Tag Archives: cpv
New CPV Efficiency Record for Amonix
Amonix, which makes concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) systems, has once again broke a world record for real-world efficiency testing. In real-world testing, the company’s latest CPV technology reached a peak conversion efficiency of 36.2 percent at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado. The new record broke Amonix’ former world record of 34.2 percent [...]
Amonix Teams Up with Solar Junction
2012 was not a good year for concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) solar firms. GreenVolts went under and Amonix went quiet after shuttering its Nevada factory and laying off much of its staff. Brad Mattson, CEO of Solexant and semiconductor entrepreneur, spoke at PARC recently and suggested that CPV technology might succeed in the shape of a [...]
CPV Startup REhnu Grabs SunShot Grant
REhnu, a solar company that spun out of the University of Arizonaoptics department, was awarded a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to help bring its technology to market. REhnu received one of 10 SunShot Incubator awards and was the only company working in the high-concentration photovoltaics realm, according to a release [...]
Stion: Big Winner of SunShot Incubator 7
Department of Energy just announced winners of its SunShot Incubator 7 program. In all, the DOE announced $10 million in investments in solar startups projects across U.S., with San Jose, Cali.-based Stion winning the highest amount of $2 million. Stoin developed a new tandem copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) module thin-film photovoltaic technology that’s produced [...]
The State Of The CPV Market 2013
A US-based solar manufacturer has offered a glimmer of light to the much-maligned solar market. Solar Junction of San Jose, CA, which manufactures III-V element, compound semiconductor, multi-junction solar cells for concentrated photovoltaic (CPV), surpassed its own world record this week for the energy conversion efficiency of a commercial-ready module. It raised the bar to [...]
Amonix Closes Nevada Factory
After the recent news of Amonix closing its North Las Vegas, NV factory and the other bad news from Amonix, I am returning to my practice of labeling concentrating photovoltaics (CPV) “The zero-billion-dollar market.” I had shelved that phrase, and in a rare instance of optimism, had tried to be patient and understanding with PV’s [...]
Soitec Wins $25M SUNPATH Award
Soitec’s new manufacturing facility in San Diego got a $25 million boost this week from the Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative’s SUNPATH (Scaling Up Nascent PV At Home) program. The investment will help the France-based company start producing concentrating photovoltaic modules at its new facility by the end of 2012. “We will be producing at [...]
Guardian Glass Being Used Across Solar Industry
Solar products from flat PV (photovoltaic) modules to CSP (concentrated solar power) mirrors to the ever-and-always emerging BIPV (building-integrated photovoltaics) sector will be using glass in their bill of materials (BoM) for the foreseeable future. Flexible solar in a non-glass encapsulant might have its place in the market someday, but for now it is a [...]
Solar Junction Can’t Keep up with Multi-junction PV Cell Demand
You don’t hear this too much these days with all the silicon photovoltaic manufacturers suffering from an overheated market, but Solar Junction may face shortages of its mullti-junction gallium arsenide PV cells for concentrating PV (CPV) systems even as the company ramps up production. Most recently the company received an order of 5 megawatts from [...]