle metal key to so many automakers' future plans for hybrid and electric vehicles.This lightest metal in the periodic table was used primarily in the production of ceramics and high-temperature glass, not to mention anti-psychotic drugs. But, about two decades ago, it started gaining prominence as a material used for battery production, thanks to the relatively high energy density and comparatively light weight of lithium ion cells. Virtually all cellphone and laptop batteries use lithium as a core constituent. The much-ballyhooed but seldom-seem Tesla electric roadster uses more than 6,000 computer-sized batteries all mashed into one package. But whether they are the lithium cobalt batteries used in portable devices -- not very useful for automotive use because of their reputation for overheating -- or the newer lithium phosphate or lithium manganese formulations developed for cars, all use a base of lithium metal, which is most easily extracted from salt brine....Now there may be problems with how much lithium the Earth holds and how quickly it can be mined. On the pessimistic side, there is William Tahil, author of the research paper The Trouble with Lithium, who estimates the world's lithium reserves at about four million tons. He claims the production of hybrid and electric cars will soon tax the world's production of lithium carbonate. At the other end of the spectrum is Keith Evans, who has released An Abundance of Lithium, a report estimating there are 28 million tons of the base metal to be had, plenty enough to go around. Somewhere in the middle of these two opposing viewpoints is the United States Geological Survey's somewhat dated estimate of 11 million tons. Part of the discrepancy is due to how economical and easily each group thinks the mining of lithium will be, dividing their estimates between 'reserves' (think of easily obtained Saudi Arabian oil literally bubbling to the surface) and the more difficult to process 'base reserves' (think Canada's Athabasca Oil Sands). Even the optimistic Evans allows that, like oil, his more generous prediction is based on the price of lithium rising in order to make increased mining cost-effective. This is not good news to automakers since it's estimated that these new high-tech batteries already cost as much as US$10,000. While existing mining levels are able to cope with current demand, there is no consensus on how many lithium-powered electric cars can be produced. Tahil says any more than 1.5 million GM Volt-type vehicles annually would strain current production. SQM S. A., Chile's largest producer of lithium carbonate, says there is plenty for about five million electric vehicles. Evans predicts there's enough lithium for far more.Bob Kruse, GM's executive director of Global Vehicle Engineering, also notes that some of the lithium in his company's new Chevy Volt will be recyclable, thereby reducing demand. The discrepancies owe as much to the types of electric cars being produced -- fully electric cars need bigger batteries and, therefore, more lithium than hybrids -- as to the exact amount of the world's lithium stocks. However, virtually everyone readily agrees that the world's current production of lithium -- approximately 20,000 tons -- is woefully short of what's needed if electric car production really takes off. Argentina, Australia and Chile account for more than 50% of the world's lithium production; Russia also produces significant amounts.But the real power player in the lithium market is Bolivia. Whether you take the pessimistic or optimistic estimate of its reserves, the South American country's Salar de Uyuni salt desert has about 40% of the world's lithium, so far untapped. Mitsubishi, which thinks electric car production will outstrip lithium supply as early as 2015, is already in talks with Bolivia about sourcing its lithium. Ditto Toyota, one of the few automakers producing its own batteries."
The problem with lithium
National Post (Canada), 1 May 2009

"Consumers are to be offered incentives of up to �5,000 to purchase an electric car under government plans to be unveiled today that will also see the creation of electric car cities across the UK and the launch of large-scale experiments with ultra-green vehicles. The proposals are part of a �250m strategy, seen by the Guardian, spelling out a revolution in Britain's road transport network based on ultra-low carbon vehicles. It will be launched today by Geoff Hoon, the transport secretary, and Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, with the aim of kickstarting the market for cleaner road vehicles and slashing the UK's CO2 emisisons."
Labour's �5,000 sweetener to launch electric car revolution
Guardian, 16 April 2009

"A leading American power company is hoping to turn science fiction into reality by supporting a project to set up solar panels in outer space and beam the electricity generated back to Earth. Pacific Gas and Electric Company, which serves San Francisco and northern California, has agreed to buy electricity from a startup company claiming to have found a way to unlock the potential power supply in space. The firm, Solaren Corp, says it will launch solar panels into orbit and then convert the power generated into radio-frequency transmissions, which will be beamed back down into a depot in Fresno, California. The energy would then be converted into electricity and fed into the regular power grid, PG&E said....PG&E announced this week that it had agreed to buy 200 megawatts of electricity from Solaren starting in 2016. The deal has yet to be approved by California state government regulators and PG&E has not put any money into Solaren, but the promise alone has turned the notion of space based solar power from fantasy to reality. 'There is a very serious possibility they can make this work,' said PG&E's spokesman Jonathan Marshall. Unlike on earth, with its cycle of nights and days and where there can be clouds, sunshine in space is practically constant – aside from a few days around the spring and autumn equinoxes. That means the space-based solar panels could potentially produce a steady supply of electricity. The sunlight hitting solar panels 200 miles in space would be 10 times as powerful as the light filtering down to Earth through the atmosphere. The satellite would then convert the energy into radio waves and beam them down to a receiving station on Earth. Spirnak did not give details of how this would work but said the technology was based on that now used by communications satellites, describing it as 'very mature'. He added that power losses via the radio-wave route are lower than transmission cables used on Earth. Another advantage of the plan is that it does not require large amounts of real estate. Ground-based solar installations require huge tracts of land."
US power company to tap solar energy in space
Guardian, 16 April 2009

"Toshiba Corp is ready to mass-produce a quick-charging lithium ion battery for hybrid vehicles with the highest electrical output for a battery of this kind, the financial daily Nikkei said in its Tuesday edition. The paper said Toshiba has quadrupled the output density of its Super Charge ion Battery, or SCiB, to 3,900 watts. Output density is the power output per kilogram of the battery's weight. It said the battery can be charged in as little as 90 seconds, making it suitable for plug-in hybrids, and can be recharged more than 10,000 times. Nikkei said Toshiba has started shipping the battery to major Japanese, U.S. and European automakers on a trial basis. It said Toshiba has also developed a lithium ion battery with a high energy density aimed at electric vehicles that will be able to discharge power over a long duration and hopes to start sample shipments in the fall. Nikkei said Toshiba now makes 150,000 SCiBs a month but plans to start building a plant this fall that would make about 2 million batteries a month on start-up, with hopes for expansion to about 10 million by about 2015."
Toshiba has quick-charge hybrid car battery: Nikkei
Reuters, 13 April 2009

"The U.S. solar energy industry expanded in 2008, but the recession has cut demand for some solar installations, according to a solar trade group. Solar capacity in the United States rose about 9 percent, or 1,265 megawatts, to 8,775 megawatts last year, the Solar Energy Industries Association said in a summary of an annual report to be released on Thursday. Solar panel capacity rose 78 percent from 2007, as solar water heater installations increased 50 percent. But the housing crisis led to a 3 percent decline in shipments of solar pool heating systems -- the largest segment of the sector by capacity. The recession has brought financing problems to some solar companies, the association said. 'Many companies report that although consumers continue to express interest in solar, concerns about personal finances and tight credit have reduced sales,' the association said."
Recession cools solar energy growth
Reuters, 18 March 2009

"New technology that was developed in Sydney and allows solar panels to capture more sunshine is expected to influence panel production around the world. The technology is about to be demonstrated at the University of NSW. A world-first silicon solar cell production line will be built at the university, using funds from a German energy corporation and the Federal Government....The pilot program at the university will demonstrate new production techniques that allow traditional panels to catch more light from the blue end of the spectrum, the short wavelengths. The problem with many existing solar cells is that the shorter wavelengths of light are reflected back by a layer of phosphate ducting within the panel. The new technique allows the phosphate ducts to be better aligned, so more light can be absorbed without adding to production costs. It will also deploy new laser-cutting techniques that allow greater precision when cutting the edges of wafer-thin silicon and aligning it to the metal frames that conduct electricity from the panel to the battery. The work will be done at the university's new Solar Industrial Research Facility, which will focus on applying Australian research to commercial production. 'There have been a lot of people looking at solutions to these problems around the world for a long time, but I think we've got it,' said Dr Richard Corkish, the head of the university's School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering."
Uni's solar panel captures more light
Sydney Morning Herald, 16 March 2009

"European countries could transform their electricity supplies within a decade by investing in a giant network of solar panels in the Sahara desert, an expert told a global warming conference in Copenhagen today. Dr Anthony Patt of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Africa said some �50bn of government investment was needed over the next decade to make the scheme a reality. That would convince private companies that power from the Sahara was both feasible and an attractive investment, he said. In the long term, such a plan, combined with strings of windfarms along the north Africa coast, could 'supply Europe with all the energy it needs'. He said technological advances combined with falling costs have made it realistic to consider north Africa as Europe's main source of imported energy. 'The sun is very strong there and it's very reliable. There is starting to be a growing number of cost estimates of both wind and concentrated solar power for North Africa....that start to compare favourably with alternative technologies. The cost of moving [electricity] long distances has really come down.' He said only a fraction of the Sahara, probably the size of a small country, would need to be covered to produce enough energy to supply the whole of Europe. The results are the first findings of a major research effort, together with experts at the European Climate Forum and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, to judge whether such a Sahara solar plan is realistic. Patt said the team was looking at questions of security and governance, as well as ways to pay for the technology. The full results will be presented to governments later this year. He said sunshine in the Sahara is twice as strong as in Spain and is a constant resource that is rarely blocked by clouds even in the winter. The scheme would use mirrors to focus the sun's rays onto a thin pipe containing either water or salt. The rays boil the water or melt the salt and the resulting energy used to power turbines. Unlike wind power, which usually has to be used immediately because of the cost of storing the electricity generated, the hot water and salt can be stored for several hours. Trials of such concentrated solar power plants are planned for Egypt, Morocco, Algeria and Dubai, but Libya and Tunisia could also be considered."
�50bn of European investment needed to kick-start Saharan solar plan
Guardian, 11 March 2009

"The people of the world will drive some two billion cars by 2030, up from roughly 700 million today. One of the leading hopes for avoiding greenhouse gas overload from all those tailpipe emissions is electric cars. From the Chevy Volt to the Tesla Roadster, cars that run on battery power rather than gasoline are fueling hopes for a cleaner transportation future. Even if we switched all U.S. cars to run on electricity from coal-fired power plants we'd emit less than we do now, according to a study from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. But, in terms of economics, are we trading peak oil for peak lithium? Lithium is, obviously, a primary component of the lithium ion batteries powering the first generation of electric cars. The bulk of it is found in Bolivia. Even worse, according to some, most of these advanced batteries are made in Asia. In fact, General Motors selected a battery from Korean company LG over American start-up A123Systems for its initial Volt. But GM, assuming it survives, is also investing in a battery manufacturing plant in Michigan and there are deposits of lithium in the U.S. as well. Peak lithium may yet become a concern but first there would have to be a lot more electric cars on the road."
Electric Cars and Peak Lithium
Scientific American, Podcast 12 March 2009

"The day after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Emanuel Sachs decided that it was time to get back into the solar-energy business... To Sachs, September 11 was a reminder of the perils of an oil-dependent U.S. energy policy. The events that transpired that day were jarring enough to prompt him to restart his solar research. Nearly eight years later, he is chief technical officer at 1366 Technologies, a company formed two years ago to commercialize the work he had done at MIT....The 20-person start-up has an ambitious economic target: to make solar cheaper than coal in three years. That means producing silicon solar cells at less than $1 per watt, cutting the current costs by about half. More than a few people believe that 1366 Technologies has a shot at being one of the first companies to hit the long-pursued goal of undercutting fossil fuel electricity on price. Among those impressed with the technology and management team is Ethernet co-inventor and energy tech venture capitalist Bob Metcalfe, who is on the company's board. Metcalfe's firm, Polaris Ventures, led a $12.4 million round in the company last year. And last month, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded 1366 Technologies a $3 million grant for low-cost solar manufacturing....The name 1366 Technologies comes from the solar constant, or the amount of solar energy that hits Earth's surface: 1,366 watts per square meter. That focus on keeping to the basics, and trying to do it affordably, are what executives hope will set them apart from the solar-tech pack. The company's headquarters--a one-story brick building among a dozen nondescript offices in an office park outside Boston--reveal a bare-bones operation. A full-size solar panel hanging on the wall serves as artwork in an otherwise-spartan office. A bank of cubes fronts a small factory floor crammed with solar-manufacturing machinery bearing obscure names like a 'diffusion furnace' and a 'plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition' system. This is where engineers are now producing small numbers of solar cells that put Sachs' ideas to work. The modest building may not be where you'd expect the solar industry to finally break through the $1-per-watt cost barrier for silicon cells. First Solar earlier this month claimed to crack the $1 cost barrier for its thin-film cells, made from alternative material cadmium telluride, but 1366 Technologies wants to hit that price using silicon--a more common and abundant material. To get there, Sachs and company engineers say they have four innovations they intend to perfect one by one....At the company's ribbon-cutting ceremony last fall, Sachs, in a soft but direct manner, implored local politicians and employees assembled to act, rather than talk, about greening the economy. 'The science is understood, the material abundant, the product works,' he said. 'All that is left is to build the biggest manufacturing industry in the history of human kind. Time is a-wasting.'"
Making solar cheaper than coal
Cnet News, 6 March 2009

"Solar panels provide a cheaper and more effective way to power buildings. 'If you had one of these arrays on your home,' says Vaguhn Prost of Missouri Solar Applications, 'it would produce about half of your electricity that you'd need for your average home.' This array is Columbia's solar panel, which provides a small amount of electricity to Columbia's electric grid. But Prost's company, which built the panel, will soon be bringing solar energy to Columbia's rooftops in another form. 'In the coming years, I think that people will look at solar shingles on their house as something as normal as having plumbing inside their house,' says Prost. His company has teamed up with the Dow Chemical Company to produce solar shingles. 'The solar market in Columbia is getting going,' says Connie Kacprowicz of Columbia Water and Light. 'It's still going to be a few years before we see a huge amount of production, but I think it's important that we're developing a renewable resource right here in Columbia.' The solar shingles would collect the energy and send it through a series of wires and transformers and into the home or power grid. While estimated costs are high right now, Prost says he is confident that demand will drive prices down once the shingles are on the market. 'It's going to be a little higher to start with, but you've got to try and work it and find ways to get the price down, and eventually it will get down,' he says. The solar shingles aren't scheduled to be sold until 2011. Prost said that part of the $50 million project will include test roofs in the same location as the current Columbia solar panel."
Solar Shingles Provide New Energy
Komu (Missouri), 17 February 2009

"Dow Chemical Co. says it aims to start selling power-generating roof shingles by 2011. The Midland-based chemical giant has been at work for the past year on a $50 million project called Dow Solar Solutions. The company's scientists and engineers are working to develop a product to sell thermoplastic solar roof shingles throughout North America. Dow Chemical is collaborating with three home builders -- Lennar Corp. of Miami, Pulte Homes Inc. of Bloomfield Hills and Prost Builders Inc. of Jefferson City, Mo. -- and with Tucson, Ariz.-based Global Solar Energy Inc., a maker of flexible materials. The researchers have conducted numerous tests in preparing the shingles for market, said Robert J. Cleereman, senior director of solar development for Dow Chemical. 'We've thrown everything you can imagine at them from (simulated) hail to fire to see how they react,' he told The Saginaw News. "One day, a person would no more think about buying a house without solar shingles than they would buy a house without plumbing. That is our hope, at least."
Dow Chemical plans to sell solar shingles by 2011
Associated Press, 15 February 2009

"Beginning on March 1, residents of Gainesville, Florida with newly-installed solar photovoltaic systems will be able to receive $0.32 per kilowatt hour of electricity produced by their system and added to the regional grid. Yawn, right? Wrong. The so-called feed-in tariff will guarantee payment for any power produced over the subsequent 20 years. For some, the feed-in tariff is a long time coming. Advocates see the immediate potential the policy mechanism can have on growing renewable energy generation, as well as the impact said growth can have on the burgeoning solar, wind, and other clean energy industries.Feed-in tariffs have been responsible for meteoric rise in renewable energy generation and the industries supporting it in Germany, Spain, and Denmark, but they have yet to take hold in the U.S., largely because of the fragmented nature of our electricity generation and transmission."
Florida City Passes First Solar Feed-in Tariff in US
Red, Green, and Blue, 6 February 2009

"A Pennsylvania-based marketing firm, The Information Network, recently published a report projecting that the nanomaterials for solar cells industry is expected to grow by 44 percent in 2009, after a growth rate of 47 percent in 2008. The report, 'Nanomaterials for Solar Cells, Displays, Sensors, Lighting, and RFID Marketing Analysis and Driving Forces,' says that Copper Indium Gallium diSelenide (CIGS) solar cells pushed the market as manufacturers developed unique deposition methods and substrates using nanomaterials. According to Dr. Robert Castellano, president of The Information Network, '[C]ompeting with GICS are traditional crystalline and polycrystalline cells made with silicon wafers. On the horizon is a new nanomaterial that promises to cut solar cell prices.' Dr. Castellano describes a steel based on nanotechnology that would allow solar wafer manufacturers to reduce the amount of waste, or kerf, when slicing silicon wafers. This development could save the industry US$866 million, and drive down the price of solar cells."
Nanomaterials for Solar Cells Expect to Grow Another 44% in 2009
Meridian Institute, 5 February 2009

"The United States overtook Germany as the biggest producer of wind power last year, new figures showed, and will likely take the lead in solar power this year, analysts said on Monday. Even before an expected 'Obama bounce' from a new President who has vowed to boost clean energy, U.S. wind power capacity surged 50 percent last year to 25 gigwatts (GW) -- enough to power more than five million homes....German wind power capacity reached nearly 24 GW, placing it second ahead of Spain and fourth-placed China, which doubled its installed wind power for the forth year running, said the Brussels-based Global Wind Energy Council....Obama wants to double U.S. alternative energy output over three years."
U.S. becomes top wind producer, solar next
Reuters, 2 February 2009

"Renewable energy industry sectors have begun campaigning to secure the feed-in tariff levels they believe will be necessary to support their technologies in the domestic, business and community sectors, writes Rachel Johnson. The drive has been kicked off by the solar sector, with a 'We Support Solar' campaign, launched last week by the UK Solar PV Manufacturers Association. The London based solar firm Solarcentury hand-delivered 500 letters to MPs in Parliament as part of the campaign, urging them to support solar technology ahead of the implementation of the new feed-in tariffs. Feed-in tariffs are long-term contracts that will be offered to small-scale generators of renewable electricity to provide an incentive for householders, schools, hospitals and other organisations to invest in micropower technology. The government gained the powers to set feed-in tariffs for renewable energy projects below 5MW in size through last year's Energy Act (see this New Energy Focus report).The solar campaign, which has the support of 30 MPs so far, as well as campaign groups, solar manufacturers, businesses and industry bodies, is aiming to promote solar at a what it sees as a critical time for the development of the industry, with feed-in tariffs (FIT) expected to be launched by April 2010. Michael Meacher MP, a former environment minister, gave his support to the drive, saying: 'Ed Miliband's decision to introduce a feed-in tariff for solar PV and other small-scale renewable electricity technologies is potentially a real turning point for the UK solar PV sector. It gives the UK a vital new policy tool that should help to maximise the contribution from solar PV to our demanding renewable energy target.'"
Solar industry launches campaign for feed-in tariff support
NewEnergyFocus, 2 February 2009

"For all the hope and hoopla surrounding the largest public works program since the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s, the share spent on long-term 'green' investments is surprisingly small. Most of the stimulus package goes to temporary measures, such as tax cuts, emergency aid to the states, and the extension of unemployment benefits. Nearly a third of the $550 billion Congress is set to allocate in direct spending is called 'green,' including money to modernize electricity transmission and experiment with a 'smart grid.' But just $8 billion is destined for renewable power and electricity-related spending, according to an analysis by FBR Capital Markets. Another $16 billion in tax credits – of $275 billion of overall tax credits – is devoted directly to green-energy development. Is that green investment of $24 billion enough to meet President Obama’s goals of creating tens of thousands of new jobs and doubling renewable-energy capacity in three years? No, say renewable-energy advocates. They see the stimulus as only a down payment on green-energy development that will be fulfilled in a separate energy bill not yet formulated. Even the success of the stimulus’s 'down payment' will depend crucially on how details of the plan are implemented, especially renewable energy tax credits, they add. 'In order to achieve President Obama’s goal of doubling energy in three years, we will have to triple utilization of these tax credits,' says Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association. That’s tricky, unless the industry can find a way to let companies trade credits for cash. 'Without the tax-credit market, it’s going to be difficult to achieve that.'...As of 2007, renewable energy sources supplied only a tiny sliver of US energy supplies, about 7 percent. (Petroleum supplied 40 percent, coal 22 percent.) Of that renewable sliver, energy from biomass (such as corn ethanol) accounted for 53 percent, hydroelectric 36 percent, geothermal 5 percent, wind power 5 percent, and solar energy 1 percent. The Obama administration has set ambitious goals for the energy portion of the stimulus plan. Of the 3.7 million jobs that the plan is supposed to create or save, about 460,000 would come from energy-related expenditures. A large but undetermined portion of those jobs would be in the renewable-energy sector....The most crucial piece involves tax credits. In the past, investment banks and other deep-pocketed investors could spend huge amounts on wind farms and other renewable-energy projects and then reap production tax credits, which they could use to offset taxes on profits elsewhere. But the severe economic downturn has reduced profits and the number of major renewable-energy investors from 20 to about five. Thus, the tax credits are far less valuable than they were. So, wind and solar industries want essentially to convert those tax credits into grants from the US Department of Energy. In legislation last week, the House version of the stimulus bill allowed the switch; the Senate version did not. 'A couple of things in the House measure are going to alarm fiscal conservatives – and one of those is loan guarantees being replaced by explicit payments,' says Kevin Book, vice president for energy policy, oil, and alternative energy with FBR Capital Markets. 'If Congress approves this, it absolutely will have investors looking at this as a green light' to invest in green-energy projects, he says. In other areas, the House and Senate are in lock step. Both would provide $13 billion to extend the important 'production tax credit' for wind power for another three years. Without it, credits would be unavailable for projects not completed by the end of this year. Another provision in both bills is a 30 percent investment tax credit that had been given only to solar and will now be extended to wind, biomass, geothermal, hydropower, and landfill gas. That would enable the latter projects to get a tax credit in just one year rather than a production tax credit over 10 years. Some $8 billion from the Department of Energy would also be available for loan guarantees for clean-power projects. But it’s not yet clear if those projects must be 'advanced' and 'innovative.' If not, this could give a boost to wind and solar. Such a boost would be key to achieving the president’s goal of doubling renewable-energy capacity nationwide within three years. Much of that plan is yet to come in an expected energy bill. And there is reason to believe the jobs Obama wants to see can indeed be created, experts say. 'The stimulus package would turbocharge our efforts to use energy more efficiently and build more renewable electricity facilities,' says Daniel Weiss, director of climate strategy at the Center for American Progress, who has analyzed the stimulus provisions."
‘Green’ energy a tiny share of stimulus plan
Christian Science Monitor, 27 January 2009

"Abu Dhabi's Masdar said on Thursday it is building the Middle East's largest solar power plant for the carbon-neutral Masdar City. Half of the 10 megawatt photovoltaic plant's solar panels will be supplied by First Solar Inc (FSLR.O), the U.S.-based company said in a statement. Its shares rose 6.5 percent following the announcement. The $22 billion Masdar City -- the green city in the desert -- will be home to 50,000 people and 1,500 businesses. No cars will be allowed...The $50 million solar plant will begin producing power in 2009 and will supply any excess energy to the Abu Dhabi power grid, Masdar said....Masdar was set up by the Abu Dhabi government to develop sustainable and clean energy. "
First Solar to help power Masdar, UAE's green city
Reuters, 15 January 2009

"Toyota Motor Corp. plans to launch as many as 10 new gas-electric hybrids in the next five years, including the third-generation Prius and an all-new Lexus hybrid, the HS 250h, that it will unveil at the Detroit auto show. The Japanese automaker also said it would market an electric city car with a roughly 50-mile range by 2012, and it will show an electric concept car, the FT-EV, at the 2009 North American International Auto Show to give an idea of what type of vehicle it has in mind....In addition to the new Prius scheduled to hit U.S. dealer showrooms late this spring, Toyota confirmed that it would start deliveries of 500 Prius plug-in hybrids equipped with lithium-ion batteries to lease-fleet customers in late 2009. It said 150 would be delivered to U.S. fleet customers...General Motors Corp. plans to bring its plug-in, the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle, to the market by late 2010. It will be powered by lithium-ion batteries, which are more powerful than nickel-metal-hydride and most other batteries."
Toyota amps up hybrids, plans an electric city car by 2012
Detroit News, 10 January 2009

"An electric car costing only $25,000 could be on sale in Australia within three years. The Japanese car maker used the 2009 Detroit motor show to unveil the FT-EV, a concept car that previews a new battery-electric 'urban commuter' vehicle set to go on sale globally in 2012. US media is reporting the diminutive FT-EV could wear an affordable price tag of about US$20,000 (about $25,000). The FT-EV will see Toyota join the growing number of manufacturers who in the early years of the next decade will offer vehicles that run on electricity. The FT-EV is based on Toyota's iQ micro-car that landed in European and Japanese showrooms in 2008, though swaps that car's 1.0-litre petrol engine for a 45kW electric motor powered by a lithium-ion battery pack. Toyota says the three-metre-long, four-seater FT-EV has a cruising range of 80km and a targeted top speed of 112km/h. It takes between 2.5 and 7.5 hours to recharge the FT-EV, depending on the voltage of the power supply. The company says the FT-EV will broaden its range of alternative-fuel vehicles as the world faces dwindling oil supplies, and will be aimed at city residents who would use the battery-electric car to commute between home and work, or to drive to other forms of public transport such as railway stations. 'Last year's spike in the price of petrol was no anomaly,' says Toyota Motor Sales group vice president, environmental and public affairs, Irv Miller. 'It was a brief glimpse of our future. We must address the inevitability of peak oil [when the world's oil supply starts a permanent decline] by developing vehicles powered by alternatives to liquid-oil fuel, as well as new concepts, like the iQ, that are lighter in weight and smaller in size. This kind of vehicle, electrified or not, is where our industry must focus its creativity.'"
Affordable electric car to 'hit streets in 2012'
Sun-Herald, 11 January 2009

"Toyota Motor Corp. is secretly developing a vehicle that will be powered solely by solar energy in an effort to turn around its struggling business with a futuristic ecological car, a top business daily reported Thursday. The Nikkei newspaper, however, said it will be years before the planned vehicle will be available on the market. Toyota's offices were closed Thursday and officials were not immediately available for comment. According to The Nikkei, Toyota is working on an electric vehicle that will get some of its power from solar cells equipped on the vehicle, and that can be recharged with electricity generated from solar panels on the roofs of homes. The automaker later hopes to develop a model totally powered by solar cells on the vehicle, the newspaper said without citing sources."
Toyota Secretly Developing Solar Powered Green Car
Associated Press, 1 January 2009

2009

"Two Chinese companies have proposed a massive, 1-gigawatt solar photovoltaic power plant in China's northwest, one that would be the worlds biggest if it's completed....The project in Qinghai's Qaidam Basin will start out in 2009 with a more modest initial goal of 30 megawatts at a cost of 1 billion Yuan ($146 million), and will combine crystalline silicon and thin-film solar panels, the firm reported. The timeline and projected cost of the entire 1-gigawatt project were not disclosed.But if built, it would be almost twice the size of the largest solar photovoltaic power project announced so far, a 550-megawatt thin-film power plant to be built in San Luis Obispo, Calif."
China Plans World's Largest Solar Power Plant
Greentechmedia, 31 December 2008

"Iran has announced the opening of its first ever solar power plant in the town of Shiraz in the Southwest of the country. Energy Minister Parviz Fattah told reporters that the facility was constructed using Iranian materials and expertise. Speaking to the Iranian News Agency he said, 'The country backs the use of alternative and renewable energy sources. In future alternative energy sources will be greatly developed in the country. The growth of investments in this sphere is expected.' According to Fattah, the Shiraz solar plant employs parabolic mirrors to direct energy from the sun’s rays into its solar receivers. At this stage, it appears that the plant is a pilot project intended to test the viability of future larger-scale projects. Any movement towards the development of domestic renewable energy supply is likely to be welcomed by many of the countries suspicious of Iran’s ambitions to develop nuclear power."
Iran Opens its First Solar Power Plant
CleanTechnica, 29 December 2008

"At a time when politicians are targeting 'green jobs' as a source of economic growth, New Jersey's only manufacturer of solar panels has announced a temporary shutdown. Just weeks after it began production at a new manufacturing plant in Germany, EPV Solar Inc. will shutter its manufacturing and research facilities in Lawrence and Hamilton for two weeks starting tomorrow, leaving a local work force of about 400 with an unexpected unpaid holiday vacation. EPV described the shutdown of its Mercer plants as a cost-cutting linked largely to a tight credit market, which has made it difficult for customers to obtain financing for solar panel purchases. 'The demand (for solar panels) is still absolutely there,' Tom Werthan, EPV's chief financial officer, said last week during a tour of the company's manufacturing facility off South Gold Drive in Hamilton. 'Banks are telling our clients they are analyzing the prospects of the solar industry before financing more projects, but that takes time. So there is a domino effect,' Werthan said. He added that prospects for the company's unique thin-film solar panels are very strong, but EPV needs assistance in getting through the next few months."
Solar firm to suspend work
The Times of Trenton News, 21 December 2008

"Aiming to mass-produce a lithium battery for vehicles, 14 U.S. companies with expertise in batteries and advanced materials have formed an alliance with a government laboratory, the lab said on Thursday. The alliance, which includes battery industry giants such as 3M (nyse: MMM - news - people ) Co and Johnson Controls (nyse: JCI - news - people )-Saft, intends to secure $1 billion to $2 billion in U.S. government funding over the next five years to build a manufacturing facility with an 'open foundry' for the participants to pursue the goal of perfecting lithium-ion batteries for cars."
US gov't lab, 14 firms team up on lithium battery
Reuters, 18 December 2008

"An electric transport company is to install thousands of recharging points for electric cars across Israel ready for commercial use by 2011 in the first such nationwide network. The firm, Better Place, showed off its first charging spot yesterday at a car park above a shopping centre in Ramat Hasharon, near Tel Aviv. In a pilot project, it will install 500 of the charging points by the end of this year in cities, including Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem. It expects to have 500,000 charging points by the time the first cars are marketed. Moshe Kaplinsky, head of Better Place Israel, said the firm believed it presented a fundamental challenge to petrol-driven cars. 'This vision is to stop this addiction to oil,' he said....It expects a lithium-ion car battery to last for 106 miles. Given Israel's small size, the company expects relatively little need for changing batteries. A return trip from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, for example, covers 75 miles. For longer journeys, battery changing stations will be set up across the country and would replace a car battery within minutes. Payment for the service would be through a monthly account, similar to a mobile phone bill. No prices have been announced, but Kaplinsky said the cost of buying the car and paying for recharging would be less than the costs incurred with petrol-driven cars. 'We intend that by 2020 almost all the cars in Israel will be electric vehicles,' he said."
Israel pilots electric car network
Guardian, 9 December 2008

"Hawaii is to become the first US state to create a transport infrastructure that will allow cars to run almost entirely on electricity. The plan involves building up to 100,000 charging stations in car parks and streets by 2012 and importing electric vehicles manufactured by a joint venture between Nissan and Renault. Motorists who buy the cars will be able to purchase mileage plans — including recharging services and battery swaps — or use the charging stations on a pay-as-you-go basis. Linda Lingle, the Governor of Hawaii, said that the programme would help the six large islands in the state to meet the goal of reducing the use of fossil fuels by 70 per cent within the next 30 years. About 1.3 million people live in Hawaii, most of them in Honolulu. The islands import 90 per cent of their oil from countries such as Saudi Arabia, an arrangement that costs an estimated $7 billion (�4.7 billion) a year. 'Today is a part of the execution of our energy independence [strategy], and our getting off the addiction to oil,' Ms Lingle said. Most of the infrastructure will be provided and funded by Better Place, a Silicon Valley company — although the $75 million-$100 million cost of the project has yet to be raised. It will build the charging stations and provide charged batteries. The electricity is expected to come from renewable sources, such as wind power. All of this will require a significant investment, however, because Hawaii has limited wind power and there are no transmission lines to carry electricity between the islands. Shai Agassi, the founder and chief executive of Better Place, said electric cars would cost the same as petrol vehicles but that over time they would become cheaper because they used half as many parts as cars with internal combustion engines."
Electric cars put Hawaii on the road to independence
London Times, 4 December 2008

"The cracks in the future supply of the 'picks and shovels' of green technology, scientists and financial analysts argue, have begun to show. In the case of lithium, the metal on which the vision of the electric car is based, the level of worldwide reserves may prevent more than a few tens of thousands of units of the hotly anticipated Chevrolet Volt ever being produced. Since the commercialisation of lithium ion batteries in the early 1990s, production and use of the technology has soared. The metal - difficult to extract and with reserves skewed to certain pockets of South America - has been seized on by the global electronics industry as the answer to its prayers. The power of the lithium battery drives personal information technology, from iPods and mobile phones to laptops and BlackBerrys. Between 2003 and 2007, industrial demand for lithium doubled and now consumption stands at about 80,000 tonnes a year: give or take 18 months of global downturn, the growth rate for lithium demand is soon expected to return to about 25 per cent per year. However, some experts say, the present calculations of lithium reserve usage do not take sufficient account of the potential demand from the car industry if it truly plans to convert the world to cleaner, emission-free electric cars. The sort of batteries large enough to power a car use about 100 times more lithium than a laptop and, according to William Tahil, research director of Meridian International Research, there is not enough commercially extractable lithium in the world to meet the sort of demand implied if motoring goes electric. By his calculations, world reserves of lithium - that is, the quantity that can be extracted economically - are about four million tonnes. Mr Tahil told The Times that production of lithium cannot possibly be expanded to meet the ambitions of the car industry. Even highly productive lodes of the material, such as the deposits at the Salar de Atacama salt lake in Chile, may be past their peak already. Although Mr Tahil's warnings are not universally accepted by industrial users and producers of lithium, actions speak louder than words. Toyota is said to have scrapped plans to use a lithium battery in its 2009 Prius hybrid and will stick with the heavier, less efficient, nickel battery. The company said recently that it did not believe that future lithium supply would be able to sustain the dual demands from the electronics and car industries."
Grand plans for global energy are under threat - but from unexpected sources
London Times, 29 November 2008

"Electric cars will be in widespread use by 2020 as part of measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the head of the Committee on Climate Change, the government advisory body, said yesterday. Transforming private transport from reliance on the internal combustion engine to electric and hybrid cars was highlighted as one of the most effective ways of reducing fossil fuel consumption. Lord Turner of Ecchinswell, the chairman of the committee, said that such measures were necessary to enable Britain to meet ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a third over the next decade. Electric and hybrid vehicles are expected to form up to 40 per cent of cars on the road by 2020....The committee published its first report, Building a Low-Carbon Economy, as the United Nations conference on climate change opened in Poznan, Poland. The conference is seeking ways of reaching an international agreement that will replace the Kyoto Protocol to ensure that global warming is combated with reductions in greenhouse gases worldwide."
Britain’s cars may go electric by 2025
London Times, 2 December 2008

"Using computer modeling, researchers at MIT are working to boost the output and efficiency of solar cells while lowering the cost of solar power. A team of MIT physicists and engineers say they have been able to boost the output of solar cells by as much as 50% by adding a combination of antireflection coatings and multilayered reflective coatings to silicon films on the cells. The research team said that the advancement could dramatically reduce the cost of using solar power because the amount of very pricey high-quality silicon traditionally used is slashed down to 1% of the normal amount."
MIT researchers boost the power of solar energy
Computer World, 1 December 2008

"The biggest single rooftop photovoltaic solar project in California was officially opened on Monday by electric utility Southern California Edison at a warehouse 50 miles east of Los Angeles. Over the next five years, SCE plans to install 250 megawatts of solar panels atop 2 square miles of commercial roofs in 150 separate projects in its service territory of southern, central and coastal California, as long as state regulators approve passing the $875 million cost on to customers....First Solar sold 33,700 thin-film solar panels to SCE, which paid a contractor to install them over 600,000 square feet of rooftop at a ProLogis PLD.N distribution warehouse in Fontana. It can generate enough electricity at peak -- 2 megawatts -- to serve 1,300 average homes, SCE said. Its cost was $10 million, which comes in at $4,200 per kilowatt, compared to $7,000 per kilowatt average for photovoltaic solar in California, SCE said. The utility told the Public Utilities Commission when it presented its five-year plan that it would bring the cost down to half -- $3,500 per kilowatt -- of the state average. Craver said that by the time the first few projects are in place, it could realize that target. 'We believe that one of the benefits of the program is to drive economies of scale, which will benefit our projects and also lower the cost for everyone,' said Craver in a telephone interview."
Utility SCE opens biggest solar rooftop in Calif
Reuters, 1 December 2008

"Britain roads would become green, clean and silent if the plans to be set out by the government’s Committee on Climate Change tomorrow were realised. It will warn that motorists must get rid of their dependence on the internal combustion engine and switch in large numbers to vehicles powered by electricity, hydrogen and other low or zero-emission fuels. The recommendation will be contained in Building a Low Carbon Economy - the UK's Contribution to Tackling Climate Change, the inaugural report of the committee, chaired by Lord Adair Turner. The 500-page report will set out what Britain needs to do if it is to achieve the 80% target for cutting emissions it has set itself. It will say that, currently, Britain generates the equivalent of 10-12 tons of CO2 annually per person - about 700m tons in total. This must be cut to two tons a person by 2050, equivalent to about 12lb of CO2 per person each day. The report will warn such cuts are impossible while internal combustion engines are the main means for propelling cars. A typical family car emits 11-13lb of CO2, a day’s 'allowance', in 25 miles of motoring. Last month, Professor Julia King, a committee member, told the Royal Society that the days of the internal combustion engine were numbered. 'In the long term, CO2-free road transport fuel is the only way to decarbonise road transport,' she said. 'That means electric vehicles, with novel batteries charged by zero-carbon electricity or hydrogen produced from zero-carbon electricity.' King believes a concerted effort could see cars that emit 50% less CO2 than today’s dominating Britain’s roads by 2025. Most of them would be plug-in hybrids with an electric system incorporating a small internal combustion engine."
Britain’s cars may go electric by 2025
London Times, 30 November 2008

"Saudi Arabia on Saturday cited $75 a barrel as a 'fair price' for oil, the first time in years that the world's biggest exporter has identifed a target for crude prices. Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said oil prices needed to return to $75 to keep the more expensive new projects at the margins of world supply on track. His comments may come as a relief to consumer nations fearful of a return to $100-plus oil. U.S. crude was valued at $55 late on Friday. 'There is a good logic for $75 a barrel,' Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, OPEC's most influential voice, told reporters in Cairo, where the producer cartel was meeting. 'You know why? Because I believe $75 is the price for the marginal producer. If the world needs supply from all sources, we need to protect the price for them. I think $75 is a fair price,' he said. Saudi King Abdullah announced $75 as a fair price in an interview with Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Seyassah."
Saudi targets 'fair' oil price at $75
Reuters, 29 November 2008

"In reality, today's bulky and expensive solar panels capture only 10% or so of the sun's energy, but rapid innovation in the US means that the next generation of panels will be much thinner, capture far more of the energy in the sun's light and cost a fraction of what they do today. They may not even be made of silicon. First Solar, the largest manufacturer of thin panels, claims that its products will generate electricity in sunny countries as cheaply as large power stations by 2012. Other companies are investigating even more efficient ways of capturing the sun's energy, for example the use of long parabolic mirrors to focus light on to a thin tube carrying a liquid, which gets hot enough to drive a steam turbine and generate electricity. Spanish and German companies are installing large-scale solar power plants of this type in North Africa, Spain and the south-west of America; on hot summer afternoons in California, solar power stations are probably already financially competitive with coal. Europe, meanwhile, could get most of its electricity from plants in the Sahara desert. We would need new long-distance power transmission but the technology for providing this is advancing fast, and the countries of North Africa would get a valuable new source of income."
The 10 big energy myths
Guardian, 27 November 2008

"The marginal cost of producing a barrel of oil is about $50. This is how much it costs the average oil company to drill, dig, pump and deliver a barrel of crude to market. If the price falls below this level, some producers will be pumping oil at a loss. So, with the oil price close to its marginal cost of production, Questor believes now is the right time to buy oil. Most of the world's easily pumped oil has been found; probably all of it. Most new oil discoveries are located in deepwater environments, such as those recently identified by Brazil's Petrobras. This oil is much more expensive to produce than oil from more conventional locations, such as Saudi Arabia's Ghawar field. Other new sources of oil include the Canadian tar sands in Alberta. This oil also costs significantly more to turn into crude than traditional sources – maybe as much as $75-$80 a barrel. This is because the tar sands are extremely viscous. They do not flow like normal oil, so they have to be strip-mined or injected with steam. This uses significantly more energy and water. So, with the oil price now at $54, many producers will be feeling severe pain – especially when they have become accustomed to receiving massive piles of petrodollars throughout the oil price spike. According to research by Deutsche Bank, Venezuela needs to see oil at $95 a barrel to balance its current account. Saudi Arabia needs oil at $55. The falling oil price is also crippling the Russian economy, so much so that the country may even start co-operating with Opec in a formal basis....The credit freeze has certainly had a dramatic effect on the oil market. In October, Goldman Sachs said: 'A combination of fear, de-stocking and disruptions across the supply chain owing to frozen credit markets is currently depressing oil demand far below where underlying economic fundamentals would suggest."
Investing in crude oil could be a slick move
Daily Telegraph, 27 November 2008

".....some of the best minds in the energy business insist that this latest bear market is only baiting the trap for a huge price run-up that will likely come around 2015. And – despite all of the current turmoil – they may end up being right....I’ve spent a good bit of time over the past couple of months talking to two of the sharpest analysts in the oil business: Peter Wells and Charley Maxwell. And both are convinced that peak oil is real, it’s coming, and the pain that will accompany its arrival will be severe. Who are these guys? Wells has a Ph.D. in geology and three decades of experience in the global oil industry. He has worked extensively in the Middle East, Russia, West Africa, and Europe, and is an expert on the oil politics and geology of Iran and Iraq. He spent 12 years with Shell International, 4 with BP, and 6 with LASMO, the British oil and gas independent, where he led the company’s business development efforts in the Mideast, including Iran. In 2001, he helped start Neftex, a British oil consulting firm. Since 2005, he has been a consultant to Toyota, developing world oil supply and price forecasting models. I have known Wells since 2005 and heard him speak several times...What sets Wells apart from the pack of alarmists is that he has done the deep and dirty analysis of individual field production data. In fact, Wells utilized field output info supplied by Denver-based consulting firm I.H.S., which owns one of the world’s most extensive oilfield databases. This same field-by-field data was utilized in 2006 by an I.H.S. subsidiary, Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA), to come up with their study on future global oil production, which claimed that global output could reach an 'undulating plateau' of 130 million barrels per day by 2030. The study concluded that the peak oil argument 'is based on faulty analysis which could, if accepted, distort critical policy and investment decisions and cloud the debate over the energy future.' The study also claimed that the remaining global oil resource base is about 3.74 trillion barrels. Wells took the same data and came up with a far different conclusion. He estimates that global liquids output will peak in about 2015 at no more than 100 million barrels per day. And that’s when things will get very interesting for automakers like Toyota and, of course, for the rest of us. Wells’s work on peak oil began in 2003, which led him to publish a piece in the Oil and Gas Journal in 2004. Looking back at that initial work, Wells says that his prediction at the time was that the peak in global liquids output would likely come at a level of about 95 to 110 million barrels per day, somewhere between 2020 and 2035, 'depending on OPEC reserves and OPEC’s willingness/ability to invest in new capacity.' When he began his consulting work for Toyota in 2005, Wells decided on a 'bottom up' approach using the I.H.S. database and Neftex’s own data for the U.S. He then disaggregated all of the potential sources of oil – conventional crude, NGLs, tar sands, shale oil, biofuels, coal-to-liquids, etc. – so that he could look at their growth potential on a segment-by-segment basis. The I.H.S. data included field-by-field information as well as production information for the former Soviet Union, the U.S., all of the OPEC members, and all non-OPEC producers. Among his most important conclusions is that non-OPEC production is peaking this year. That is in line with analyses done by the E.I.A. and by John S. Herold Inc., on the non-OPEC producers and the major international oil companies....In the mid-1980s, the world had a peak in spare capacity, with some 10 million barrels per day of excess production capability. Predictably, that spare capacity led to a price collapse that persisted until the first years of this century, a period during which, according to Wells, the floor price of oil was largely set by the spending needs of the Saudi government. Today, and for the foreseeable future, supply and demand will be in much tighter alignment, with Wells seeing excess capacity growing slightly this year and next to about 2 MMbbl/d....The tight spare capacity exacerbates several other factors. The peak in non-OPEC production means that future production must come from OPEC members. That’s a problem. Saudi Arabia stands alone as the player with the resources, technical skill, and desire to increase production in a meaningful way in the near term. The other major OPEC members with big resources – Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Kuwait, and Nigeria – all face political constraints that will limit their ability to add large increments of new production. Of course, if those political constraints were removed, the issue of peak oil would probably be forgotten for another 20 years or so. Wells believes that Iraq could eventually produce 7 MMbbl/d, but that level won’t be reached until at least 2020, due to the obvious obstacles: political wrangling, violence, and the lack of technically savvy personnel who can manage large new exploration and production projects. Iran, Venezuela, and Nigeria could likewise ramp up production, but all are beset by political regimes that have little interest (or ability) to dramatically increase output for the export market. Wells predicts that Iran may be able to increase its output to about 5.5 MMbbl/d, but not much beyond that.....History shows that sharp increases in oil prices are often followed by recessions. Those recessions typically lead to sharp decreases in oil demand and therefore, prices. The most obvious example of that slackening demand occurred after the sharp price increases of the late ’70s and early ’80s. Those prices reached about $98 per barrel (in 2008 inflation-adjusted dollars) in January 1981. In 1978, U.S. oil consumption averaged 18.8 MMbbl/d. It stayed below that level until 1998, when it hit 18.9 MMbbl/d. That period of slack demand was accompanied by a sustained period of low prices. From the mid-’80s through the early ’00s, prices largely stayed under $20 and even fell as low as $9.39 per barrel ($12.57 in 2008 dollars) in December 1998. Today, we have similar slackening of demand due to higher prices. For instance, in July 2008, consumption was 19.4 MMbbl/d, substantially below the all-time high of 21.6 MMbbl/d in August 2005. Furthermore, U.S. oil demand has been falling nearly every month since December 2007. So will demand destruction take the peak out of peak oil? While it’s tempting to answer in the affirmative, several factors appear to show that it will not. Before going to those factors, let’s look at the forces that could lead to slower demand growth. They include, most obviously, a sustained recession. If world economic growth stalls for a sustained time, oil demand will continue to be slack. Second, automakers are working hard on hybrid vehicles and electric cars that could slow gasoline demand. Third, new tougher efficiency standards for U.S. automakers, combined with ongoing additions of billions of gallons of corn ethanol into the gasoline pool, will likely further dampen U.S. gasoline demand....Even so, there are major differences between the current situation and the conditions that existed in the ’80s and ’90s. First and foremost is the paucity of spare production capacity to be had. Further, there are far fewer oil producers with big reserves remaining to be tapped. As shown in Table 2, 10 different oil-producing nations peaked between 1996 and 2004. Those producers will not be able to add significant amounts of new crude production to the global market. Perhaps most crucially, in decades past China and India were largely still on the sidelines. That’s no longer the case. According to an October 7 report from the E.I.A., China’s August crude oil imports jumped by 12 percent, while its oil products imports increased by 32 percent, over the year-earlier period. Of course, it’s not just China. Other developing countries, like India, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia, are also rapidly increasing their energy consumption. And much of that is focused on transportation. In July, the I.E.A. estimated that the total number of motor vehicles could increase to as many as 1.2 billion by 2013, from the current 800 million. While a very small percentage will run on electricity, natural gas, or other alternatives, the overwhelming majority will be fueled by refined petroleum products. Additionally, any future increases in OPEC output, particularly among the Persian Gulf members of the cartel, could be directed toward internal use. Energy demand in the Persian Gulf is soaring. According to the latest BP Statistical Review, in 2007, oil consumption in the Middle East grew at the same rate – 4.3 percent – as did demand in China. That increasing oil demand is a reflection, in part, of the region’s growing electricity demand."
Gasoline’s Cheap Again, But Peak Oil Still Looms Large
Energy Tribune, 26 November 2008

"Russia's state uranium miner plans to invest 203.6 billion roubles ($7.4 billion) by 2015 to fund a massive expansion plan as demand from the nuclear power sector grows, the company's general director said on Wednesday. Atomredmetzoloto (ARMZ) General Director Vadim Zhivov told Reuters the company, which produces uranium in Russia and Kazakhstan, planned to increase output of the metal to 4,300 tonnes next year from 3,880 tonnes expected in 2008. Zhivov said in an interview the financial crisis had not affected his company's spending plans so far, despite the fact 172.3 billion roubles ($6.3 billion) of the planned investment would not be funded from the Russian state budget. 'In the next two years, we can finance this through our own means,' said Zhivov. Russia holds more than 10 percent of the world's uranium reserves and is positioning itself as a major player in meeting growing demand from the fast-growing nuclear industry. Zhivov said ARMZ, the mining arm of Russian state atomic agency Rosatom, would seek external funding from banks and would team up with strategic partners to develop new deposits, most of them in Siberia and the Russian Far East. 'All our strategic partners, in Japan, France and Canada, have confirmed their plans,' Zhivov said. 'Of course, there could be corrections to these plans, but nobody has said anything about that.' ARMZ is participating in joint ventures with Canada's Cameco Corp, the world's largest uranium miner, and Japan's Mitsui & Co to develop Russia's reserves, the world's third-largest....ARMZ produced 3,527 tonnes in 2007, of which 3,413 tonnes was produced in Russia. The 2008 forecast of 3,880 tonnes includes 3,580 tonnes of Russian production. The largest uranium miner within the state holding is the Priargunsk Mining and Chemical Production Union, which mined 3,037 tonnes at its deposit near the Chinese border last year. This year's growth will come mainly from new deposits elsewhere in Russia. Another company within the group, ZAO Dalur, last year produced 350 tonnes of uranium in the Siberian region of Kurgan and plans to raise 2008 output to 410 tonnes. The Khiagda mine in the Buryatia republic produced 26 tonnes last year and plans to produce 120 tonnes in 2008. Additional production will come from the company's two joint ventures in Kazakhstan: Zarechnoye and Akbastau. In the longer term, growth will come from large deposits such as Elkon in the Russian Far East, in which Mitsui & Co has agreed to participate."
Russia uranium miner plans $7.4 bln expansion
Reuters, 26 November 2008

"Los Angeles plans to become the first solar city in the US by generating 10 percent of its electricity through solar power, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. The ambitious plan would create the largest solar base of any city in the world, according to solar energy experts. Under the plan proposed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa the sprawling city would purchase 1,280 megawatts of solar power - about 500 megawatts would come from private generating plants in the Mojave Desert, a further 380 megawatts would come from a programme to encourage residents to put solar panels on their roofs, while another 400 megawatts would come from panels on city-owned buildings."
Los Angeles bids to become first US solar city
IANS, 26 November 2008

"AFS Trinity Power Corporation todayannounced it intends to file for $2.5 billion of funding from the $25 billion 'green retooling' fund just established by Congress, with up to $2 Billion ofthe funding to be used for retooling an existing factory of a major Americancar maker whose assembly line employees will be retrained to produce plug inhybrid SUV's that utilize AFS Trinity's 150 mile per gallon 'Extreme Hybrid' technology....Furia said that all three American carmakers have current models that are candidates to be redesigned as Extreme Hybrids and they have factories wherethey can be built. The Saturn Vue Greenline mid-size SUV was used as aplatform by AFS Trinity in creating the first two 150 mpg prototypes, but the Extreme Hybrid technology can be used with a variety of models from any carmaker. The Saturn Vues were purchased directly off the showroom floor of GM Saturn dealerships, but GM, itself, was not involved in the Extreme Hybrid development program in any way. Furia said about $2 billion of the total $2.5 Billion loan will used topay whichever carmaker is selected by AFS Trinity and Ricardo to retool theirplant and train their employees who will manufacture and market the first production vehicles. The remaining $500 million would be used by AFS Trinityand Ricardo for technology transfer and support of engineering for modelredesign and retooling....Yesterday, AFS Trinity reported results of a ten month battery testingprogram delivered to AFS Trinity November 7, 2008, from an independentscientific laboratory that evaluated the comparative durability of lithium ion batteries used alone or, as in the AFS Trinity dual energy storage system, coupled with ultra capacitors and subjected to typical plugin hybrid vehicle current demands. The outcome of the tests was that the battery/ultracapcombination was 6 times as durable as the same lithium ion battery used alone. Furia said, 'These tests demonstrated that our battery/ultracap combinationsurvived the equivalent of 150,000 miles of continuous use in a plug in hybrid duty cycle compared to only 25,000 miles durability of the same batteries when used alone.' Battery tests were conducted by America's leading independent batterytesting laboratory, Mobile Power Solutions of Beaverton, Oregon. 'However,' Furia said, 'AFS Trinity does not rule out the possibility thatmore durable cost effective batteries could be invented that could be used alone and which might be sufficient to handle the duty cycle of a PHEV. However, no such battery, of which AFS Trinity is aware, currently exists.'....Describing the prototypes, Furia said AFS Trinity's XH150 is not only a roomy SUV but 'a fully operational Extreme Hybrid (TM) that can go at least 40miles without burning a drop of gasoline in the electric vehicle mode with atop EV speed of 87 MPH. . . . and from zero to 60 in 11.6 seconds in allelectric mode and 6.9 seconds in full hybrid mode. After 40 miles as anelectric vehicle the Extreme Hybrid automatically converts to gas.'"
AFS Trinity to Seek $2.5 Billion to Retool for Mass Production of Its 150 mpg SUV Using an Existing Factory and the Workers of a Major American Car Maker
International Business Times, 18 November 2008

"Solar panels glisten across Ota City's tiny Pal Town neighbourhood, nestled among strawberry fields in one of Japan's sunniest spots, a testament to the allure of renewable energy in this resource-poor country. Three-quarters of Pal Town's homes are covered by solar panels, which are distributed for free and have become one of the main draw-cards for residents keen to minimise their power bills."
'Solar City' proves allure of sun's energy in Japan
Reuters, 11 November 2008

"Researchers in China and Switzerland are reporting the highest efficiency ever for a promising new genre of solar cells, which many scientists think offer the best hope for making the sun a mainstay source of energy in the future. The photovoltaic cells, called dye-sensitized solar cells or Gr�tzel cells, could expand the use of solar energy for homes, businesses, and other practical applications, the scientists say. Their study is scheduled for the November 13 issue of ACS’ The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, a weekly publication. The research, conducted by Peng Wang and colleagues — who include Michael Gr�tzel, inventor of the first dye-sensitized solar cell — involves photovoltaic cells composed of titanium dioxide and powerful light-harvesting dyes. Gr�tzel cells are less expensive than standard silicon-based solar cells and can be made into flexible sheets or coatings. Although promising, Gr�tzel cells until now have had serious drawbacks. They have not been efficient enough at converting light into electricity. And their performance dropped after relatively short exposures to sunlight. In the new study, researchers describe lab tests of solar cells made with a new type of ruthenium-based dye that helps boost the light-harvesting ability. The new cells showed efficiencies as high as 10 percent, a record for this type of solar cell. The new cells also showed greater stability at high temperatures than previous formulas, retaining more than 90 percent of their initial output after 1,000 hours in full sunlight....These cells offer two potential advantages: First off, they should be lower cost due to expected ease in manufacturing. Second, both their flexibility and their light weight will allow installation in places which otherwise would not support the presence of solar cells. For example, cars could have them on their roofs without a big weight penalty. Also, side walls and other vertical surfaces could be covered with lightweight solar cells whereas much heavier weight silicon photovoltaics would weigh too much for easy installation. Skyscrapers might some day get covered with Gr�tzel solar cell sheeting."
Advance In Flexible Thin Plastic Solar Cells
FuturePundit, 9 November 2008

"Miniature solar cells - about a quarter the size of this 'o' - have been tested in the US as a power source for microscopic machines. Xiamei Jiang and colleagues at the University of South Florida made an array of 20 such cells, to show they could power a tiny sensor for detecting dangerous chemicals. The miniature cells, described in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, are made of an organic polymer (plastic) rather than the silicon used for traditional solar cells."
Miniature solar cells power up
Financial Times, 7 November 2008

"Blue Square Energy, a developer and manufacturer of low-cost silicon solar cells, today announced that it has produced a 14.6 percent efficient solar cell with its patent-pending Bright Point technology. BSE's efficiency result is one of the highest in the world on upgraded metallurgical grade (UMG) silicon and has been verified independently by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). 'What we've been able to accomplish is a major milestone towards achieving our goal of creating low-cost solar energy for homes and businesses,' said Joseph Babin, CEO of BSE. 'This proves that inexpensive silicon typically considered unsuited for the solar industry can be utilized to create solar energy that is price accessible for most Americans. Solar modules made with our Bright Point technology will soon be the best choice for those who care about our environment and their wallets -- and want to save both'...UMG silicon has drawn a great deal of industry attention as companies seek substitutes to traditional and rare solar grade silicon in the fabrication of their solar cells. However, most UMG technologies being developed focus on blending low percentages of inexpensive UMG silicon with expensive solar grade silicon. This results in a minimal cost reduction. Through Bright Point, Blue Square Energy uses 100 percent 4N UMG silicon, which results in a significant cost reduction relative to other UMG silicon solar cell products. Creating low-cost solar cells is the first step in BSE's goal of eventually manufacturing the world's highest efficiency, lowest cost solar cell. This Bright Point II technology is currently in research and development."
Blue Square Energy Announces 14.6 Percent Efficient Solar Cell on Upgraded Metallurgical Grade Silicon
MarketWatch, 5 November 2008

"Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered and demonstrated a new method for overcoming two major hurdles facing solar energy. By developing a new antireflective coating that boosts the amount of sunlight captured by solar panels and allows those panels to absorb the entire solar spectrum from nearly any angle, the research team has moved academia and industry closer to realizing high-efficiency, cost-effective solar power. 'To get maximum efficiency when converting solar power into electricity, you want a solar panel that can absorb nearly every single photon of light, regardless of the sun’s position in the sky,' said Shawn-Yu Lin, professor of physics at Rensselaer and a member of the university’s Future Chips Constellation, who led the research project. 'Our new antireflective coating makes this possible.' Results of the year-long project are explained in the paper 'Realization of a Near Perfect Antireflection Coating for Silicon Solar Energy,' published this week by the journal Optics Letters. An untreated silicon solar cell only absorbs 67.4 percent of sunlight shone upon it — meaning that nearly one-third of that sunlight is reflected away and thus unharvestable. From an economic and efficiency perspective, this unharvested light is wasted potential and a major barrier hampering the proliferation and widespread adoption of solar power. After a silicon surface was treated with Lin’s new nanoengineered reflective coating, however, the material absorbed 96.21 percent of sunlight shone upon it — meaning that only 3.79 percent of the sunlight was reflected and unharvested. This huge gain in absorption was consistent across the entire spectrum of sunlight, from UV to visible light and infrared, and moves solar power a significant step forward toward economic viability. Lin’s new coating also successfully tackles the tricky challenge of angles. Most surfaces and coatings are designed to absorb light — i.e., be antireflective — and transmit light — i.e., allow the light to pass through it — from a specific range of angles. Eyeglass lenses, for example, will absorb and transmit quite a bit of light from a light source directly in front of them, but those same lenses would absorb and transmit considerably less light if the light source were off to the side or on the wearer’s periphery. This same is true of conventional solar panels, which is why some industrial solar arrays are mechanized to slowly move throughout the day so their panels are perfectly aligned with the sun’s position in the sky. Without this automated movement, the panels would not be optimally positioned and would therefore absorb less sunlight."
Solar Power Game-Changer: 'Near Perfect' Absorption of Sunlight, From All Angles
Rensselaer Polytechnic, 3 November 2008

"Researchers at Ohio State University have accidentally discovered a new solar cell material capable of absorbing all of the sun's visible light energy. The material is comprised of a hybrid of plastics, molybdenum and titanium. The team discovered it not only fluoresces (as most solar cells do), but also phosphoresces. Electrons in a phosphorescent state remain at a place where they can be 'siphoned off' as electricity over 7 million times longer than those generated in a fluorescent state. This combination of materials also utilizes the entire visible spectrum of light energy, translating into a theoretical potential of almost 100% efficiency. Commercial products are still years away, but this foundational work may well pave the way for a truly renewable form of clean, global energy. A complete study of the team's work appears in the current issue of 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences' (PNAS).....Today's best solar cell technologies utilize several material layers to convert the infrared, ultraviolet and visible portions of the spectrum into electrical energy. This equates to about 61% efficiency in the furthest extremes of the technology, though something around mid-40% is far more typical. Solar cells like these are also incredibly expensive, fragile and impractical for mass production, making them useful for projects like satellites. They have no real potential to become real alternatives for the base consumer's energy needs. Quite recently, plastic solar cells have been created which achieve between 7% and 11% efficiency. While this may not sound like a lot, such products and materials are extremely inexpensive to produce in bulk quantities, costing about $3 per square meter. The idea of having a rooftop covered by plastic solar cells in place of tar-based shingles has drawn many a consumer's thought since being first reported in 2007. Commercial consumer products based on the technology, which could offer up to 14% efficiency if theories are to be believed, are promised within the next five years....The materials these researchers have created is not ready for prime time. Only a few molecules were created through a joint effort of the Ohio State University team and a team of chemists from the National Taiwan University. They synthesized enough of the material to carry out preliminary tests. And while these early findings are truly remarkable, there are still more on the horizon....It won't be too long before supercomputers light the way for the truly revolutionary form of renewable energy generation."
New solar cell material achieves almost 100% efficiency, could solve world-wide energy problems
TGDaily, 20 October 2008

"There's a global scramble to drive down emissions of carbon dioxide: the electricity to power just refrigerators in the U.S. contributes 102 million tons annually. Solar refrigeration can also be inexpensive and it would give the electric grid much-needed relief. Electricity demand peaks on hot summer days—150 gigawatts more in summer than winter in the U.S. (A gigawatt equals on billion watts.) That's almost 1.5 times the generating capacity of all the coal-fired power plants west of the Mississippi River. Further, solar is plentiful. The solar energy hitting 54 square feet (five square meters) of land each year is the equivalent of all the electricity used by one American household, according to data from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Energy Information Administration, both part of the U.S. Department of Energy....Absorptive chillers like solar refrigerators use a heat source rather than a compressor to change the refrigerant from vapor to liquid. The two most common combinations are water mixed with either lithium bromide or ammonia. In each case, the refrigerating gas is absorbed until heat is applied, which raises the temperature and pressure. At higher pressure, the refrigerant condenses into liquid. Turning off the heat lowers the pressure, causing that liquid to evaporate back into a gas, thereby creating the cooling effect."
Solar Refrigeration: A Hot Idea for Cooling
Scientific American, 20 October 2008

"A protracted shortage of raw silicon that impacted the fortunes for some makers of solar photovoltaic panels is beginning to ease. The broader supply will put emerging thin-film panel makers under renewed pressure, said one market watcher. 'There will be significant supplies of raw [silicon] material beginning in 2010,' said Paula Mints, principal analyst with Navigant Consulting (Palo Alto, Calif.), speaking at a recent IEEE event on solar energy. 'This will exert extreme downward pressure on average prices for all technologies, but particularly thin films,' she added....Vendors using one of several thin film technologies were able to capitalize on the shortage because they required very little silicon. First Solar Inc. (Tempe, Ariz.) was among the leaders of the group, rising to become the fifth largest panel maker in 2007 with its cadmium telluride-based technology. But the tide is turning. Supply of silicon is easing this year and could be in overcapacity by mid-2010, Mints forecasts. That should benefit the crystalline vendors who make up nine of the top ten panel makers. Crystalline vendors have been working hard to minimize their use of silicon. SunPower Corp. (San Jose), ranked as the tenth largest panel maker, slashed its use of silicon per solar cell in half from about 12 to six grams, said SunPower President Richard Swanson."
Silicon supply shifts solar dynamics
EETimes, 6 October 2008

"In three years, buildings covered in steel sheets could be generating large amounts of solar electricity, thanks to a new photovoltaic paint that is being developed in a commercial partnership between UK university researchers and the steel industry. A laboratory built to develop the new solar technology that replicates plant's photosynthesis is due to start work on October 30th in Shotton, North Wales. 'If the solar cell paint can be successfully brought to the market, it could spell big changes when it comes to the future production of electricity,' said Steve Fisher, spokesperson of the Corus Group, the Anglo-Dutch steel manufacturing group that is believed to be pouring tens of millions of euros into the venture. The photovoltaic paint is made up of a layer of dye and a layer of electrolytes and can be applied as a liquid paste. Altogether, the sheets of steel get four coats of solar paint — an undercoat, a layer of dye-sensitized solar cells, a layer of electrolyte or titanium dioxide as white paint pigment and, finally, a protective film. The paste is applied to steel sheets when they are passed through the rollers during the manufacturing process. The four layers of the solar cell system are built up one after the other in rapid succession. Light hits the dye-sensitized solar cells, exciting the molecules that act as a light absorber or sensitizer. The excited molecules release an electron into the nanocrystalline titanium dioxide layer, which acts as an electron collector and a circuit. The electrons finally move back into the dye, attracted by positively charged iodide particles in a liquid electrolyte. The solar electricity that the area covered with paint generates is collected and provides power for whatever application it is connected to. Corus Colours produces about 100 million square meters of steel sheets a year. If the company's entire output of steel is given a lick of solar paint, then these steel sheets together could have a capacity of as much as 9,000 gigawatts [hrs] (GW) of electricity every year, assuming the solar cells attain a power conversion efficiency of about 11 percent. Because the photovoltaic paint has none of the material limitations of conventional silicon-based solar cell, it could, at least in theory, provide terawatts of clean solar electricity at a low cost in the coming decades. These new solar cells also have the advantage of being able to absorb across the visible spectrum. That makes them more efficient at capturing low radiation light than conventional solar cells, and so well suited to the British climate with its many cloudy days. Stephen Fisher said that Corus was developing the photovoltaic paint as part of its commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions....Researchers working at the PV Accelerator Laboratory in Shotton are aiming to develop a method of applying the solar paint to steel at a rate of 30 to 40 square meters per second. Swansea University is leading the research together with Imperial College London and Bangor and Bath University. G24 Innovations started manufacturing dye-sensitized thin-film solar cells to be used for solar-powered chargers for mobile phones and digital cameras in Cardiff in Wales in 2007. The company claims its cells are the closest human beings have as yet come to replicating plant's photosynthesis."
Solar Paint on Steel Could Generate Renewable Energy Soon
RenewableEnergyWorld, 1 October 2008

"U.S. researchers have found a way to make efficient silicon-based solar cells that are flexible enough to be rolled around a pencil and transparent enough to be used to tint windows on buildings or cars. The finding, reported on Sunday in the journal Nature Materials, offers a new way to process conventional silicon by slicing the brittle wafers into ultrathin bits and carefully transferring them onto a flexible surface. 'We can make it thin enough that we can put it on plastic to make a rollable system. You can make it gray in the form of a film that could be added to architectural glass,' said John Rogers of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who led the research. 'It opens up spaces on the fronts of buildings as opportunities for solar energy,' Rogers said in a telephone interview....Many companies, including Japanese consumer electronics maker Sharp Corp and Germany's Q-Cells are making thin-film solar cells, but they typically are less efficient at converting solar energy into electricity than conventional cells. Rogers said his technology uses conventional single crystal silicon. 'It's robust. It's highly efficient. But in its current form, it's rigid and fragile,' he said. Rogers' team uses a special etching method that slices chips off the surface of a bulk silicon wafer. The sliced chips are 10 to 100 times thinner than the wafer, and the size can be adapted to the application.....Adding flexibility to the material would make the cells far easier to transport. Rogers envisions the material being 'rolled up like a carpet and thrown on the truck.'"
Scientists develop solar cells with a twist
Reuters, 5 October 2008

"AKNS, one of the nation's leading designers and installers of solar power systems, believes the key elements are now in place for unprecedented growth in residential solar adoption. 'Finally, the federal government has implemented a set of policies that will spur the long term growth of the solar industry,' said Barry Cinnamon, CEO of Akeena Solar. 'Our customers can now achieve a payback on their solar investment in five years instead of ten, with a 20 percent return on investment (ROI). In today's uncertain economy, rooftop solar power may be the very best investment a homeowner can make.' An eight-year extension of the federal investment tax credit and the removal of the $2,000 limitation for residential installations will drastically decrease the cost of solar for homeowners. The solar tax credits, first introduced in 2005, have been instrumental in encouraging the expansion of the industry."
Rooftop Solar Power Now the Best Investment Under the Sun
MarketWatch, 3 October 2008

"Mrs Sheila Dixit, the chief minister of Delhi will launch the ‘soleckshaw’, a vehicle driven by solar power on 2 October in the National Capital. The vehicle has been designed by scientists of Durgapur-based Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute, a CSIR organisation. Four such soleckshaws have already been transported to New Delhi. Dr Amitava Roy, director, CMERI said: 'Soleckshaws can be described as an efficient pedal powered, motor-assisted three wheeler that is expected to find good utility in downtown urban transportation and freight.'”
Solar power driven autorickshaws to ply soon
The Statesman (India), 26 September 2008

"The electricity generated by the three Pelamis devices will be carried by undersea cable to a substation in Agu�adoura, which will then feed the power into the Portuguese national grid. In addition to this flagship wave power, the Portuguese are investing heavily in other renewable technologies. They are already spending �250m on more than 2,500 solar photovoltaic panels to build the world's largest solar farm near the small town of Moura in eastern Portugal. It will have twice the collecting area of London's Hyde Park and supply 45MW of electricity each year, enough to power 30,000 homes."
'Wave snakes' switch on to harness ocean's power
Guardian, 25 September 2008

"We have an ocean of electricity and heating profligacy to mine in this country. British Gas ran an interesting experiment recently. Eight British streets were asked to compete in cutting their fuel bills, using only the easiest of efficiency measures. In no time at all, they cut their CO2 by an average 20% and fuel bills by a third. The Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR), which monitored the exercise (pdf) for BG, suggests that 10,000 advisers be appointed nationwide, one per 20 streets. The cost would be �500m annually against national energy savings of �4.6bn. The IPPR gives a telling example of what householders, energy-services companies, and government could do could if they worked together. A �524 loan package for cavity wall and lost insulation would give annual savings of �395 per household. A quick payback indeed....Modern solar electric and heating tiles, fitted to a maximally energy-efficient home, can take that property's emissions to zero. The whole thing can be put up in a matter of days using modern offsite methods of construction. More than half the UK's greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings; the majority from homes. We can cut greenhouse gas emissions to zero, we can get rid of the need for energy bills of any kind once the capital cost is paid, and we can dump gas, coal and nuclear alike. Then there is transport. Car manufacturers are aligning behind electricity as the fuel of the future. They are already well into systemic change, even at $100-barrel oil. Renewable energy can charge the plug-in super-efficient vehicles of the near future, even as massive new public transport infrastructure is built by the carbon army. Long term, we save much more money than we invest making this happen. It is all doable, if we just have the imagination and the will."
Independence from the street up
Guardian, 23 September 2008

"The world must speed up the deployment of solar power as it has the potential to meet all the world's energy needs, the chairman of an industry gathering which wrapped up Friday in Spain said. 'The solar energy resource is enormous, and distributed all over the world, in all countries and also oceans,' said Daniel Lincot, the chairman of the five-day European Photovoltaic Solar Energy conference held in Valencia. 'There is thus an enormous resource available from photovoltaics, which can be used everywhere, and can in principle cover all the world energy demand from a renewable, safe and clean source,' he added. Lincot, the research director of the Paris-based Institute for Research and Development of Photovoltaic Energy, said solar energy was growing rapidly but still made only a 'negligible' contribution to total energy supply. Last year the world production of photovoltaic models represented a surface of 40 square kilometres (16 square miles) while meeting the electrical consumption of countries like France or Germany would require 5,000 square kilometres, he said. Under current scenarios, photovoltaic models will represent about 1,000 square kilometres by 2020 accounting for about only 3.0 percent of energy needs in the 27-member European Union, he added."
Agence France Presse, 5 September 2008

"Vast greenhouses that use sea water for crop cultivation could be combined with solar power plants to provide food, fresh water and clean energy in deserts, under an ambitious proposal from a team of architects and engineers. The Sahara Forest Project, which is already running demonstration plants in Tenerife, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, envisages huge greenhouses with concentrated solar power (CSP), a technology that uses mirrors to focus the sun's rays, creating steam to drive turbines to generate electricity....The solar farm planned by the project runs seawater evaporators, pumping damp, cool air through the greenhouses. This reduces the warmth inside by about 15C, compared with the temperature outside. At the other end of the greenhouse from the evaporators, water vapour is condensed. Some of this fresh water is used to water the crops, some for cleaning the solar mirrors. 'So we've got conditions in the greenhouse of high humidity and lower temperature,' said Paton. 'The crops sitting in this slightly steamy, humid condition can grow fantastically well.'....Paton said the greenhouse produced more than five times the fresh water needed to water the plants inside, so some of the water could be released to the outside, creating a microclimate for hardier plants such as jatropha, a crop that can be turned into biofuel. The cost of the Sahara Forest Project could be relatively low as both CSP and Seawater Greenhouses are proven technologies. The designers estimate that building 20 hectares (nearly 50 acres) of greenhouses combined with a 10MW CSP scheme would cost about €80m (�65m).... Neil Crumpton, an energy specialist at Friends of the Earth, said the potential of these desert technologies was huge. 'Concentrated solar power mirror arrays covering just 1% of the Earth's deserts could supply a fifth of all current global energy consumption. And 1 million tonnes of sea water could be evaporated every day from just 20,000ha of greenhouses.' Governments should invest in the technologies and 'not be distracted by lobbyists promoting dangerous nuclear power or nuclear-powered desalination schemes', Crumpton added."
Solar plant yields water and crops from the desert
Guardian, 3 September 2008

"Battered by soaring energy costs and aghast at dwindling fish stocks, Japanese scientists think they have found the answer: filling the seas with giant 'eco-rigs' as powerful as nuclear power stations. The project, which could result in village-sized platforms peppering the Japanese coastline within a decade, reflects a growing panic in the country over how it will meet its future resource needs. The floating eco-rig generators which measure 1.2 miles by 0.5 miles (2km by 800m) are intended to harness the energy of the Sun and wind. They are each expected to produce about 300 megawatt hours of power. Some energy would be lost moving the electricity back onshore, but when three units are strapped together, scientists at Kyushu University say, the effect will be the same as a standard nuclear power station. The eco-rigs' gift to the environment does not stop there: some of the power that the solar cells and wind turbines produce will be hived off to fuel colossal underwater banks of light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The lamps are intended to convert the platforms into nurseries for specially selected seaweed that absorbs carbon dioxide and feeds fish and plankton. Deep-sea water that is rich in minerals will enhance the seaweed growth. The wind turbines will power pumps that will then draw the water to the surface.The rigs will be unmanned and comprise several hexagonal platforms....The Kyushu team says the plans are about three years away from becoming reality. It began tests on a scale version of the eco-rig last month, and full-scale official evaluation is expected to begin soon."
Massive floating generators, or 'eco-rigs', to provide power and food to Japan
London Times, 1 September 2008

"Nanosolar, a maker of thin-film solar panels, said that it has raised $300 million to accelerate production of solar-power facilities in Berlin and San Jose, Calif. The round of funding, which was completed this spring but announced Wednesday by Nanosolar CEO Martin Roscheisen on the company's blog, brings the total money the six-year-old company has raised to half of a billion dollars. Nanosolar is one of the darlings of the clean-tech investing craze.... the funding will help the company meet demand for the thin-film solar technology it introduced in December. Nanosolar is one of several companies betting on a photovoltaic-alternative known as copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS), which purportedly convert more sunlight into energy than other types of thin-film materials."
Nanosolar raises $300 million for thin-film solar
CNET News, 27 August 2008

"A UK-built solar-powered plane has set an unofficial world endurance record for a flight by an unmanned aircraft. The Zephyr-6, as it is known, stayed aloft for more than three days, running through the night on batteries it had recharged in sunlight. The flight was a demonstration for the US military, which is looking for new types of technology to support its troops on the ground. Zephyr has demonstrated that it can cope with extremes of temperature - from the blistering 45C heat found at ground level in Arizona's Sonoran Desert, to the minus 70C chill experienced at altitudes of more than 18km (60,000ft). The engineers from the Farnborough-based company are now collaborating with the American aerospace giant Boeing on a defence project codenamed Vulture. This would see the biggest plane in history take to the sky, powered by the sun and capable of carrying a 450-kilo (1,000lb) payload. US commanders say the design must be able to maintain its position over a particular spot on the Earth's surface uninterrupted for five years. QinetiQ is also developing UAV technology for civilian uses."
Solar plane makes record flight
BBC Online, 24 August 2008

"California's largest utility company has signed deals to build the world's two biggest solar plants that would supply electricity to 250,000 homes and reestablish the United States as the global leader in solar power, officials said Friday. Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), which is based in San Francisco and serves most of northern California, will use the two massive solar facilities to help it meet state requirements to generate 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2010, according to Chief Executive and Senior Vice President Jack Keenan. 'This commitment not only moves us forward in meeting our renewable goal, it's also a significant step forward in the renewable energy sector,' Keenan said in a statement. PG&E has signed contracts with two Silicon Valley firms, Optisolar and SunPower, to build the plants in the sunny central California coast city of San Luis Obispo, which is almost equidistant from the state's two population centers San Francisco and Los Angeles. Optisolar will build a 550-megawatt solar farm using thin-film photovoltaic panels, while SunPower will build another 250-megawatt plant on former farm land, PG&E said, adding that the OptiSolar plant could reduce as much carbon emissions by 90,000 cars alone. Energy sector officials said that the new project is so large that it will double the entire installed base of solar power generation in the United States. The world's largest solar facility is currently in Spain with a 23-megawatt generation capacity, while a 154-megawatt station is under construction in Australia."
California to build world's biggest solar power plants
Xinhua, 16 August 2008

"The world's largest solar power project is reportedly being planned for the state of Gujarat in western India at a cost of about $5 billion. Total power generation capacity is expected to reach 5 gigawatts. The U.S.-based Clinton Foundation is reportedly in talks with the state government to establish an 'Integrated Solar City' able to produce the raw materials needed for solar-based power generation, including glass and solar panels. According to a report in Business Standard on Friday (Aug. 8) from Ahmedabad, Gujarat state, an unnamed senior state government official was quoted as saying the cost of materials for the huge project will be much less than previous power generation projects. The official also said the project could reduce the cost of power generation from 25 cents per unit to 10 cents. The state government has recruited John Byrne, University of Delaware professor of public policy and Nobel Prize winner, to develop a solar energy roadmap for the state. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton's foundation, supported by corporate giants like Microsoft and GE Energy, wants to use its $12 billion kitty to finance 'green' energy initiatives. The Clinton Foundation is also talking with state officials in Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan about establishing other solar power projects, the report said. Several major solar panel manufacturing plants have been proposed here, with a total investment of about $17 billion. The projects are awaiting government approval and tax breaks."
World's biggest solar farm planned in India, report says
EE Times, 8 August 2008

"MIT researchers say they have discovered a way to use solar energy cheaply even after the sun goes down, which could make it a mainstream source of power within the next decade.Solar energy has been expensive and inefficient to use after dark, said Daniel Nocera, 51, the Henry Dreyfus professor of energy and professor of chemistry at MIT. But in an article published in the July 31 issue of the journal Science, Nocera and other Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers say they have found a simple, inexpensive process for storing solar energy.....Nocera and the other researchers based their work on a compound made from cobalt and phosphate, both readily available. When the sun is out, electricity from solar panels can be fed to the compound in water, causing the water to split into hydrogen and oxygen. The elements create a chemical fuel that can be recombined to create energy later, when the sun is not shining. The discovery breaks 'the connection between energy and fossil fuels because my energy is coming from water,' said Nocera, 'unleashing the solar energy, not in real time, but when you want to.' The researchers said the findings open the door for large-scale use of solar energy around the clock - not right away but within 10 years. The next step is engineering the system to create and use the solar power. That task will be part of an engineering design project at MIT during the upcoming semester, Nocera said. Cost is the biggest challenge facing the solar energy industry, said Monique Hanis, spokeswoman for the Solar Energy Industries Association, an industry trade group in Washington, D.C. 'The industry is trying to cut costs and improve efficiency all along the supply chain,' Hanis said. 'The cost of solar should be on par with sort of traditional fossil sources in about eight years,' based on the rising costs of other forms of energy and the trends the association has seen in cost reductions in solar over the last decade, she said. Nocera and the MIT research group said they opted to publish their findings to allow the science community to work on the technology. 'The challenges confronting the world in energy are too big to let anybody's single ego or money get in the way,' Nocera said. 'And we're talking about some really challenging problems.'"
Cheap solar at night? MIT may have answer
Boston Globe, 1 August 2008

"A U.S. scientist has developed a new way of powering fuel cells that could make it practical for home owners to store solar energy and produce electricity to run lights and appliances at night. A new catalyst produces the oxygen and hydrogen that fuel cells use to generate electricity, while using far less energy than current methods. With this catalyst, users could rely on electricity produced by photovoltaic solar cells to power the process that produces the fuel, said the Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who developed the new material.....Current methods of producing hydrogen and oxygen for fuel cells operate in a highly corrosive environment, Nocera said, meaning the entire reaction must be carried out in an expensive highly-engineered container. But at MIT this week, the reaction was going on in an open glass container about the size of two shot glasses that researchers manipulated with their bare hands, with no heavy safety gloves or goggles. 'It's cheap, it's efficient, it's highly manufacturable, it's incredibly tolerant of impurity and it's from earth-abundant stuff,' Nocera explained. Nocera has not tried to construct a full-sized version of the system, but suggested that the technologies to bring this into a typical home could be ready in less than a decade."
MIT develops way to bank solar energy at home
Reuters, 31 July 2008

"The rising popularity of lithium-ion (Li-Ion) in batteries has sent demand soaring again, and pundits now worry that electric cars will strain our supplies. Your laptop might use six finger-sized Li-Ion cells in its battery, but US-based Tesla Motors bolts together 6,000 cells to power one of its high-end electric sports cars. Now others, drawn to Li-Ion's light weight and high capacity, are joining in. Toyota's Prius hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) runs on a small battery powered by braking energy that switches to petrol when it runs out. The group will switch its Nickel Metal Hydrid (NiMH) chemistry to Li-Ion in 2010. GM will be putting Li-Ion batteries in the Volt, its plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) due out the same year. Other vendors also promise PHEVs, which are similar to HEVs, but with a larger, plug-in battery. Many will take the Li-Ion approach. So how much lithium do we have? 1m tonnes of lithium metal is used to produce 5.3m tonnes of lithium carbonate, says Brian Jaskula, an analyst at the US Geological Survey (USGS), which goes into Li-Ion batteries. Data from USGS puts total world resources of lithium metal at around 14m tonnes. The total world resource includes all the lithium metal we know about, whether it is commercially viable to extract it or not. But the USGS data is based on a 1976 National Research Council report....now two independent researchers are hoping to update the facts. In the pessimist corner is William Tahil, research director at Meridian International Research, who predicted two years ago that demand for lithium in cars would outpace supply. 'There is no surplus lithium carbonate available for the automotive market. It's all being used by existing industrial applications,' he says. His report provoked a rebuttal from retired industry veteran Keith Evans, who worked on the original 1976 report. In March, he released An Abundance of Lithium, claiming a world resource of 28m tonnes, almost half of which he says could be extracted commercially (worldlithium.com). This would produce nearly 74m tonnes of lithium carbonate.....Disagreements over lithium reserves aside, the other debate is about how much lithium we can produce from our reserves, and whether it can match the growth of the car industry. Analysts say that we won't be needing 17m lithium-powered cars for a considerable time. Anjan Hemanth Kumar, an analyst with Frost & Sullivan, says Europe will be the biggest market for electric vehicles, and he predicts that there will be some 250,000 vehicles in Europe by 2015. The US and Europe combined will have about 160,000 PHEVs by then. And Li-Ion battery vendor Hitachi says that most hybrid vehicles will use NiMH batteries until 2015.... Zenn has invested $2.5m (�1.2m) in eeStor, a Texas-based ultracapacitor group. Ultracapacitors are storage devices traditionally used for delivering large kicks of power, but they have little long-term energy capacity. eeStor promises to deliver one that stores as much energy as a lithium battery at less than half the weight - and with a charging time of under 10 minutes. Lockheed Martin has already signed an exclusive licence to use it in military applications. Other technologies are being investigated by carmakers too. Last year, Tata Motors, the Indian carmaker, gave MDI, a company started by a former Formula One engineer, €20m (�15.8m) for the rights to build cars based on its compressed air design. Both Zenn and MDI's US subsidiary ZPN hope to have cars housing their new technologies on the roads by 2010. Fossil fuel cars are unlikely to disappear just yet. But as we seek cleaner transport, other technologies are just around the corner."
What is going to power our cars?
Guardian, 31 July 2008

"China is ever to produce a challenger for the title of the world's richest and most respected businessman, a leading contender is likely to be Shi Zhengrong. The world's first solar billionaire sits at the intersection of two of the most important vectors of the 21st century - China's economic rise and the global imperative to cut carbon emissions. Since founding Suntech Power - China's largest photovoltaic manufacturer - in 2001, Shi has capitalised on a surge of environmentally driven demand in Germany, the US and elsewhere that has turned his company into a global powerhouse and made him, by some estimates, the richest man on the mainland. But that is just the start, according to the Australian-educated scientist, who predicts solar power will rival oil and coal before the end of the next decade. 'We believe that in 10 years, Suntech will be an energy giant like BP or Shell today,' he says. 'Since we were founded, we have grown by more than 100% every year, but we still can't keep up with demand. We must grow faster.'"
Bright future for China's solar billionaire
Guardian, 25 July 2008

"If giant solar thermal power plants spread across the desert are like a mainframe, Sopogy is making the equivalent of a personal computer. The Hawaii-based company on Tuesday at the Intersolar 2008 conference will show off the latest version of its MicroCSP--essentially a shrunk-down version of concentrating solar power (CSP) equipment used in power plants. It's a trough with a reflective coating that focuses sunlight onto a pipe that carries an oil. That heated liquid goes through an organic Rankine cycle engine to convert it into electricity. The conventional thinking in solar these days is to think big. Proposals for concentrating solar power plants call for hundreds of rows of troughs or mirrors to make steam to drive an electricity turbine. The output of these proposed plants will be hundreds of megawatts, approaching the size of traditional power plants. Sopogy's product, called SopaNova 4.0, is aimed at utilities as well, but for smaller-scale projects, in the range of 250 kilowatts to 25 megawatts. The latest edition is longer--between 12 feet and 18 feet long--than previous editions because of a new manufacturing process. 'On cost per watt, we're cheaper than PV (photovoltaics),' said CEO Darren Kimura. 'But that's not what really matters. We can do more production. We actually get more sun energy every day.'"
Sopogy thinks small to make megawatts of solar power
CNet News, 15 July 2008

"A new type of solar panel that allows light to pass through it like a pane of glass has been invented by scientists who said that it is 10 times more powerful than conventional methods of producing energy from sunlight. The discovery raises the prospect of using ordinary domestic windows to generate electricity with minimum structural alterations, although scientists have not yet worked out how much it would cost to convert a domestic home to a solar-powered generator. Instead of coating the entire solar panel with solar cells - the expensive semiconductor devices that turn the energy of sunlight into electricity - the new solar panel works on the principle of concentrating the light, and the energy, at the edges of a pane of glass where it can be collected by the solar cells. Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston said that the 'solar concentrator' is made from a film of organic molecules that can be coated on to glass window panes or other surfaces exposed to sunlight. This allows light to pass straight through the window even though it is being used to generate power. It also means that the expensive solar cells need only be placed around the edges of the collecting area, so that there is little need to track the movements of the Sun for generating maximum power, as well as reducing overall costs....The MIT solar concentrator involves a mixture of two or more dyes that are painted onto a pane of glass or plastic. These dyes absorb light across a range of different wavelengths, which is then re-emitted at a different wavelength and transported across the pane to the waiting solar cells at the edges. Jon Mapel, one of the MIT scientists who worked on the project, said that the trick was to improve the efficiency of the process, which ultimately leads to better performance and lower costs.... Solar power is seen as one of the greenest sources of energy but it has been dogged by the relatively high costs of installing photovoltaic cells on houses and buildings, which can take years to pay off in terms of energy savings. Their efficiency in low-light conditions is also a problem for countries such as Britain were sunlight is a rare commodity in the coldest months of winter."
New windows double as solar panels
Independent, 11 July 2008

"MIT engineers have turned plain glass into a virtual goldmine of solar energy with the help of a sophisticated, yet affordable, concentrator developed by them. Because the materials are affordable, relatively easy to scale up beyond a lab setting, and easy to retrofit to existing solar panels, the researchers believe the technology could find its way to the marketplace within three years. The technology, using dye-coated glass to collect and channel photons otherwise lost from a solar panel's surface, could enable an office building to draw energy from its tinted windows as well as its roof. The engineers coated glass panels with layers of two or more light-capturing dyes. The dyes absorbed incoming light and then re-emitted the energy into the glass, which served as a conduit to channel the light to solar cells along the panels' edges. The dyes can vary from bright colours to chemicals mostly transparent to visible light. Because the glass panel edges are so thin, far less semiconductor material is needed to collect light energy and convert it into power. The new technology emerged in part from an NSF Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Team effort to transfer the capabilities of photosynthesis to solar technology, reports Eurekalert. The researchers' approach succeeded where efforts from the 1970s failed because the thin, concentrated layer of dyes on glass is more effective than the alternative -- a low concentration of dyes in plastic -- at channelling most of the light all the way to the panel edges. These findings appeared in the Friday edition of Science."
MIT turns plain glass into goldmine of solar energy
Economic Times, 11 July 2008

"A Michigan company, Energy Conversion Devices, plans to announce Tuesday that it is providing the solar electric system for what it says will be the world's largest rooftop array, on a General Motors assembly plant in Zaragoza, Spain. The project will be 12 megawatts, a huge number in a field where most arrays are measured in kilowatts, units 1,000 times smaller. The project will use solar devices manufactured in rolls, like carpet runners. Installation will be completed this fall, according to the company, which is based in Rochester Hills, Michigan Energy Conversion will supply the equipment to Veolia Environment and Clairvoyant Energy, which will lease the rooftop space from GM and own and operate the installation, which will be two million square feet. Spain has become a center of solar installations because it offers generous subsidies, 0.42 euro a kilowatt-hour (66 cents). That is about five times the average cost of a kilowatt hour to residential customers in the United States. The Spanish government is considering a reduction in the subsidy for installations after September.... According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade group based in Washington, the largest installation planned in the United States, announced in June, was in Atlantic City, where the convention center will have 2.36 megawatts, about one-fifth the size of the installation to be completed in Spain."
Large solar energy array set for GM in Spain
International Herald Tribune, 8 July 2008

"The U.S. Bureau of Land Management on Wednesday said it reversed an earlier decision freezing solar project applications in six Western states and would accept new applications.'We heard the concerns expressed...about waiting to consider new applications and we are taking action,' BLM director James Caswell said in a statement. The government agency announced a freeze a month ago and the decision was criticized by many in the solar industry."
U.S. lifts freeze on solar applications in West
Reuters, 2 July 2008

"The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has declared a moratorium on development of new solar power projects on government land in six western states. The agency said the huge increase in the number of plans for solar power plants has caused worries about their environmental impact, The New York Times reported. Officials expect an impact study to take two years. The moratorium affects millions of acres in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. Officials said 130 applications to lease public land for solar projects have been filed since 2005. The high price of oil makes solar power an attractive alternative, energy analysts say. Advocates say sun-drenched public lands in the Western deserts are a resource that should be used. 'It doesn't make any sense,' said Holly Gordon, vice president for legislative and regulatory affairs for Ausra, a solar thermal energy company in Palo Alto, Calif. 'The Bureau of Land Management land has some of the best solar resources in the world. This could completely stunt the growth of the industry.'"
U.S. government delays solar projects
United Press International, 29 June 2008

"A new type of solar energy collector concentrates the sun into a beam that could melt steel. Researchers say the device could revolutionize global energy production. The prototype is a 12-foot-wide mirrored dish was made from a lightweight frame of thin, inexpensive aluminum tubing and strips of mirror. It concentrates sunlight by a factor of 1,000 to produce steam. 'This is actually the most efficient solar collector in existence,' said Doug Wood, an inventor based in Washington state who patented key parts of the dish's design — the rights to which he has signed over to a team of students at MIT."
Solar dish may revolutionize energy production
MSNBC, 20 June 2008

"A team of Americans and Israelis launched an experimental solar technology plant Thursday in Israel's Negev Desert, a prototype designed to drastically cut the cost of energy produced from the sun. Israeli company Luz II, Ltd. and its American parent, Brightsource Energy, Inc., plan to use the Israeli solar array to test new technology for the three new solar plants they are building for California utility Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Arnold Goldman, founder of the Oakland, California-based company, called the array 'the highest performance, lowest cost thermal solar system in the world.' His previous company built the first commercial solar plants in the 1980s. The new technology uses fields of computer-guided flat mirrors called heliostats to track the sun and focus its rays on a boiler at the top of a 200-foot tower. Water inside the boiler turns to steam, which powers a turbine and produces electricity. The steam is then captured and cooled naturally so the water, scarce in the desert, can be reused."
'Israeli technology may offer cheap solar power'
Associated Press, 12 June 2008

"Quartz, the raw material for solar panels, is one of the most abundant minerals on earth. But for years, the solar industry has faced a bottleneck in processing quartz into polysilicon, a principal material used in most solar panels. The problem stalled a steady decline in prices for solar panels. Now the silicon shortage may be coming to an end, predict some solar analysts, thanks to new factories coming online. If true, the price for solar panel modules could start falling by as much as a third by 2010, says Travis Bradford, president of the Prometheus Institute for Sustainable Development in Cambridge, Mass. That’s good news for an industry that remains one of the most expensive power sources."
Brighter future for solar panels: silicon shortage eases
Christian Science Monitor, 5 June 2008

"Solar power from Africa's deserts could supply all 600 million citizens currently without electricity and even export power to Europe, a green energy conference in Nairobi heard Thursday. The ferocious desert sun could provide the energy equivalent of 1.5 barrels of oil per square kilometre, said Gerhard Knies, project manager for Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC), at a meeting of nine African states. 'The largest source of energy is the solar radiation (and) the best place to receive solar radiation is the desert,' he told reporters at the start of meeting of 20 parliamentarians in Kenya. 'Deserts get 700 times more energy per year than all human kind is using,' he explained.'It is as if a layer of 25 centimetres (10 inches) of oil is falling down in the deserts year after year.'"
Africa's deserts could supply solar electricity to continent: experts
Agence France Presse, 5 June 2008

"It has been called the holy grail of the modern era - cheap solar energy. And scientists say it may be within our grasp soon. Queensland University team has grown the world's first titanium oxide nano crystals that are likely to revolutionise the way solar energy is harvested and used. Creating these highly efficient miniature crystals with large reactive surfaces was thought of as impossible by most scientists. Max Lu, who led the study, sounded upbeat that they were a step closer to the holy grail of cost-effective solar energy with their discovery. 'Highly active surfaces in such crystals allow high reactivity and efficiency in devices used for solar energy conversion and hydrogen production,' said Lu. 'Titanium nano-crystals are promising materials for cost-effective solar cells, hydrogen production from splitting water, and solar decontamination of pollutants. The beauty of our technique is that it is very simple and cheap to make such materials at mild conditions.' .... Details of the project have been published in the latest edition of the journal Nature."
Cheap solar power now within reach, says study
Sify, 30 May 2008

"Check out the Czeers MK1 prototype solar speedboat, a 10-meter long rig that manages to pack in 14 square meters of solar panels to power an 80kw electric motor. The MK1 plows through the water at a breakneck 30 knots, using no oil and producing no fumes or engine noise. ..The boat is made from 100 percent carbon fiber and has an LCD touch-screen control system, leather trimmings and, most importantly, photovoltaic cells on almost all its horizontal services."
World's First Solar Speedboat Does 30 Knots Gas-Free
Gizmodo, 24 May 2008

"Along a dusty two-lane highway in California's Mojave Desert, 550,000 mirrors point skyward to make steam for electricity. Google Inc., Chevron Corp. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are betting this energy will become cheaper than coal. The 1,000-acre plant uses concentrated sunlight to generate power for as many as 112,500 homes in Southern California. Rising natural gas prices and emissions limits may make solar thermal the fastest-growing energy source in the next decade, say backers including Vinod Khosla, the founder of computer maker Sun Microsystems Inc. Costs for the technology will fall below coal as soon as 2020, the U.S. government estimates. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. invested last year in the biggest solar plant built in a generation; Chevron and Google are funding research; and Goldman Sachs is seeking land to lease as demand outpaces wind turbines and geothermal. 'Solar thermal can provide a substantial amount of our power, more than 50 percent,' says Khosla, who along with the Menlo Park, California, venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers led a $40 million investment in solar power producer Ausra Inc. 'This is an industrial-strength solution.'...The Ardour Solar Energy Index, covering all forms of solar power, climbed 55 percent in the 12 months through yesterday, outperforming an 8.5 percent decline in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. Unlike photovoltaic solar panels that convert sunlight to electricity, solar thermal focuses sunrays with mirrors to heat oil in glass pipes to about 700 degrees Fahrenheit (370 degrees Celsius). The oil turns water to steam, which spins an electric turbine....Solar thermal companies are trying to develop backup heat storage using pressurized boiling water or molten salt that can be warmed to more than 1,000 degrees....A solar thermal unit that begins operation in 2010 will produce power at 14.2 cents a kilowatt hour, almost triple the 4.8 cents for a plant using pulverized coal, the Energy Information Administration estimates. Costs for solar thermal may fall as low as 3.5 cents a kilowatt hour by 2020, according to a report commissioned by the U.S. Energy Department. Meanwhile, coal expenses may rise...Ausra's plants will produce electricity at 10 cents a kilowatt-hour starting in 2010, and the price will fall to 8 cents a few years later as it adopts systems with fewer parts that will be less costly when widely deployed, the company says. 'We are going to beat coal,' says Bob Fishman, Ausra's chief executive officer.''
Google, Chevron Build Mirrors in Desert to Beat Coal With Solar
Bloomberg, 23 May 2008

"Thanks to its aggressive push into renewable energies, cloud-wreathed Germany has become an unlikely leader in the race to harness the sun's energy. It has by far the largest market for photovoltaic systems, which convert sunlight into electricity, with roughly half of the world's total installations. And it is the third-largest producer of solar cells and modules after China and Japan.Now, though, Conservative lawmakers want to pare back generous government incentives that support solar development. They say solar generation is growing so fast that it threatens to overburden consumers with high electricity bills.... At the heart of the debate is the Renewable Energy Sources Act. It requires power companies to buy all the alternative energy produced by these systems, at a fixed above-market price, for 20 years. This mechanism, known as a feed-in tariff, gives entrepreneurs a powerful incentive to install solar panels. With a locked-in customer base for their electricity, they can earn a reliable return on their investment. It has worked: homeowners rushed to clamp solar panels on their roofs, and farmers planted them in fields where sheep once grazed. The amount of electricity generated by these installations rose 60% in 2007 compared with 2006, faster than any other renewable energy. This is in a country that gets an average of only 1,528 hours of sunshine a year, less than a third of the total daylight hours. That figure is comparable to London's but it is one-third fewer sunshine hours than in Florence, Italy, and only half San Diego's, making German solar installations less efficient, and their growth all the more remarkable. With wind, biomass and other alternative energy also growing, Germany derives 14.2% of its electricity from renewable sources. That puts it ahead of a European Union target for countries to generate 12.5% of electricity from alternative sources by 2010."
Future of solar cells industry too bright for its own good
Scotsman, 18 May 2008

"Thanks to nanostructures that scatter and channel light, University of California, San Diego electrical engineers are working toward thin-film 'single junction' solar cells with the potential for nearly 45 percent sunlight-to-electricity conversion efficiencies. This effort to break the theoretical limit of 31 percent efficiency for conventional single junction cells recently received a big funding boost from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar America program."
Nanostructures Will Raise Thin-Film Solar Cell Efficiency
ScienceDaily, May 15, 2008

"A Pennsylvania energy company is putting up what it says will be the largest rooftop solar installation in the country. The 1.7-megawatt solar system will go on the rooftops of eight buildings at the Summit, N.J., campus of pharmaceutical company Schering-Plough Corp. PPL Renewable Energy of Allentown, Pa., said Monday it will plan, construct and operate the system. PPL also will own the system, which will supply power to the Schering-Plough campus. It will reduce the company's emissions of greenhouse gases -- a goal of the drugmaker -- by about 1.3 million pounds a year, equal to saving about 66,000 gallons of gasoline. PPL said such solar systems reduce energy bills by generating electricity during peak daytime hours when power prices are highest."
Biggest US solar rooftop system planned
Newsday, 12 May 2008

"A Silicon Valley start-up says it has developed technology that can deliver solar power in about a year at prices competitive with coal-fired electricity, a milestone that would leapfrog other more established players and turbocharge the fast-growing industry. SUNRGI's 'concentrated photovoltaic' system relies on lenses to magnify sunlight 2,000 times, letting it produce as much electricity as standard panels with a far smaller system. Craig Goodman, head of the National Energy Marketers Association, is expected to announce the breakthrough Tuesday. Under its plans, which experts call promising but highly ambitious, SUNRGI would initially target utilities and large industrial and commercial customers. The company — founded by veterans of computer, digital design, aerospace and solar industries — would market to homes within three years. Executives of the year-old company say they'll start producing solar panels by mid-2009 that will generate electricity for about 7 cents a kilowatt hour, including installation. That's roughly the price of cheap coal-fired electricity. 'We're bringing the cost of solar electricity down to be competitive with' fossil fuels, says Bob Block, a co-founder of SUNRGI. Solar power is acclaimed as free of greenhouse gas emissions and able to supply electricity midday when demand is highest. But its cost — 20 cents to 30 cents a kilowatt hour — has inhibited broad adoption. Solar makes up less than 1% of U.S. power generation. An armada of solar technology makers aim to drive solar's price to 10 to 18 cents a kilowatt hour by 2010, and 5 to 10 cents by 2015, at or below utility costs. SUNRGI's timetable is far more aggressive."
Start-up: Affordable solar power possible in a year
USA Today, 28 April 2008

"The sun blasts Earth with enough energy in one hour—4.3 x 10²⁰ joules—to provide all of humanity's energy needs for a year (4.1 x 10²⁰ joules), according to physicist Steven Chu, director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The question is how to most effectively harness it. Thin-film solar cells may be the answer: One recently converted 19.9 percent of the sunlight that hit it into electricity, surpassing the amount converted into power by mass-produced traditional silicon photovoltaics and offering the potential to unleash this renewable energy source. Prices for high-grade silicon (that can generate electricity from sunlight) shot up in 2004 in response to growing demand, reaching as high as $500 per kilogram (2.2 pounds) this year. Enter thin-film solar cells—devices that use a fine layer of semiconducting material, such as silicon, copper indium gallium selenide or cadmium telluride, to harvest electricity from sunlight at a fraction of the cost. 'The fundamental advantage of thin film comes in the form of the amount of material you need,' says electrical engineer Jeff Britt, chief technology officer of thin-film manufacturer Global Solar Energy in Tucson, Ariz. 'These are direct bandgap semiconductors. You can get by with one or two microns and still absorb 98 percent of the sunlight.' (In other words, it takes at least 100 times less thin-film material to absorb the same amount of sunlight as traditional silicon photovoltaic cells.)...In March, the company opened a new factory in Tucson, where it plans to produce enough thin-film CIGS solar cells to generate 40 megawatts of electricity next year—enough to power roughly 15,000 average American homes; it hopes to boost the juice to 100 megawatts by 2010 in response to what it predicts will be a growing market."
Solar Power Lightens Up with Thin-Film Technology
Scientific American, 25 April 2008

"The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Chesonis Family Foundation said today that they are launching a "solar revolution" project with the ultimate aim of making solar energy America's primary carbon-free fuel. The Solar Revolution Project, funded by a $10 million gift from the Chesonis Family Foundation, aims to transform solar power from a ''boutique' option to an affordable, dependable, mainstream energy solution,' MIT said. The project will complement and interact with other large solar projects at MIT, creating one of the largest solar energy clusters at any research university, MIT said."
MIT unveils new solar energy project
Boston Globe, 22 April 2008

"It was with some trepidation that I went into the cellar this week to take some meter readings in order to find out how the solar panels we had fitted on our house exactly a year ago have been performing. Was the hefty sum of �8,500 we forked out last year a good investment or a waste of money? Well, the news is better than I had expected. We, a family of four, have produced 92% of our electricity usage from the roof of a century-old terraced house in south-east London - laying to rest the idea that Britain is not sunny enough for solar power. It also disproves any suggestion this sort of technology only works in state-of-the-art, modern detached houses. Not only will we not pay for any electricity, we should get a rebate of about �50 once a payment from the so-called renewables obligation (RO) scheme, which rewards microgeneration schemes with cash, is included. In all, the saving for the past year will be around �500, giving a return on our investment of 6%, which is not subject to tax."
Solar so good for our house
Guardian, 19 April 2008

"The race for high-capacity solar power is on. Southern California Edison Co. announced plans last month to build the country's largest solar installation. The project is expected to power 162,000 houses in the greater Los Angeles area - about 5 percent of the area's homes - with 250 megawatts of power by the year 2010. This announcement came soon after the Spanish firm Abengoa Solar launched its massive solar project - Solana Generating Station - which it is calling the biggest in the world. This will be 70 miles southwest of Phoenix and is expected to generate 280 megawatts by 2011. Both these plants are designed to use 'concentrating solar power,' or CSP, technology to harness the sun's heat and convert it to electricity. CSP is more efficient than other renewable energy alternatives. This solar technology does what so many have talked about: it creates jobs.....The goal of producing 4,000 megawatts of concentrated solar power is within sight, though, because 3,500 megawatts are already under contract to be built, says Morse. If all proposed projects get built, CSP can become competitive with fossil fuel energy sources by 2013."
Harnessing the Sun: Future of Green Jobs
Washington Independent, 11 April 2008

"Saudi Arabia's oil minister on Thursday slammed biofuels, saying they did not protect the environment or help supply security, but added solar power had to be considered one of the best clean energy sources.'Let's be realistic, ethanol and biofuels will not contribute to the protection of the global environment by reducing (carbon dioxide) emissions, they will not increase energy security, nor will they reduce dependency on fossil fuels to any appreciable degree,' Ali al-Naimi told an oil conference. 'Biofuels are not the solution,' he added. The rise in biofuel use was largely due to government subsidies, high import taxes and financial favoritism vis-a vis others, he added. 'That's why we have to look beyond biofuels... and concentrate instead on truly renewable sources of energy,' he said, adding that solar power was perhaps the best clean energy source available in all parts of the world. 'It is abundant, clean and available to all,' he said.'There is a great chance to expand its usage to all parts of the world especially in developing countries and to all economic sectors and activities including power generation, manufacturing and so on,' Naimi said. What was needed, he said, was to expand the use of solar energy and to make solar cells more effective to make the transmission of solar power more cost effective."
Saudi oil minister slams biofuels, favors solar energy
Reuters, 10 April 2008

"A solar-powered hydrogen fueling station is officially open, just days after the state gutted rules designed to increase the number of hydrogen-powered cars on the road. The station uses solar energy to separate hydrogen from water to power clean-fuel vehicles. Its solar panels produce 80 kilowatts of electricity, roughly enough to power 40 homes, or about 14 fuel-cell vehicles. The station opened Tuesday as a joint venture between the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, British Petroleum, Ford Motor Company and the U.S. Department of Energy. It will power SMUD's fleet of seven fuel cell vehicles."
Solar-powered hydrogen fuel station opens despite cuts
Daily Democrat, 5 April 2008

"After 11 years of testing and trying - and not making money - startup Global Solar Energy says it has refined its thin-film flexible photovoltaic cell to the point it says it can produce solar panels at one-third to one-half the cost of the current industry standard. 'We're sold out for the next year at a price that ensures we're profitable,' said Mike Gering, president and CEO of Global Solar. 'There's a big difference between production and the laboratory. We're in production. We can replicate this time after time.'...In December, the company achieved greater than 10 percent average efficiency for its flexible solar cells, an ability to convert sunlight into clean energy on par with Wall Street thin-film solar powerhouse First Solar, and near that of the industry standard crystalline silicon, which, at 12 to 14 percent efficiency, dominates 90 percent of the solar market. But the Tucson firm, which will employ 180 people at the new factory, is banking on the ultra-low manufacturing costs of its thin, flexible product to make a glass-fronted rooftop solar panel that is lightweight, durable and cheaper than the industry standard by a third to a half. 'What's significant is that (10 percent) is their production average, not their best,' said Bill Shafarman, a materials scientist with the University of Delaware's Institute of Energy Conversion. 'Other thin-film companies (such as First Solar) are making single, large modules on glass with module efficiencies between 9 to 13 percent. So it's not as good as some of those companies, but this is a unique product because it's flexible and lightweight. Unlike First Solar, which uses cadmium telluride (CdTe) deposited directly on large modules of glass, Global Solar uses a semiconductor material known as CIGS - for copper, indium, gallium and di-selenide. At high temperatures, the material can be applied to stainless steel foil in 3,000-foot rolls in a closed chamber about the size of a refrigerator. The product is then printed with a conductive contact of metal ink, cut into individual cells, tested, reassembled and laminated in clear plastic or glass."
Global Solar brings cheaper solar a step closer
Vail Sun, 1 April 2008

"Solar energy is getting a big boost in Southern California with the unveiling of two projects that will be capable of generating a total of 500 megawatts of electricity, enough to serve more than 300,000 homes. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Southern California Edison plan to announce today the country's largest rooftop solar installation project ever proposed by a utility company. And on Wednesday, FPL Energy, the largest operator of solar power in the U.S., said it planned to build and operate a 250-megawatt solar plant in the Mojave Desert. The projects would help California meet its goal of obtaining 20% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2010. In 2006, about 13% of the retail electricity delivered by Edison and the state's other two big investor-owned utilities came from renewable sources such as sun and wind, according to the California Public Utilities Commission. Energy experts were struck by the size of the two projects, which would bolster the state's current total of about 965 megawatts of solar power flowing to the electricity grid. 'Five hundred megawatts -- that's substantial,' said spokesman George Douglas of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. 'Projects of that size begin to show that solar energy can produce electricity on a utility scale, on the kind of scale that we're going to need.'.... FPL Energy's proposed 250-megawatt plant, dubbed the Beacon Solar Energy Project, will be situated on about 2,000 acres in eastern Kern County. More than half a million parabolic mirrors will be assembled in rows to receive and concentrate the sun's rays to produce steam for a turbine generator -- a process known as solar thermal power. The generator will produce electricity for delivery to a nearby electric grid. Construction is scheduled to begin in late 2009 and will take about two years to complete, the Juno Beach, Fla.-based company said."
2 big projects will amp up solar power in Southland
Los Angeles Times, 27 March 2008

"Spanish renewable energy firm Sener and Abu Dhabi's clean-energy initiative, Masdar, announced a joint venture on Wednesday to build several power plants fueled by the sun's heat. The newly created firm, Torresol Energy, said it plans to build at least two large concentrating solar power plants a year with a goal of generating 320 megawatts over the next 5 years and 1,000 megawatts in 10 years. A large coal-fired power plant typically can produce hundreds of megawatts of electricity....One of the designs that the venture intends to use is a solar receiver tower to be built in Abu Dhabi....The new company underscores the surge in investment on solar thermal technologies, which use the sun's heat, rather than photovoltaic panels, to generate electricity. A number of solar thermal power plants are being proposed for the Southwest United States and Spain, where conditions are best. Sener already operates three 50 megawatt plants that use parabolic troughs to reflect light and generate heat. They also incorporate molten salt storage to generate electricity when the sun is not shining."
Solar tower of power coming to Spain, Abu Dhabi
Cnet News, 13 March 2008

"Corus and Dyesol have been working closely for the past two years and in January completed a detailed feasibility study that revealed extended product lives, lower material costs and steadily increasing efficiency gains from the technology, which could make it suitable for large surface area applications on a range of building types. When commercialized, dye solar cell technology on steel for BIPV applications may become significantly more cost effective than other competing PV technologies and achieve high market capture, the companies say. Funding has been secured from the Welsh Assembly government allowing the next stage of prototyping and development to be undertaken. A new facility, based in North Wales, will become the home of Corus and Dyesol scientists and engineers jointly engaged on the development."
Corus and Dyesol Make Solar Cell Plans
RenewableEnergyWorld, 12 March 2008

"Paint that could generate as much electricity as 50 wind farms is being developed by Welsh scientists. Materials experts at Swansea University are working alongside steel giant Corus on developing a method of spraying solar cells onto steel used for cladding buildings. If the work is a success it could lead to houses and offices becoming giant solar energy converters powering their own lighting, heating, televisions and computers. And if the material was sprayed onto car and lorry roofs they could eventually use solar power to split hydrogen from water. That would allow vehicles to be powered by hydrogen fuel cells at no cost to the environment. Unlike conventional solar cells, the materials being developed at Swansea University are more efficient at capturing low light radiation, meaning they are better suited to the British climate. Dr Dave Worsley, a Reader in the Materials Research Centre at Swansea University’s School of Engineering said, 'We have been collaborating with the steel industry for decades. But we have tended to focus our attention on improving the long-term durability and corrosion-resistance of steel. Until now we haven’t really paid much attention to how we can make the outside of the steel capable of doing something other than looking good. One of our Engineering Doctorate students was researching how sunlight interacts with paint and degrades it, which led to us developing a new photovoltaic method of capturing solar energy.' Corus currently applies paint to certain steel products when they are passed through rollers during the manufacturing process so the paint is ingrained into the steel. It is hoped the same approach can be used to build up solar cell layers. Dr Worsley believes the potential for the product is immense. He said, 'The Corus Colours division produces around 100 million square metres of steel building cladding a year. If this was treated with the photovoltaic material, and assuming a conservative 5% energy conversion rate, then we could be looking at generating 4,500 gigawatts of electricity through the solar cells annually. That’s the equivalent output of roughly 50 wind farms.' A research grant from the Assembly Government’s Welsh Energy Research Centre (Werc) enabled Dr Worsley to work with Corus to investigate the feasibility of developing an efficient solar cell system that can be applied to steel building products. The success of the study led to the award of a three-year project worth over �1.5m by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). Swansea University is now leading a partnership with Bangor University, the University of Bath, and Imperial College London to develop commercially viable photovoltaic materials for use within the steel industry."
Spray-on solar cells being developed
Western Mail, 7 March 2008

"Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, plans to become an expert in another, cleaner field of energy by investing in solar power, the country's oil minister said in an interview released Sunday. 'For a country like Saudi Arabia ... one of the most important sources of energy to look at and to develop is solar energy,' Ali al-Nuaimi told French oil newsletter Petrostrategies. He added: 'One of the research efforts that we are going to undertake is to see how we make Saudi Arabia a centre for solar energy research and hopefully over the next 30 to 50 years we will be a major megawatt exporter. 'In the same way we are an oil exporter, we can also be an exporter of power.'"
Oil giant Saudi to become solar power centre: minister
Agence France Presse, 1 March 2008

"Investors and utilities intent on building solar power plants are increasingly turning to solar thermal power, a comparatively low-tech alternative to photovoltaic panels that convert sunlight directly into electricity. This month, in the latest in a string of recent deals, Spanish solar-plant developer Abengoa Solar and Phoenix-based utility Arizona Public Service announced a 280-megawatt solar thermal project in Arizona. By contrast, the world's largest installations of photovoltaics generate only 20 megawatts of power. In a solar thermal plant, mirrors concentrate sunlight onto some type of fluid that is used, in turn, to boil water for a steam turbine. Over the past year, developers of solar thermal technology such as Abengoa, Ausra, and Solel Solar Systems have picked up tens of millions of dollars in financing and power contracts from major utilities such as Pacific Gas and Electric and Florida Power and Light. By 2013, projects in development in just the United States and Spain promise to add just under 6,000 megawatts of solar thermal power generation to the barely 100 megawatts installed worldwide last year, says Cambridge, MA, consultancy Emerging Energy Research. The appeal of solar thermal power is twofold. It is relatively low cost at a large scale: an economic analysis released last month by Severin Borenstein, director of the University of California's Energy Institute, notes that solar thermal power will become cost competitive with other forms of power generation decades before photovoltaics will, even if greenhouse-gas emissions are not taxed aggressively. Solar thermal developers also say that their power is more valuable than that provided by wind, currently the fastest-growing form of renewable energy. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, wind power costs about 8 cents per kilowatt, while solar thermal power costs 13 to 17 cents. But power from wind farms fluctuates with every gust and lull; solar thermal plants, on the other hand, capture solar energy as heat, which is much easier to store than electricity. Utilities can dispatch this stored solar energy when they need it--whether or not the sun happens to be shining.... In fact, the capacity to store energy is critical to the economics of the solar thermal plant. Without storage, a solar thermal plant would need a turbine large enough to handle peak steam production, when the sun is brightest, but which would otherwise be underutilized. Stored heat means that a plant can use a smaller, cheaper steam turbine that can be kept running steadily for more hours of the day. While adding storage would substantially increase the cost of the energy produced by a photovoltaic array or wind farm, it actually reduces the cost per kilowatt of the energy produced by solar thermal plants. Morse says that while the design of solar thermal power stations is rapidly diversifying, most will use essentially the same system for storing energy: tanks full of a molten salt that remains liquid at temperatures exceeding 565 �C. 'It's basically two tanks with a lot of heat exchangers, pipes, and pumps,' says Morse. For a sense of scale, consider that the 50-megawatt plants that Germany's Solar Millennium is building in Spain near Granada will employ 28,500 tons of molten salt in twin tanks standing 14 meters high and 38.5 meters in diameter."
Solar without the Panels
Technology Review, 29 February 2008

"Japan's Sharp Corp (6753.T: Quote, Profile, Research), which aims to become the world's biggest maker of solar cells, is looking abroad to raise annual output of thin-film solar cells by sixfold to 6,000 megawatts after 2012 and beat silicon shortages. Sharp aims to raise its annual thin-film solar cell production capacity 'as soon as possible' after a planned new plant in Osaka, western Japan goes online by March 2010 with eventual output of 1,000 MW per year, Toshishige Hamano, corporate senior executive director, said on Wednesday. The electronics group, which also supplies liquid crystal display panels, now has thin-film cell capacity of 15 MW per year at its Katsuragi Plant in Nara, western Japan, and plans to raise this to 160 MW in October.... Thin-film solar cells use roughly one-hundredth of the silicon needed in conventional solar cells, cutting production time and costs."
Sharp looks abroad for thin-film solar cell output
Reuters, 27 February 2008

"Australia is to build the world’s biggest solar power plant after the Hong Kong-based CLP power generating group announced on Monday that it would invest $270m in the project. The 154MW scheme, located in the south-eastern state of Victoria, would have nearly twice the capacity of the biggest existing solar power plant, in California’s Mojave desert. The Mojave system, however, links nine power plants together for a total capacity of 354MW. The Victoria project was conceived and planned by Solar Systems, an Australian private company, and aims to lower generating costs by using mirror arrays that track the sun to concentrate light on to advanced photovoltaic cells. The project, which is scheduled to be completed in 2013 would generate enough electricity to power 45,000 homes. However, that is equivalent to only about 0.1 per cent of Australia’s electricity generation in 2006. The cost of solar power has dropped by a factor of 10 in the past three decades, according to Christophe Inglin, managing director of Singapore-based solar systems specialist Phoenix Solar. 'But there is still a long way to go before it is competitive with grid [ie conventional] energy costs,' he said. Mr Inglin said that he expected some markets to achieve 'grid parity' within the next five to 10 years."
Australia thinks big on solar power
Financial Times, 26 February 2008

"A team of US researchers has developed an anode coating strategy which they claim significantly enhances the efficiency of solar energy power conversion. The 'breakthrough' at Northwestern University promises cheaper solar cells which are more easy to manufacture and implement. Tobin J. Marks, a research professor in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, and Robert Chang, professor of materials science and engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, led the research team. The scientists explained that solar cells fabricated from plastic-like organic materials are attractive because they can be printed cheaply and quickly by a process similar to printing a newspaper, i.e. roll-to-roll processing."
Boffins boost solar cell efficiency
vnunet.com, 25 Feb 2008

"Transparent electrodes created from atom- thick carbon sheets could make solar cells and LCDs without depleting precious mineral resources, say researchers in Germany. Solar cells, LCDs and some other devices, must have transparent electrodes in parts of their designs to let light in or out. These electrodes are usually made from indium tin oxide (ITO) but experts calculate that there is only 10 years' worth of indium left on the planet, with LCD panels consuming the majority of existing stocks....Although experimental alternatives to ITO exist, these are also unstable and of unproven efficiency, said the report in New Scientist. Zhi and colleagues Xuan Wang and Klaus Muellen believe they have a cheaper, more stable alternative. The report said the team is testing solar cells with transparent electrodes made from graphene - flat sheets of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal structure. When rolled up, this material makes carbon nanotubes. The solar panels they created were dye-sensitized solar cells, first invented in 1991 and predicted by some to be the most likely successor to silicon-based solar cells. Dye-sensitized solar cells use sunlight, a mixture of different dye pigments, and titanium dioxide - the main ingredient in white paint - to excite electrons. This is a process that, in some ways, mimics photosynthesis. It could make solar cells cheaper to manufacture and more efficient, in terms of power collection, than silicon-based ones....The team is now working on reducing the number of layers to increase transparency, and on 'ironing out' the creases that can appear in the sheets. In theory, a single perfect layer of graphene would work well enough to replace ITO. 'Replacing the ITO with graphene is a real great step forward as the transparent current collector is a critical and the most expensive part of our cell,' New Scientist quoted Michael Graetzel of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland, as saying. He invented dye sensitised solar cells in 1991."
Carbon electrodes could slash cost of solar panels
Deutsche Presse Agentur, 4 February 2008

"Qatar is considering building one of the world's largest solar power complexes to help meet demand, which could increase four-fold over the next 30 years, the Middle East Economic Digest (MEED) reported. Gulf Arab states have about 30 percent of the world's oil reserves and 8 percent of its gas, but an economic boom spurred by record crude prices is driving demand for power and water so rapidly that many are considering turning to alternative energies including nuclear. Qatar expects to add 16,260 megawatts of power to the national grid between 2011 to 2036, almost four times current capacity of 4,200 megawatts, the magazine said, citing Salah Hamza, senior business development planner at Qatar General Electricity & Water Corp (Kahramaa). The solar complex would have capacity of 3,500 megawatts by 2013, Hamza said. 'You can have up to 500 MW in one place,' he said. 'Then you will need about seven sites because the total capacity needed at that time is 3,500 MW,' he said adding that solar capacity could increase to 4,500 megawatts by 2036."
Qatar eyes solar power to meet surging demand: report
Reuters, 2 February 2008

"One of the most oil-rich countries on Earth is about to build the world's first sustainable city. The United Arab Emirates is starting construction on Masdar, just outside Abu Dhabi, designed by British architect Lord Foster. The city will house up to 50,000 people, be car-free, produce no waste and no carbon and run almost entirely on sunlight. A new solar-power plant is being built, with 80 per cent of roofs covered in solar panels..... Photovoltaic solar cells, which convert sunlight into electricity, have always been maligned as expensive (mostly because of the high price of silicon) and inefficient. But the clunky panels of yesterday are being replaced with sleek, new designs able to create more electricity with less - or even no - silicon. Already, companies all over the world are selling solar panels with clever, more efficient arrays of prisms, mirrors and lenses. And thin film solar panels - such as new flexible plastic sheets that can be easily rolled onto any surface (or, theoretically, mounted onto the back of an iPod or cellphone) - are generating excitement because of their low cost and durability. Solar power, after a long incubation period, is now the world's fastest-growing sector in the global energy markets. Cheap and efficient new technologies are mushrooming, California is installing a million solar roofs and Ontario - which pays solar-panel owners a premium rate to feed electricity into the grid - signed 145 contracts last year."
Europe likes biofuels, but some are 'worse than useless'
Globe and Mail, 2 February 2008

"The biggest problem with the sun is that it's not always around. And during the winter months it behaves like an absentee landlord and shows up only for a few hours. Unfortunately, solar panels must contend with this erratic behavior if they are to save us from ourselves. If only there was a panel that worked in the dark...Well, guess what? It looks like we might now be on the brink of technology that effectively deals with sun's temperament. Thanks to the wonders of nanotechnology and, in no small part the efforts of Steven Novack of the Idaho National Laboratories, there are now foldable panels that operate at 80 percent efficiency. Conventional photovoltaics yield only about 40 percent. But as EcoGeek explains, 'the surface of the material is printed with miniscule nano-antennae that capture infra-red radiation, the kind that the sun puts out in abundance, and is even available at night.'"
Solar Cells That Don't Need the Sun
PC Magazine, 1 February 2008

"U.S. researchers said on Tuesday they have made the darkest material on Earth, a substance so black it absorbs more than 99.9 percent of light. Made from tiny tubes of carbon standing on end, this material is almost 30 times darker than a carbon substance used by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology as the current benchmark of blackness. And the material is close to the long-sought ideal black, which could absorb all colors of light and reflect none.....Ajayan said the material could be used in solar energy conversion. 'You could think of a material that basically collects all the light that falls into it,' he said."
New material pushes the boundary of blackness
Reuters, 15 January 2008

"The estimates in Section 5.5 indicate that meeting the RTFO target of 5% replacement of oil based transport fuels, without using imports, would require anywhere between 10 and 45% of the UK arable land area. The inclusion of energy production from organic and municipal wastes would raise this contribution and reduce the land requirement. This is a relatively small but nevertheless useful contribution; but it is clear that the transition to a low-carbon transport economy will require a much wider range of policies, and involve several more technologies and practices, than we have been able to pursue in this report. The key ones include: • Improvements in vehicle fuel efficiency. For example hybrids and plug-in hybrids could potentially double or more the efficiency of passenger vehicles, and thus they could double the effectiveness of the biofuel programmes. The plug-in hybrid also opens up the important possibility of the batteries being recharged through low carbon energy forms for electricity generation, such as renewable energy and nuclear power, which would further reduce the ‘carbon footprint’ of transport.... • Alternative fuelled vehicles, such as hydrogen with fuel-cells or fully electric vehicles.... the key will be to have a combination of policies that: (1) extend the principle of carbon pricing to transport; (2) extend the incentives for innovation to the development and use of low carbon/high efficiency vehicles and the use of electricity or hydrogen as a vehicle fuel...."
Sustainable biofuels: prospects and challenges
Royal Society, January 2008

"On a bleak airfield 30km (19 miles) outside Leipzig in former East Germany, a quiet but sunny revolution is taking place.... This is the heart of Germany's solar industry and, although still under construction, once complete it will be the world's largest solar power station, covering the equivalent of 200 football pitches and providing enough electricity for 10,000 homes. Germany is the world leader in solar energy: building power stations across the country, developing the technology and manufacturing solar panels. One in a hundred homes has gone as far as installing its own solar arrays....Germany has done this before. Over the past 25 years, it has built up wind power and is a world leader in that as well. There are even claims that by 2050, Germany could derive all its energy from renewables. The European Union has set a target for its member countries: 20% renewable energy by 2020. Germany is already more than half way there. In Britain we are trailing behind with between 4 and 5% of our energy coming from renewables. But why is solar power happening in Germany, which is not normally considered to be one of the world's top sun spots? Christian Hinsch of Juwi, the company building and running the power station near Leipzig, says that this part of Germany is sunny and he says there is plenty of room for solar power stations, particularly in the East. Most importantly, there is a market mechanism in place, which gives suppliers of solar electricity a guaranteed price for the energy they supply to the national grid set for 20 years. 'If you put up a wind turbine, if you put up a bio-gas power plant or if you put up a solar power plant, then you get a fixed price for 20 years, depending of course on the size and type of renewable,' he says. It is called the 'feed-in' tariff and it is considerably higher than the price paid for fossil fuel electricity."
Germany's sunny revolution
BBC Online, 10 January 2008

"A researcher at Israel's Bar-Ilan University has created a solar cell 100 times bigger than previous designs using nano-based methods. Professor Arie Zaban, head of the university's Nanotechnology Institute, had already developed a method of using metallic wires mounted on conductive glass to form the basis of solar cells. This method produces electricity with an efficiency similar to that of conventional silicon-based cells, but which are much cheaper to produce."
Boffin boosts solar cell size 100-fold
Vnunet, 8 January 2008

"In the race to make solar cells cheaper and more efficient, many researchers and start-up companies are betting on new designs that exploit nanostructures--materials engineered on the scale of a billionth of a meter. Using nanotechnology, researchers can experiment with and control how a material generates, captures, transports, and stores free electrons--properties that are important for the conversion of sunlight into electricity. Two nanotech methods for engineering solar cell materials have shown particular promise. One uses thin films of metal oxide nanoparticles, such as titanium dioxide, doped with other elements, such as nitrogen. Another strategy employs quantum dots--nanosize crystals--that strongly absorb visible light. These tiny semiconductors inject electrons into a metal oxide film, or 'sensitize' it, to increase solar energy conversion. Both doping and quantum dot sensitization extend the visible light absorption of the metal oxide materials. Combining these two approaches appears to yield better solar cell materials than either one alone does, according to Jin Zhang, professor of chemistry at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Zhang led a team of researchers from California, Mexico, and China that created a thin film doped with nitrogen and sensitized with quantum dots. When tested, the new nanocomposite material performed better than predicted--as if the functioning of the whole material was greater than the sum of its two individual components."
New Nanostructured Thin Film Shows Promise For Efficient Solar Energy Conversion
ScienceDaily, 8 January 2008

"Researchers at Idaho National Laboratory, along with partners at Microcontinuum Inc. (Cambridge, MA) and Patrick Pinhero of the University of Missouri, are developing a novel way to collect energy from the sun with a technology that could potentially cost pennies a yard, be imprinted on flexible materials and still draw energy after the sun has set. The new approach, which garnered two 2007 Nano50 awards, uses a special manufacturing process to stamp tiny square spirals of conducting metal onto a sheet of plastic. Each interlocking spiral 'nanoantenna' is as wide as 1/25 the diameter of a human hair. Because of their size, the nanoantennas absorb energy in the infrared part of the spectrum, just outside the range of what is visible to the eye. The sun radiates a lot of infrared energy, some of which is soaked up by the earth and later released as radiation for hours after sunset. Nanoantennas can take in energy from both sunlight and the earth's heat, with higher efficiency than conventional solar cells. 'I think these antennas really have the potential to replace traditional solar panels,' says physicist Steven Novack, who spoke about the technology in November at the National Nano Engineering Conference in Boston....Commercial solar panels usually transform less that 20 percent of the usable energy that strikes them into electricity.....The team estimates individual nanoantennas can absorb close to 80 percent of the available energy.... One day, Novack says, these nanoantenna collectors might charge portable battery packs, coat the roofs of homes and, perhaps, even be integrated into polyester fabric. Double-sided panels could absorb a broad spectrum of energy from the sun during the day, while the other side might be designed to take in the narrow frequency of energy produced from the earth's radiated heat."
Harvesting the sun's energy with nanoantennas
Nanowerk, 4 January 2008

"The dream of inexpensive, ecofriendly aviation has come closer to reality after a French test pilot achieved the first flight in a conventional light aircraft powered by an electric motor. The Electra, a wood-and-fabric single-seater, flew for 48 minutes for 50km (30 miles) around the southern Alps, winning a global race to apply battery power to a fixed-wing standard aircraft. The APAME group, founded to develop green aviation, said that the flight showed that nonpolluting, quiet light aviation was within reach.... The quest to replace noisy, fossil-fuelled aircraft engines with quiet, clean power has been under way for nearly 30 years. The big hurdle is the punitive weight of batteries, which produce only 2 per cent of the energy from the same mass of petrol.... Recent advances in battery technology have led to electric power for small unmanned observation drones and radio-controlled model aircraft as well as the extra drive for motor gliders. Last summer the French group and a US inventor each flew electric-powered, delta-winged microlight aircraft for the first time. The last challenge has been to scale up electric drive to equip passenger-carrying conventional aircraft of the kind flown by recreational pilots.....The group used a Souricette kit aircraft and adapted to it a 25-horsepower British-made motor of a type that powers golf carts. The key to their pioneering flight on December 23 was the new generation of light lithium-polymer batteries, 48kg (105lb) of which supply power in the Electra, which has a 9m (30ft) wingspan....Electric power for larger aircraft, including airliners, is also on the horizon, with research by Nasa and Boeing into the holy grail of the field: hydrogen-fed fuel cells. These will drive electric motors with power like those on French high-speed trains."
Air travel switches to electricity
London Times, 3 January 2008

"A newly discovered material, dubbed 'nano flakes', could revolutionise the transformation of solar energy to electricity. If researcher Martin Aagesen's future solar cells meet early expectations, the economy and the environment will benefit from the research which could make solar power generation viable for ordinary households. Aagesen is a PhD from the Nano-Science Center and the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen. Aagesen pointed out that less than one per cent of the world's electricity comes from the Sun because it is difficult to transform solar energy to electricity. But he believes his discovery may be a 'huge step' towards boosting the exploitation of solar energy. 'We believe that the nano flakes have the potential to convert up to 30 per cent of the solar energy into electricity, roughly twice the amount that we convert today,' he said. 'I discovered a perfect crystalline structure. That is a very rare sight. While being a perfect crystalline structure we could see that it also absorbed all light. It could become the perfect solar cell.' Aagesen explained that the material has the potential to reduce solar cell production costs because less semiconducting silicium will be required in the process."
Boffins warm to super-efficient solar cells
vnunet.com, 20 December 2007

"Nanosolar, a privately held solar energy company whose backers include Google Inc's co-founders, on Tuesday said it has started to sell what it calls 'the world's lowest cost solar panel.' 'We have begun shipping panels for freefield deployment in Eastern Germany,' said Chief Executive Martin Roscheisen in a statement on Nanosolar's Web site. 'The first megawatt of our panels will go into a power plant installation there,' The company, which got early stage financing from Google Inc co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, uses a thin-film technology that requires only a fraction of the amount of silicon needed in conventional solar cells. Nanosolar's technique allows it to make panels profitably for less than $1 per watt, it says."
Nanosolar starts sales of cheaper solar panels
Reuters, 18 December 2007

"Roscheisen said the manufacturing process the company has developed will enable it to eventually deliver solar electricity for less than a dollar per watt, which would be significantly cheaper than fossil fuel sources of power generation.....Roscheisen said the manufacturing process the company has developed will enable it to eventually deliver solar electricity for less than a dollar per watt, which would be significantly cheaper than fossil fuel sources of power generation."
Nanosolar 'prints' first flexible solar cells
CNET News, 18 December 2007

"Soaring oil prices approaching $100 a barrel are fueling a sleek new kind of solar technology that could some day set skyscrapers and high-rise apartment windows quietly buzzing with renewable energy production. The emerging technology uses thin films mounted on the glass windows of skyscrapers and other surfaces to harness the sun's power. It's more aesthetic and cheaper than the bulkier conventional solar cells made from polycrystalline silicon whose supplies have tightened and prices have risen as solar energy has taken off. Current thin-film surfaces generate less power per area than traditional polysilicon modules, but they also use less polysilicon then conventional cells making them attractive to some of the world's top solar panel makers.... Thin-film is cheaper to produce, more durable and more aesthetic than bulky solar panels, which are often accused of being eyesores. The transparent sheets can serve as facades for skyscrapers and housing roofs where they absorb the sun's rays and turn it into energy. 'One big advantage of the thin film products is that they don't have to use too many raw materials and they are much cheaper than silicon solar wafers,' said Robin Cheng, an analyst at UBS Securities. The potential has attracted major solar energy players such as German-based Q-Cells AG as well as the likes of industrial giants like Applied Materials Inc, the world's biggest maker of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, which see big growth potential in thin-film machinery....Thin film's advantage comes in its low price in terms of production costs as well as its ability to serve as attractive transparent panels on large buildings."
Thin-film solar sheets seek time in the sun
Reuters, 6 December 2007

"...more than a decade of pioneering work has resulted in an organic solar cell that doesn't use expensive silicon. Conventional photovoltaic (PV) solar cells are made from a thin slice (around 200 microns) of silicon that is doped with chemicals to form a bilayer structure called a p-n junction. When photons of light are absorbed by the silicon, electrons flow, creating a small electric current. An organic solar cell takes a similar approach but uses an ultra-thin (100 nanometre) film mixture of two semiconducting polymers instead. The prototype organic solar cell - the size of Greenham's hand - produces enough power to run an electronic calculator. The idea of a purple-coloured polymer as a conductor seems odd when plastics are normally considered excellent insulators. But mounted on glass, this solar cell uses the same class of materials as the polymer light-emitting diodes: long-chain plastics with double bonds which permit electron flow.... Greenham is now working on a �5m project funded by the Carbon Trust to deliver solar energy at radically lower cost. Led by the University of Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory with The Technology Partnership, there's a huge target: deploy more than one gigawatt of organic PV by 2017 to make carbon dioxide savings of more than 1m tonnes per year.....If all goes well, O'Brien reckons the new solar cell technology may be one hundredth of the cost of a silicon cell when in mass production - promising a solar energy revolution."
How solar power could become organic - and cheap
Guardian, 29 November 2007

"Renewable energy company Solar Systems says it has developed a way of converting solar power into electricity around the clock, even when the sun is not shining. Managing director Dave Holland told BusinessDaily that although the process, which produces hydrogen and stores it, is still years from connecting to the electricity grid, it has been demonstrated to produce baseload power. He said less than 1 per cent of the planet's arid lands could produce the entire world's energy needs using the technology, without harmful emissions, concern about finite fuel supply, or toxic waste. The company already operates four small commercial solar power stations in central Australia and is in advanced talks to export its technology through the Asia Pacific Partnership (AP6). Its innovative solar concentrating technology is much further down the cost curve than conventional photovoltaics.... It is envisaged the hydrogen technology will be added to Solar Systems' proposed $420 million solar power station near Mildura, which when it is complete in 2013 will have the capacity to supply electricity to 45,000 homes. Solar Systems began to develop research by its technical director John Lasich 17 years ago and employs 90 people. Recently the company said it would spend $22 million to establish a manufacturing plant in Melbourne employing 150 people to make high efficiency photovoltaic components for domestic and overseas markets. The components produce up to 1500 times more electricity per square metre than traditional photovoltaic cells. The established outback generators use mirrors on giant dishes to concentrate solar energy and focus it on to photovoltaic receivers connected to the dish. The next generation technology being developed at Bridgewater takes the mirrors and lines them up in dozens of flat rows, rather than in dishes. Known as heliostats, the mirrors track the sun and focus its energy on to a receiver mounted on a tall pole. The technology that will continue to produce electricity when the sun goes down works by using the concentrated solar energy to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen through a spectrum splitter and then an electrolyser. The hydrogen is then stored in large onsite tanks, ready to be used by fuel cells for electricity generation at night."
Solar Systems making the sun work after dark
Herald Sun (Australia), 22 November 2007

"In the local airport parking lot, Steve Titus clicks shut the lightweight fiberglass door of his fireman-yellow 'Solar Bug.'.... On display at a recent alternative-car expo here, this is Titus's second and latest rendering of a solar-powered car concept. It gets up to a fourth of its 60-mile capacity from 200 watts of roof-mounted solar panels. Titus is among those entrepreneurs trying to create and market an affordable, renewable-energy vehicle – a step beyond gas-electric hybrids."
Could the Solar Bug bring the sun to the car market?
Christian Science Monitor, 15 November 2007

"Lockheed Martin Corp. and Starwood Energy Group Global LLC said Friday they are teaming up to pursue building utility-scale solar generation projects in North America. Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems and Sensors, which is based in Moorestown, N.J., will handle engineering, procurement, manufacturing and systems integration. Starwood Energy Group will be in charge of arranging long-term power purchase agreements, site selection, getting permits and providing construction and permanent debt and equity financing. The companies estimate that up to 10,000 megawatts of solar power generating capacity could come on line in the next 10 years. At an expected cost of $3 per watt of generating capacity, that would put the market size at $30 billion dollars. Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) is a defense contractor based in Bethesda, Md."
Lockheed Martin and Starwood Energy in solar generation partnership
Philadelphia Business Journal, 9 November 2007

"A prototype of the 'Solar Impulse' round-the-world solar plane should make its first piloted flight in autumn 2008, the Swiss project leaders said Monday. The reduced-size model of the aircraft -- which will have a wingspan of 61 metres (201 feet), the equivalent of an Airbus A340 airliner -- is currently being built in northern Switzerland to test the cutting-edge technology involved in its construction. If successful, the dainty 1.5-tonne plane could make a pioneering 36-hour flight through the night in 2009, piloted by round-the-world ballooning pioneer Bertrand Piccard.... The project's goals include a transatlantic crossing in 2011 before what would be a historic, fuel-less circumnavigation of the globe....The completed craft is expected to have 250 square metres (2,690 square feet) of solar panels stretched across wings the width of the world's biggest airliner, a 580-tonne Airbus A380, but weigh just two tonnes."
Groundbreaking solar plane to test flight in 2008
AFP, 5 November 2007

"Berkeley is set to become the first city in the nation to help thousands of its residents generate solar power without having to put money up front - attempting to surmount one of the biggest hurdles for people who don't have enough cash to go green. The City Council will vote Nov. 6 on a plan for the city to finance the cost of solar panels for property owners who agree to pay it back with a 20-year assessment on their property. Over two decades, the taxes would be the same or less than what property owners would save on their electric bills, officials say. 'This plan could be our most important contribution to fighting global warming,' Mayor Tom Bates said Thursday. 'We've already seen interest from all over the U.S. People really think this plan can go.' The idea is sparking interest from city and state leaders who are mindful of California's goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020. Officials in San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Santa Monica and several state agencies have contacted Berkeley about the details of its plan. 'If this works, we'd want to look at this for other cities statewide,' said Ken Alex, California deputy attorney general. 'We think it's a very creative way to eliminate the barriers to getting solar panels, and it's fantastic that Berkeley's going ahead with this.'"
Berkeley going solar - city pays up front, recoups over 20 years
San Francisco Chronicle, 26 October 2007

"Solar power could be the world's number one electricity source by the end of the century, but until now its role has been negligible as producers wait for price parity with fossil fuels, industry leaders say. Once the choice only of idealists who put the environment before economics, production of solar panels will double both next year and in 2009, according to U.S. investment bank Jefferies Group Inc, driven by government support especially in Germany and Japan. Similar support in Spain, Italy and Greece is now driving growth in southern Europe as governments turn to the sun as a weapon both against climate change and energy dependence.... The crux is how fast the industry cuts costs and how fast power prices rise. European power prices neared all-time highs this week, driven by record oil prices. The industry could halve costs and achieve parity in significant markets including the United States, Japan and parts of southern Europe by 2012, said Erik Thorsen, chief executive of the world's biggest solar power company Renewable Energy Corp."
Solar power edges towards boom time
Reuters, 19 October 2007

"Santa Clara, Calif.-based Innovalight says it has developed a somewhat contradictory-sounding process for creating crystalline silicon solar cells with liquid. If it works in mass production, it could slash the cost of making these solar cells by half or more, the company claims. Innovalight essentially creates silicon nanoparticles, inserts them into a solvent, and pours the solvent on a substrate. The solvent is then extracted. What is left can sort of be analogized to a snowflake or a large sugar cube: a highly organized structure made up of tiny parts. 'We use this technique to make something that isn't much different from (traditional) crystalline silicon solar panels, except we get there cheaper,' CEO Conrad Burke said. 'They (the solar cells) end up in a pretty structured form.' The key is that the resulting solar cell has efficiencies--or the amount of sunlight the solar cell can turn into electricity--that are closer to crystalline silicon solar cells than thin-film alternatives such as amorphous silicon or copper indium gallium selenide or CIGS."
Pour yourself a silicon solar panel
CNET News, 11 October 2007

"John O'Donnell started thinking about saving the world 30 years ago....The idea is to slow global warming and cure the planet's energy woes, not with plasma or windmills or clean' coal smoke, but with mirrors. Miles and miles of mirrors, to be exact, focusing the rays of the sun onto pipes to heat water to run hulking steam turbines. This so-called solar thermal approach would mean no emissions that cause global warming. No worries about radioactive waste. No need for coal power, which faces increasingly hostile scrutiny. Not even much need for oil, if plug-in hybrid cars like the Chevrolet Volt start to replace gasoline burners. 'I want people to have it in their heads that there is a solution--and it doesn't even mean raising their electric bills,' he says. A fantasy? Maybe. The big question is not whether solar thermal plants work, but how much the electricity will cost. Right now, the price for existing mirror and steam turbine systems is about half that of the more familiar photovoltaic (PV) panels, which use sheets of semiconductors to convert sunlight to electricity. But that's still nearly twice as much as a new coal plant. O'Donnell believes the technology he plucked from obscurity in Australia will be cheaper - although he has to prove it.... Basic physics shows enough sunlight falls on the deserts of the Southwest to provide all of American's electricity many times over - given enough mirrors. But O'Donnell is already thinking about the next step - going global. He figures Europe could get all of its electricity from Big Solar plants in Morocco. He even has a sneaky China plan. 'Frankly, the original goal for the company was to get an arms race started, where we move ahead in the U.S. and then China decides to get in on the act,' he says."
Solar's Day In The Sun
Businessweek, 15 October 2007

"The next solar panel could be a window. Konarka Technologies and Air Products have received a grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to develop a transparent, flexible solar panel that could be placed on a piece of glass or integrated into a window. Konarka specializes in organic photovoltaics. These are complex molecules that can harvest portions of the infrared and visible light spectrum and turn the energy into sunlight. Organic photovoltaic panels don't last as long as silicon panels and can't aren't as efficient as silicon or other types of panels. But they can be transparent and flexible, allowing them to be placed unobtrusively on a lot of surfaces."
Will windows work as solar panels?
CNET News, 9 October 2007

"Power electronics company Hykon India Pvt. Ltd. has introduced a window collector solar water heater, claimed to be the first in the country. Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, the company's CMD, Christo George, said the window solar heaters were designed for installation on balconies and windows of flats, apartments and individual villas where conventional roof-top water heaters do not fit in."
Window solar water heaters now in India
Sify (India), 4 October

"More utilities are looking to build large solar power (OTCBB:SOPW) plants that can put out as much electricity as coal- or gas-fired plants, but run much cleaner. 'We're at the start of something,' said Julia Judd, executive director at the Solar Electric Power Association. Most of the buzz around solar energy has focused on smaller-scale projects, such as solar panels on rooftops. Several solar companies with highflying stocks, such as SunPower SPWR and JA Solar JASO, are in this field. But interest is building for large, utility-scale solar projects. Such plants offer utilities a way to meet regulatory demands for more renewable energy. Governments worldwide are providing financial incentives for such projects....Take Pacific Gas & Electric. Late last month it said it would double its commitments to buy solar thermal electric power. It now plans to add 1,000 megawatts of new supply during the next five years. By comparison, it has less than 200 megawatts of PV projects planned, Wachs says. In California, three of the state's largest utilities have announced a handful of solar thermal projects that combined will almost meet state requirements for 3,000 megawatts (3 gigawatts) of renewable energy by 2016, Wachs says."
Big Utilities Interested In Big Solar
Investor's Business Daily, 1 October 2007

"The latest project comes from an Israeli who wants to use Israel's 'gift of enterprising' to help humanity wean off of oil. Shai Agassi, former executive at German software enterprise company SAP AG, is leading a new team of minds into not-so-charted territory. Agassi completed military service in Israel as a programmer for the IDF, and then earned his bachelors degree in computer science from The Technion in Haifa. Venturing into the business world, he later sold the most successful of his software startups for over $400 million to SAP, where he continued working until March 2007. What he was up to next was first reported in August by Reuters - holding company Israel Corporation agreed to invest $100 million in Agassi's new electric vehicle venture, pending due diligence, with several other investors; the first round funding is $200 million, bringing the total value of the venture to $300 million. The company is stealthily named BetterPLC, a reference to an automated method of manufacturing. The electric car is a major component of the energy paradigm shift: one where the world relies mainly on renewable sources of energy, thereby reducing the human effect of global warming, shifting the currency balance away from Muslim terrorists, and declawing the menace of peak oil. 'Our goal is to get to 100,000 cars on the road in 2010,' said Agassi. He believes that since Israel has an 89% tax on vehicles, and a 100% tax on fuel, if there were zero emissions and zero fuel, there would be zero taxes on cars. 'You tell an Israeli that Israel will be the first country to eliminate the use of oil, and they sign up,' Shai said in a speech given at Stanford University. But he realizes that the electric car won't stop in Israel, 'If we can do it Israel, and it works, we can create a repeatable model that maybe then works in London... and then we can hopefully do it 50 times in China."
Riding an Israeli electric car to peace
Israel21C, 30 September 2007

"Power generation from low-carbon energy sources like wind, solar and nuclear should soon become competitive with electricity generated by coal, the cheapest of fossil fuels, the chief executive of FPL Group Inc. said Wednesday. FPL said on Wednesday it will spend US $1.5 billion aimed at building solar thermal energy in Florida, California or other states. It is part of a larger US $2.4 billion program aimed at cutting emissions of greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, including a more efficient power network. The company is already the largest US wind power producer.....Hay said FPL will build at least 300 megawatts of solar thermal in Florida, which will help the state reach new goals on renewables outlined by Republican Gov. Charlie Crist. Unlike photovoltaic rooftop solar energy that converts sunlight into power, solar thermal generates electricity by converting solar energy to heat to drive a thermal power plant. The other 200 MW will be built in California or other states....FPL obtains most of its power from other nonrenewable sources including natural gas. The company has a peak power generation of about 22,000 MW and that is growing at about 500 to 600 MW a year. While the solar commitment is small compared with its overall generation portfolio, Hay said it was significant enough to make changes in the industry. 'Only through companies like ours making commitments of this size are we really going to drive the cost of the technology down.' The solar thermal project in Florida, which will start as a 10 MW pilot project at one of its power plants in the state, will eventually grow to become the largest solar plant in the state, the fourth most populous in the country. And he expects to make the company a top US solar producer."
FPL Sees Renewables Soon Competitive With Coal
Reuters, 27 September 2007

"Nanotechnology is important across a broad number of areas; in fact, ‘Nanotechnology’ is one of six Advanced Technology (AT) programs we have at GE. We’re particularly interested in how nanotechnologies can improve our energy and healthcare businesses.... At Global Research, we have a nano team that numbers more than 70 scientists, not counting the support staff. My nano PV [photo voltaic] team is roughly 5-6 people plus support staff. In solar cells, we are working across the board with a number of nanotechnology approaches to improve efficiencies and lower production costs for solar cells. There are 3 generations of solar cells.

Generation 1 is today, and that is bulk silicon, either single crystalline and polycrystalline silicon. That’s about 95% of the solar silicon market today.
Generation 2, which is where people are going, is thin-film. In recent years, it has been about 5% of the market but is attracting a lot of attention in the industry and is expected to grow in market share in the coming years. Generation 2 produces solar cells at lower cost in dollars per Watt, but to date they also have lower module efficiency, typically less than 10% with a few exceptions up to about 12%. Laboratory cells as high as approximately 19.5% have been demonstrated however. With technologies such as thin-film, there are efforts to improve those module efficiencies.
Then, we come to Generation 3 solar cells, where you can have both low-cost and high-efficiency – greater than 20% efficiencies with costs similar to Generation 2. These typically take advantage of new energy conversion mechanisms. The exact Generation 3 technologies to emerge are yet to be determined.

Nanotechnology is currently most relevant to Generation 3 cells, though it may also have an impact on Generation 1 and 2 devices. In recent years the [silicon] supply was artificially constrained. In fact, silicon is the second most abundant element in the earth’s crust. So, the so-called ‘silicon shortage’ over the last few years was mostly due to the fact that [solar companies] relied on recycled silicon from electronics companies. But, now we see people adding new capacity for silicon made specifically for the solar industry, because the required purity is not as high as for the electronics industry. Nanotechnology does not seem to offer an immediate answer to the shortage since conventional approaches are being used. There are 4 different classes of nano-structures the community is applying to photovoltaics.... First you need to capture the light, and that’s critical to transfer the light into the structure. And, then you have to convert that into electron-hole pairs to create the electricity. That conversion is where nanotechnologies offer various improvements. And, as I mentioned, we are also looking at optical properties of nanowires, and how to apply what we learned there.... Overall, the field of improving solar technologies is still in the research phase in nano-related areas, and so we are still developing technologies and designs, but moving forward with nano-manufacturing will be a key aspect to making solar at much lower cost.... GE is involved with the Department of Energy’s Solar America Initiative, which is looking at 3 different solar cell approaches – high-efficiency silicon-based solar cells, molded silicon wafer cells, and flexible thin-film cells. These are all geared toward lowering the cost and improving efficiencies of solar cells. We are collaborating with several universities and small companies in this program. The research under [SAI] is not directly nano-focused, but we’re certainly using what we learn under SAI for our nano research programs. SAI is about applying innovative concepts for mass production of Generation 1 and 2 technologies.... There is a lot of promise. A lot of interesting work is going on out there, and it’s getting more interesting all the time."
GE’s Loucas Tsakalakos, a project leader in GE’s Nanotechnology Program
GE Looks at Nano to Power Next-Gen Solar In Historic R&D Labs of Thomas Edison
Nano World News, 24 September 2007

"Solar-powered lights have improved as the technology they use has advanced -- today's models give off more light than their ancestors did. Plus, they don't go dark when the electrical lines go down. Solar-powered lights have improved as the technology they use has advanced -- today's models give off more light than their ancestors did. Plus, they don't go dark when the electrical lines go down....The cheapest solar yard lights are $10 to $20 per lamp, and the better models run higher. That's because solar cells are still expensive to produce -- they're manufactured from silicon crystals in clean-room conditions -- and NiCd and NiMH batteries also are expensive. If you have a long driveway or garden path that will need a couple of dozen lamps, going solar will be pricey upfront. But once the lights are installed, they'll cost nothing to operate."
Solar-Powered Lights Keep Getting Better
Philadelphia Inquirer, 8 September 2007

"Solar energy specialists are forecasting a bright future by focusing on technology that uses less silicon as they move toward cost-per-kilowatt hour parity with traditional power generating firms.... Two types of cutting-edge solar technology are taking center stage as the industry moves beyond the traditional crystalline silicon solar cells popularized in the 1960s and 70s: thin film solar, which contains lower amounts of expensive silicon, as well as solar concentrators, which use an array of lenses or mirrors to magnify the sun's power to boost electrical output and efficiency."
Solar energy hopes to shine with less silicon
MarketWatch, 6 September 2007

"Millions of inventions pass quietly through the U.S. patent office each year. Patent No. 7,033,406 did, too, until energy insiders spotted six words in the filing that sounded like a death knell for the internal combustion engine. An Austin-based startup called EEStor promised 'technologies for replacement of electrochemical batteries,' meaning a motorist could plug in a car for five minutes and drive 500 miles roundtrip between Dallas and Houston without gasoline....Clifford's company bought rights to EEStor's technology in August 2005 and expects EEStor to start shipping the battery replacement later this year for use in ZENN Motor's short-range, low-speed vehicles. The technology also could help invigorate the renewable-energy sector by providing efficient, lightning-fast storage for solar power, or, on a small scale, a flash-charge for cell phones and laptops.... EEStor's secret ingredient is a material sandwiched between thousands of wafer-thin metal sheets, like a series of foil-and-paper gum wrappers stacked on top of each other. Charged particles stick to the metal sheets and move quickly across EEStor's proprietary material. The result is an ultracapacitor, a battery-like device that stores and releases energy quickly. Batteries rely on chemical reactions to store energy but can take hours to charge and release energy. The simplest capacitors found in computers and radios hold less energy but can charge or discharge instantly. Ultracapacitors take the best of both, stacking capacitors to increase capacity while maintaining the speed of simple capacitors."
Texas Startup Says It Has Batteries Beat
Associated Press, 4 September 2007

"Solar energy in Korea is mostly used to heat single homes, but now the nation has its first regional solar heating system. On Friday, the Korea Institute of Energy Research and the Korea District Heating Corp. will hold an opening ceremony for a homemade regional solar heating system at the corporation's office in Bundang, Seongnam city in Gyeonggi Province. The system includes the largest solar panel in the country, measuring 1,069 sq. m. The panel will reheat water from an existing regional heating system to 90 degrees Celcius and reintroduce it to the system. According to the results of a test run, the solar system will be able to provide heat for 40 to 50 households. It is expected to save W30 million (US$1=W940) and 82 tons of oil per year while reducing annual carbon dioxide emissions by 138 tons."
Korea Builds Regional Solar Heating System
Chosun Ilbo (South Korea), 31 August 2007

"With an aim to supply power to every nook and corner of the country, the government is contemplating to provide solar energy to 25,000 unelectrified villages by 2012. 'There are 25,000 villages in the country where due to technical reasons regular electricity could not be provided. So, we are planning to connect them with solar and bio-energy,' Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Vilas Muttemwar said addressing a function here. Acknowledging that 56 per cent villages have no power connection, he said though the country needed 3 lakh MW power, the present production is just 1.35 lakh MW. Muttemwar said renewable energy was the only solution in the future to overcome the energy crisis in the country as excessive use of fossil fuels were creating environmental problem in the form of global warming and climate change. 'India is blessed with plenty of renewable energy sources such as solar, bio-energy, wind and hydel energy. With such a vast pool of renewable resources available, the Ministry is striving to provide energy in every village and lighting in every house,' he said. In her speech, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit highlighted the steps taken by her government to promote solar energy in the capital city."
Solar energy to 25,000 villages by 2012: Muttemwar
Economic Times (India), 22 August 2007

"Placing a film of silicon nanoparticles onto a silicon solar cell can boost power, reduce heat and prolong the cell's life, researchers now report. 'Integrating a high-quality film of silicon nanoparticles 1 nanometer in size directly onto silicon solar cells improves power performance by 60 percent in the ultraviolet range of the spectrum,' said Munir Nayfeh, a physicist at the University of Illinois and corresponding author of a paper accepted for publication in Applied Physics Letters. The process of coating solar cells with silicon nanoparticles could be easily incorporated into the manufacturing process with little additional cost, Nayfeh said."
Silicon Nanoparticles Enhance Performance Of Solar Cells
Science Daily, 20 August 2007

"Pacific Gas & Electric has inked deals with OptiSolar and SunPower to establish 800 megawatts of solar farms in California, which could become the world’s largest set of grid-tied photovoltaic installations. The new plants would provide 1.65 billion kilowatt hours each year, enough to serve nearly 250,000 homes, according to Fong Wan, vice president for energy procurement of PG&E."
PG&E TO INSTALL PRICING COMPETITIVE SOLAR
San Francisco Sentinel, 15 August 2008

"Amid a journey around the world with a solar energy vehicle, Switzerland's Louis Palmer arrived in Beirut to promote clean sources of energy. 'For the first time in history, we are driving a car, powered by solar energy, around the whole world, Palmer told The Daily Star, near his car parked on Fouad Chehab street.... So far, Parmer has crossed the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Turkey, Syria, before coming to Lebanon. He will later continue on to Jordan. 'The journey will last around 15 months with a goal to cover at least 50,000 kilometers. I will visit 50 countries and five continents,' Palmer said. Bertrand Picard, who intends to fly around the world in his solar plane 'Solar Impulse' in 2011, was the first passenger on board, accompanying Palmer on the first stage of his journey. The "solar taxi" consists of a solar vehicle and a trailer with solar cells. The car was dubbed 'Solar' because it is powered 100 percent from solar energy in its journey around the world. The 'solar taxi' consists of a solar vehicle and a trailer with solar cells. The car was dubbed 'Solar' because it is powered 100 percent from solar energy in its journey around the world."
Solar car makes stop in Beirut on world tour
Daily Star (Lebanon), 14 August 2007

"It's a vision that has long enticed energy planners: solar panels stretching out over vast swaths of the Sahara desert, soaking up sun to generate clean, green power. Now Algeria, aware that its oil and gas riches will one day run dry, is gearing up to tap its sunshine on an industrial scale for itself and even Europe.... 'Our potential in thermal solar power is four times the world's energy consumption so you can have all the ambitions you want with that,' said Tewfik Hasni, managing director of New Energy Algeria, or NEAL, a company created by the Algerian government in 2002 to develop renewable energy.... while undersea cables to Sicily and Spain are planned for construction in 2010-2012, it isn't known who will finance them. But as the world grows increasingly anxious about climate change and dwindling fossil fuels, ideas that once sounded like science fiction are becoming ever more plausible.... The Algerian program is part of a broader reassessment of green technologies by countries that owe their wealth to oil and gas. Algeria, population 33 million, remains heavily dependent on oil and gas exports, which earned it about $54 billion last year. 'Until now, all the oil-producing countries under the lead of Saudi Arabia did everything to torpedo renewable energies,' said Wolfgang Palz, chairman of the independent World Council for Renewable Energy, speaking on the sidelines of an international conference on renewable energy in Algiers in June. 'This is really a big change now because with all this talking about the limitations of conventional resources,' oil-producing countries 'feel obliged to do something,' he said. Africa's second largest country is more than four-fifths desert, with enough sunshine to meet Western Europe's needs 60 times over, according to estimates cited by Algeria's energy ministry. 'The solar potential of Algeria is huge, enormous, because solar radiation is high and there is plenty of land for solar plants,' said Eduardo Zarza Moya, who works on solar power for Spain's public energy research center, CIEMAT. 'The price of the land is low, it's cheap, and there is also manpower.'.... Franz Trieb, an analyst at the German Space Agency in Stuttgart who helped produce a recent study on CSP in Mediterranean and Middle East countries, said that by 2020 the cost of collecting solar power would be equivalent to paying $15 for a barrel of oil."
After Oil and Gas, Sahara Sunshine?
Associated Press, 11 August 2007

"A vast Soviet military training base located under the often sullen grey skies of former communist East Germany is an unlikely new hub for the world's burgeoning solar energy industry. Part of the 28,000-hectare Lieberose training ground is to be transformed into what will be the world's biggest solar plant. Once open in 2009, it will help propel the country to the forefront of the international sun-power revolution. Germany was now home to the largest concentration of solar manufacturing plants anywhere in the world, said the chief of the German Solar Industry Association, Carsten Kornig, this week. In the long-term a third of the country's energy for heating and a quarter of the generation of electricity would be produced from solar plants sited near consumers, he said..... Despite heavy cloud cover during about two-thirds of Germany's daylight hours, the rapid development of the sun-power sector means the country has become the world's leader in generating solar energy. It produces 55 per cent of the world's photovoltaic energy from solar panels. Indeed, the small Black Forest town of Freiburg alone generates almost as much solar photovoltaic power as the whole of Britain."
Germany thinks big as it taps into the sun
Sydney Morning Herald, 11 August 2007

"Most of us would love to run our homes on solar power - if only it wasn't so unreliable, cumbersome and expensive. But thanks to a pioneering factory in Wales, those objections may not apply for much longer.....If you were hunting for the future of solar power, Wales might not seem the most obvious place to look. Yet in a factory in Cardiff, technology that could finally harness the energy of the sun in an affordable way is quietly rolling off the production line. Such claims may sound familiar. Advocates have talked of the potential of solar power to offer clean and green energy for years, yet the technology has remained stubbornly on the fringes. One reason is the cost. Photovoltaic (PV) solar panels to provide an average home with electricity will set you back about �10,000 to �18,000.... Now those behind the Welsh operation think they may have made a crucial breakthrough. Their solar cell works in a different way from most, and is not based on silicon - the expensive raw material for conventional solar cells. G24 Innovations (G24i), the company making the new cells, says it can produce and sell them for about a fifth of the price of silicon-based versions. At present, it makes only small-scale chargers for equipment such as mobile phones and MP3 players. But it says larger panels could follow - large enough to replace polluting fossil fuels by generating electricity for large buildings. 'This has been at the laboratory stage for 18 years and now we are ready to take it into a huge amount of applications,' says Clemens Betzel, president of G24i. G24i's technology is based on a coloured dye and tiny crystals of titanium oxide - a common pigment in white paint.... The new so-called Graetzel cells offered a simpler and potentially cheaper way to generate solar power. (Traditional silicon cells are more complicated because they require the generation of an electric field within the silicon to carry away the liberated electrons.) And because they work in a different way, Betzel says the new cells offer other advantages too. They work better in low light levels, including indoors, he says, and they are lighter and less fragile than silicon cells, which are usually mounted on glass or rigid plastic.....Betzel envisages large buildings hanging coloured flexible ribbons of the company's solar cells down the centre of large atria in future. He says there is no reason why the technology couldn't replace PV solar panels on the roofs of homes and other buildings, though the company has not yet proven the longevity of such large versions. It also claims its technology will 'put an end to dead batteries'."
Solar power - in the rain
Guardian, 9 August 2007

"The afternoon Negev sun shone brightly on the solar panels at the National Center for Solar Energy near Sde Boker. The center's director, physicist Prof. David Feiman, squinted into the light. 'After 30 years of research on solar energy, my life's work of experiments in how to produce electricity from the sun, I can say this year that I know how to manufacture solar energy that will compete with conventional energy,' he says. A few months ago, the center's scientists managed to develop a new technology of solar, or photovoltaic cells, that Feiman says will make the production of solar energy so efficient that the cost of the photovoltaic cells that convert solar energy into electricity will be negligible....According to Feiman, 'an ordinary photovoltaic cell, which is 10 by 10 centimeters, normally produces one watt of electricity. We managed to extract more than a thousand times more - 1,500 watts. In this way, the cost of a cell is 1,500 less, becoming almost nothing.' 'No one has ever produced so much electricity from a solar cell at this strength,' he says."
Sde Boker makes solar energy viable
Haaretz, 8 August 2007

"Researchers at the University of Delaware (UD) have developed a solar cell that can convert sunlight to power with 42.8 per cent efficiency – a new record. Following the team's success the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ( DARPA) has authorised an extension to funding so that the team can built the machinery to manufacture the panels on a large scale. 'The achievement of this benchmark is a major step forward in the ongoing development of low-cost solar photovoltaic technology,' Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association, said.... The panel uses a grooved surface that splits light into three bands, depending on how strong it is. The light is then directed to the appropriate sensors on the panel to be converted into electricity. The team plans to hit 50 per cent efficiency soon and by 2010 have a manufacturing facility ready."
Solar cells break efficiency record
Vnunet, 1 August 2007

"It rains year round in Germany and clouds cover the skies for about two-thirds of each day, yet the country has managed to become the world's leading solar power generator.Millions of Germans may flee their damp, dark homeland for holidays in the Mediterranean sun but 55 per cent of the world's photovoltaic (PV) power is generated on solar panels set up between the Baltic Sea and the Black Forest. That makes up just 3 per cent of Germany's electricity but the Government wants to raise the share of renewables to 27 per cent of all energy by 2020 from 13 per cent."
Germany an unlikely hot spot for solar power
Reuters, 1 August 2007

"Scientists here have developed new dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) that get their pink color from a mixture of red dye and white metal oxide powder in materials that capture light. Currently, the best of these new pink materials convert light to electricity with only half the efficiency of commercially-available silicon-based solar cells -- but they do so at only one quarter of the cost, said Yiying Wu, assistant professor of chemistry at Ohio State. And Wu is hoping for even better. 'We believe that one day, DSSC efficiency can reach levels comparable to any solar cell,' he said. 'The major advantage of DSSCs is that the cost is low. That is why DSSCs are so interesting to us, and so important.'"
Researchers Think Pink To Produce 'Green' Solar Energy
Science Daily, 30 July 2007

"Sydney Ferries is looking at solar-powered vessels in the upgrade of its ageing fleet. Dr Robert Dane, chief executive of Chatswood-based Solar Sailor, said he had met with Sydney Ferries CEO Geoff Smith and successfully trialled a vessel on the Parramatta River route. Solar Sailor, which is chaired by former prime minister Bob Hawke, said its hybrid powered vessels can almost halve the environmental impact of noise, vibrations and fumes.... One of the vessels, the Solar Coast Cat, was long, sleek, had a 200-250 capacity and was capable of servicing the inner harbour routes. The Double Ender, a 1000-capacity hybrid electric vessel, would be ideal for the Manly-Circular Quay run, he said."
Ferries seek solar salvation
Syndney Morning Herald, 29 July 2007

"Israeli company Solel, which develops and implements solar thermal technology, has signed a contract with Pacific Gas and Electric Company to build the world's largest solar plant in California's Mojave Desert. The project will deliver 553 megawatts of solar power, the equivalent of powering 400,000 homes, to PG&E’s customers in northern and central California. When fully operational in 2011, the Mojave Solar Park plant will cover up to 6,000 acres in the Mojave Desert. Solel is working closely with URS Corporation in the development of the Mojave Solar Park, which when commercial will rely on 1.2 million mirrors and 317 miles of vacuum tubing to capture the desert sun’s heat."
Israeli company to build largest solar park in world in US
Ynet News, 26 July 2008

"Someday, homeowners might need only inkjet printers to harvest solar energy. Scientists at the New Jersey Institute of Technology have developed a quick and simple method for do-it-yourselfers to power their homes with inexpensive solar cells that can be printed on some computer printers or painted on plastic sheets. Consumers can then stick the instant solar panel on a wall, roof or billboard in order to soak up the energy supplied by the sun's rays. The new polymer-based technology is detailed in the June 21 issue of the Journal of Materials Chemistry. Finding affordable ways to take advantage of renewable energy has been a challenge. Windmills or dams that generate hydroelectric power are elaborate projects. Purified silicon, a core material for making conventional solar cells, is too expensive to produce on a consumer level. 'Developing organic solar cells from polymers, however, is a cheap and potentially simpler alternative,' said lead researcher Somenath Mitra. 'Imagine some day driving in your hybrid car with a solar panel painted on the roof, which is producing electricity to drive the engine. The opportunities are endless.' The 'paintable' solar-cell coating developed at NJIT is made of carbon nanotubes that function like electric wires but are about 50,000 times smaller than a strand of hair. Yet, just one nanotube can conduct current better than typical electrical wiring. 'Actually, nanotubes are significantly better conductors than copper,' Mitra added. Mitra and his research partner, Cheng Li, also at NJIT, encased the carbon nanotubes in 'fullerenes,' protective compounds that can trap electricity and keep it from escaping. Then, sunlight can activate a process in which the nanotubes, behaving like copper wires, will run collected solar energy converted to electrical current to power household appliances like your microwave. 'Using this unique combination in an organic solar-cell recipe can enhance the efficiency of future painted-on solar cells,' said Mitra. 'Someday, I hope to see this process become an inexpensive energy alternative for households around the world.'"
Solar panels too pricey? Try printing them out
MSNBC, 23 July 2007

"U.S. scientists have developed a technology to produce inexpensive solar cells that can be painted or printed on flexible plastic sheets. New Jersey Institute of Technology Professor Somenath Mitra said the process is so simple, even homeowners will someday be able to print sheets of the solar cells with inexpensive home-based inkjet printers and then attach the product to a wall or roof to create their own power stations. Purified silicon, also used for making computer chips, is a core material for fabricating conventional solar cells, Mitra said. However, the processing of a material such as purified silicon is beyond the reach of most consumers. 'Developing organic solar cells from polymers, however, is a cheap and potentially simpler alternative,' he said. 'We foresee a great deal of interest in our work because solar cells can be inexpensively printed or simply painted on exterior building walls and-or roof tops. Imagine some day driving in your hybrid car with a solar panel painted on the roof, which is producing electricity to drive the engine. The opportunities are endless.' Mitra and his team reported the research in the June 21 issue of the Journal of Materials Chemistry."
Inexpensive solar cell technology created
United Press International, 19 July 2007

"Namaste Solar Electric and SunPower Corporation , a Silicon Valley-based manufacturer of high-efficiency solar cells, solar panels and solar systems, today announced the completed installation of a 7.4-kilowatt solar power system at the Colorado Governor's Residence in Denver using SunPower's high-efficiency solar electric panels. The system, which is installed at the Carriage House at the historic Boettcher Mansion, will generate 8,441 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually. In combination with a smaller 2.4-kilowatt system installed on the Pump House on the property, the Governor's Residence will generate 11,200 kilowatt-hours of electricity each year, offsetting approximately 10.5 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually."
Namaste Solar Installs SunPower Solar Power System on Colorado Governor's Residence
CNN Money, 29 June 2007

"Wales first solar-panelled church is to be blessed by the Archbishop of Wales next week. St Joseph’s Church in Cwmaman, Aberdare, was fitted with 30 solar panels as part of a �750,000 grant-funded refurbishment programme. The solar panels, combined with low-energy light bulbs, mean the church doesn’t have to pay for any electricity and is so successful in generating power, it is planning to sell its excess electricity to the National Grid.It will be officially opened by Dr Barry Morgan on Monday at 7.30pm."
Bishop to bless first solar-panelled church
South Wales Echo, 29 June 2007

"The Moto Solar Urbana project from Spanish company SunRed is designed as the first motorcycle that will operate strictly on solar power and it’s that feature that gives it a unique snail-like appearance.... The idea was impressive enough to garner the prize for Best Innovative Technology at the Barcelona International Auto Show earlier this month.... the company expects that the data garnered from the design exercise will prove useful in the design of future solar powered vehicles."
Solar Motorcycle
Plenty, 28 June 2007

"Last week Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty unveiled an alternative-energy initiative that includes a target of 100,000 installed solar systems across the province and setting up a task force of industry experts and market specialists on how to achieve the target..... Though Canada will never top a list of sunny vacation destinations, the land of ice hockey still has enough solar resources -- sunshine, to those outside the solar industry -- to make solar energy worthwhile. Germany, the world's leader in solar energy production, is at about the same latitude as Canada's northern regions."
Solar World: Canada looks to solar thermal
United Press International, 28 June 2007

"Vancouver-based Xantrex Technology Inc. announced the launch of the Xantrex XW System of solar batteries. Company officials said the new system suits almost any solar or backup power application. The Xantrex XW System is the first fully integrated, battery-based system, designed for residential and commercial solar and backup power applications. Targeting 4 kilowatt to 18 kilowatt indoor installations, the XW System can be customized to suit solar or backup power situations for most grid-tie, off-grid, remote or village power systems.... The XW System features the Maximum Power Point Tracking technology. Xantrex MPPT technology allows maximum energy harvest from the solar array and optimally charges the batteries. The XW Solar Charge Controller continuously sweeps the solar array to fine-tune energy generation, which is particularly critical during periods of fast-moving cloud cover."
Canadian company offers solar batteries
United Press International, 27 June 2007

"When former [India's] IT and communications minister Dayanidhi Maran announced the much-awaited semiconductor policy in February, the idea was to give a fillip to chip making in India by wooing global giants to set up chip fab units in India. However, it’s not chip makers like Intel and AMD that are betting big on India as a manufacturing hub, it’s the solar photovoltaic (SPV) players. No wonder, SPV fabs will be far bigger in India over the next few years. Consider this: On Thursday, US-based Signet Solar will announce an SPV facility at Greater Noida. This comes close on the heels of Moser Baer’s SPV plans announced recently. Another US-based company, Solar Semiconductor is setting up an SPV unit in Hyderabad. Besides these, about 7-8 more SPV units will come up in the next couple of years with an investment of approximately $5-$6 billion, compared to about $2-billion investment in semiconductor manufacturing."
Sun is shining on photovoltaic biz
The Economic Times, 7 June 2007

"The solar industry is poised for a rapid decline in costs that will make it a mainstream power option in the next few years, according to a new assessment by the Worldwatch Institute in Washington, D.C., and the Prometheus Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts.....growth, while dramatic, has been constrained by a shortage of manufacturing capacity for purified polysilicon, the same material that goes into semiconductor chips. But the situation will be reversed in the next two years as more than a dozen companies in Europe, China, Japan, and the United States bring on unprecedented levels of production capacity, stated the assessment. In 2006, for the first time, more than half the world’s polysilicon was used to produce solar PV cells. Combined with technology advances, the increase in polysilicon supply will bring costs down rapidly -- by more than 40 percent in the next three years, according to Prometheus estimates."
PV Costs to Decrease 40% by 2010
Renewable Energy Access, 23 May 2007

"A solar-powered aircraft is to retrace some of aviation’s greatest exploits, including a transatlantic crossing, before attempting a circumnavigation of the world. The Solar Impulse – which will be piloted by the round-the-world balloon pioneer Bertrand Piccard when it takes to the air next year – is to be tested this week with an attempt at circumnavigating virtual skies.... The two-tonne Solar Impulse will have a wingspan of 80m (262ft) but there is room only for one pilot."
Solar-powered aircraft will try to circumnavigate the globe
London Times, 23 May 2007

"Rice University scientists today revealed a breakthrough method for producing molecular specks of semiconductors called quantum dots, a discovery that could clear the way for better, cheaper solar energy panels. The research, by scientists at Rice's Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology (CBEN), appears this week in the journal Small. It describes a new chemical method for making four-legged cadmium selenide quantum dots, which previous research has shown to be particularly effective at converting sunlight into electrical energy. 'Our work knocks down a big barrier in developing quantum-dot-based photovoltaics as an alternative to the conventional, more expensive silicon-based solar cells,' said paper co-author and principal investigator Michael Wong, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering.... Prior research by others has shown that four-legged quantum dots, which are called tetrapods, are many times more efficient at converting sunlight into electricity than regular quantum dots. But, Wong said the problem is that there is still no good way of producing tetrapods. Current methods lead to a lot of particles with uneven-length arms, crooked arms, and even missing arms. Even in the best recipe, 30 percent of the prepared particles are not tetrapods, he said. CBEN's formula, which was developed by Wong and his graduate student Subashini Asokan with CBEN Director Vicki Colvin and graduate student Karl Krueger, produces same-sized particles, in which more than 90 percent are tetrapods."
Quantum Dot Recipe May Lead To Cheaper Solar Panels
ScienceDaily, 4 May 2007

"This is Europe's first commercially operating power station using the Sun's energy this way and at the moment its operator, Solucar, proudly claims that it generates 11 Megawatts (MW) of electricity without emitting a single puff of greenhouse gas. This current figure is enough to power up to 6,000 homes. But ultimately, the entire plant should generate as much power as is used by the 600,000 people of Seville. It works by focusing the reflected rays on one location, turning water into steam and then blasting it into turbines to generate power..... The vision is of the sun-blessed lands of the Mediterranean - even the Sahara desert - being carpeted with systems like this with the power cabled to the drizzlier lands of northern Europe. A dazzling idea in a dazzling location."
Power station harnesses Sun's rays
BBC Online, 2 May 2007

"Within five years, solar power will be cheap enough to compete with carbon-generated electricity, even in Britain, Scandinavia or upper Siberia. In a decade, the cost may have fallen so dramatically that solar cells could undercut oil, gas, coal and nuclear power by up to half. Technology is leaping ahead of a stale political debate about fossil fuels. Anil Sethi, the chief executive of the Swiss start-up company Flisom, says he looks forward to the day - not so far off - when entire cities in America and Europe generate their heating, lighting and air-conditioning needs from solar films on buildings with enough left over to feed a surplus back into the grid. The secret? Mr Sethi lovingly cradles a piece of dark polymer foil, as thin a sheet of paper. It is 200 times lighter than the normal glass-based solar materials, which require expensive substrates and roof support. Indeed, it is so light it can be stuck to the sides of buildings. Rather than being manufactured laboriously piece by piece, it can be mass-produced in cheap rolls like packaging - in any colour. Rather than being manufactured laboriously piece by piece, it can be mass-produced in cheap rolls like packaging - in any colour. The 'tipping point' will arrive when the capital cost of solar power falls below $1 (51p) per watt, roughly the cost of carbon power. We are not there yet. The best options today vary from $3 to $4 per watt - down from $100 in the late 1970s. Mr Sethi believes his product will cut the cost to 80 cents per watt within five years, and 50 cents in a decade. It is based on a CIGS (CuInGaSe2) semiconductor compound that absorbs light by freeing electrons. This is then embedded on the polymer base. It will be ready commercially in late 2009. 'It'll even work on a cold, grey, cloudy day in England, which still produces 25pc to 30pc of the optimal light level. That is enough, if you cover half the roof,' he said. 'We don't need subsidies, we just need governments to get out of the way and do no harm. They've spent $170bn subsidising nuclear power over the last thirty years,' he said. His ultra-light technology, based on a copper indium compound, can power mobile phones and laptop computers with a sliver of foil.... The sector is poised to outstrip wind power. It is a remarkable boom for a technology long dismissed by experts as hopelessly unviable.... Mike Splinter, chief executive of the US semiconductor group Applied Materials, told me his company is two years away from a solar product that reaches the magic level of $1 a watt. Cell conversion efficiency and economies of scale are galloping ahead so fast that the cost will be down to 70 US cents by 2010, with a target of 30 or 40 cents in a decade.... 'The beauty of this is that you can use it in rural areas of India without having to lay down power lines or truck in fuel.' Villages across Asia and Africa that have never seen electricity may soon leapfrog directly into the solar age, replicating the jump to mobile phones seen in countries that never had a network of fixed lines. As a by-product, India's rural poor will stop blanketing the subcontinent with soot from tens of millions of open stoves."
Monday view: Cheap solar power poised to undercut oil and gas by half
Daily Telegraph, 18 February 2007

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