Tag Archives: solar cell
HiFlex Researchers Develop Flexible Organic Solar for Mobile
A technology developed by the HiFlex research project promises flexible, lightweight, on-the-go charging for mobile electronics and remote applications. New organic photovoltaic module (OPV) is relatively cheap and can effectively function under various light conditions. The project—a collaboration between ECN, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE), TNO / Holst Centre, Technical University of Denmark [...]
Sharp Hits 37.7% Solar Cell Efficiency
Sharp Corporation has set the world record for solar cell conversion efficiency – 37.7 percent – the Osaka-based multinational announced. The Japanese electronics company said it achieved the breakthrough using a triple-junction compound solar cell wherein photo-absorption layers are piled together. Compound solar cells use photo-absorption layers made from compounds made up of two or [...]
Natcore Develops First Black Silicon Solar Cell
Natcore is a solar company based in Red Bank, New Jersey, and cooperates with Rice University and National Renewable Energy Laboratory to bring new and promising thin-film solar cell technologies to the market. The collaboration has now developed what appears to be the “blackest” solar cell to date. There are constantly new technologies emerging that [...]
Report: Global Markets and Technologies for PV Systems
I’m happy to announce the publication of my most recent report, Global Markets and Technologies for Photovoltaic Systems, by the research company BCC Research. You won’t be finding it in your local bookstore–the purchase price is $4,850, although you can get bite sized chunks at a much lower price. The report has actually been in the [...]
What Happened to the Thin Film Solar Market?
There is no thin-film solar market. There’s First Solar with cadmium telluride (CdTe), Solar Frontier with CIGS, and until recently Sharp in amorphous silicon (a-Si), with a few smaller players following behind. There are also a few companies looking at very thin c-Si, such as Twin Creeks or 1366 Technologies. In cadmium telluride materials, [...]
City of Toronto Orders 8,800 Solar Panels
The forecast for Toronto is hopefully calling for sunny skies. The city will certainly need it following an announcement that 8,800 solar panels installed atop 10 city-owned arenas and community centres. The project is a joint partnership between the city and Toronto Hydro. According to The National Post, the panels will generate about 2,600 megawatt [...]
Walmart Installs 14K Solar Panels at AZ Distribution Facility
Companies like Google, Apple and Facebook often capture headlines with their clean energy initiatives, but over the last year, Walmart has become an installed solar capacity leader. The company completed its 100th solar installation in the U.S. with dozens more planned in the near future. Now Walmart is taking it one step further at its [...]
Silevo Brings 21% Efficient PV Modules to Market
Silevo, Inc. is bringing a new type of silicon-based photovoltaic to the market that the company is calling a hybrid PV cell. The Triex design integrates a standard silicon wafer with other, active layers to produce a more efficient PV module, which the company says is more than 21 percent efficient. “We’ve developed our own [...]
University of Albany Grabs $20M for Next-Gen PV Manufacturing Equipment
Under a new partnership with the U.S. Photovoltaic Consortium (PVMC) and Ceres Technologies the University of Albany’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering’s Albany NanoTech Complex CNSE will work towards developing the next generation of PV manufacturing equipment. The $20 million is supported partly by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) SunShot Initiative. But it’s [...]
Update: Israel’s Solar Market
Fifty years ago, Israel was on the cusp of developing a promising solar industry. Solar hot water systems in particular made a splash in the country, but many decades later, those same systems are just about all that exists for solar development in the country. Bloomberg Businessweek reported that while the climate is appropriate for [...]
Quantum Dot Solar Breakthrough at University of Toronto
Quantum dots (also known as nanocrystals) have certain electronic properties, which we can use to convert photons (light particles) into electricity in much the same way as with traditional solar cells. Quantum dot solar cells films, are usually built up by much more inexpensive material if compared to crystalline- or thin film silicon, which is [...]
Transparent Polymer Solar Cells Developed at UCLA
In the search for more efficient solar cells, UCLA researchers have developed a new transparent solar cell that points towards the age when windows could become small solar energyfarms without blocking the view. They have developed a new kind of polymer solar cell (PSC) that produces energy by absorbing mainly infrared light (not visible light), [...]