Tag Archives: panel
Evergreen Solar (ESLR) To Introduce New String Ribbon Panel Series
Evergreen Solar just announced that they will be introducing a newseries of their String Ribbon Panels, the ES-C Series. The ES-C seriesis Evergreen’s first off-the-grid solar panel series. The panels candirectly charge direct 12, 24 or 48 volt batteries in off-gridapplications, and are designed to be easy to install while withstandingharsh weather conditions like wind [...]
Bloggage From SPI, Part 2: A Hopeful CPV Panel
I moderated a panel on Tuesday on Concentrating Photovoltaics (CPV) at the Solar Power International show in Anaheim. I am an unlikely choice for the CPV moderator role as I have not always heaped praise on the CPV industry (see here and here). But I kept an open mind, and our panel explored the progress [...]
Sunpower (SPWRA) Sets New World Record With 333MW Solar Panel At 20.4% Efficiency
SunPower (SPWRA) announced yesterday that they have produced a world record, full sized 333MW solar panel with a 20.4% efficiency rate. The record beating efficiency for a full sized panel was confirmed bythe National Renewable Energy Lab. The prototype solar panel wasdeveloped using DofE funds under the Solar America Initiative (SAI),awarded two years ago. It doesn’t [...]
SunPower’s World-Record Solar Panel with 20.4% Efficiency (SPWRA)
SunPower Corp., a Silicon Valley-based manufacturer of high-efficiencysolar cells, solar panels and solar systems, announced today that ithas produced a world-record, full-sized solar panel with a 20.4 percenttotal area efficiency. The prototype was successfullydeveloped using funds provided by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)under its Solar America Initiative (SAI), which was awarded to SunPowerapproximately two [...]
Solar Declines in Price by More than 30%, But Don’t Credit the Panel
Solar dropped in price more than 30 percent between 1998 and 2008,according to a new study from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, and mostof the time the decline can be attributed to things that aren’t made ofsilicon. The average cost of going solar dropped from $10.80 a watt in 1998to $7.50 a watt in 2008. From [...]
A Smarter Solar Panel
Traditionalsolar panels are extremely sensitive to even the smallest amount ofshade and mismatch. Typically solar panels must be properly matched andbalanced in a string although tenKsolarhas developed a new breed of "smart" solar panels that’s not onlyimproving photovoltaic performance and but making them easier toinstall. Based on their propriety RAIS (redundant array of integratingsolar) technology [...]
3D Solar’s Prototype Panel
I thought today (Blog Action Day 2009)would be a good day to post a couple snapshots of my prototype solarpanel. Getting these made was my "summer project", which morphed intothe full-on launching of my new company 3D Solar Inc. For anyone new to the site, these patent pending panels incorporate amirror with each row of [...]
Inside The Solar Panel Boot Camp
Inside a large, non-discrete building in Silicon Valley is a boot camp for solar panels. They must endure high heat, freezing temperatures and severepounding. And they have to survive without becoming some kind of firehazards in order to get approval from Underwriters Laboratories, the product safety and performance-testing firm based in Northbrook, Ill. Getting certifications [...]
Rail-free solar panel mounting
Traditionally, solar panels are a tedious process to install becausethe process of installing solar panels on a residential rooftopinvolves the rails to be cut, spliced together and the metal frame ofthe solar panels and rails themselves have to be grounded according tocode. Currently the process is quite primitive and can be timeconsuming even though the [...]