Even the best solar cells can convert only so much of the energy in sunlight into electricity. But researchers in the United States and Canada report today in Science about a new advance that may one day break through that barrier. For now, the devices, which consist of individual carbon nanotubes wired to electrodes, are too small to be considered actual solar cells. But if the technology can be scaled up, it could lead to a new class of high-efficiency photovoltaics.
Most of today's silicon solar cells, the industry standard, convert about 20% of the energy in sunlight to electricity. Although that sounds modest, it's not far from their maximum possible efficiency of 31%. In part, that limit is due to the fact that when a photon of sunlight strikes silicon, it excites just one electron, freeing it to flow in a current. Any excess energy the photon had is lost as heat. For years, researchers have had evidence that tiny nanoparticles could do better, enabling photons to generate two or more electrical charges apiece and thereby increasing the current. But no one has managed to make working solar cells that wrest these excess charges out of the nanoparticles and collect them.
A big part of the challenge is figuring out how to wire nanoparticles to collect the charges. When light strikes these tiny semiconductor specks, it creates one or more "excitons"--negatively charged electrons bound to positive charges in the material called "holes." Working solar cells need to separate the opposite charges and steer them to oppositely charged electrodes.
That job would be easier if the nanoparticles could be stretched into long, thin nanowires or tubes that span a pair of electrodes. Electrons and holes could then travel in opposite directions in the wires or tubes to their preferred electrodes. As a first step, Paul McEuen, a physicist at Cornell University, and colleagues decided to test whether carbon nanotubes were capable of generating more than one electron-hole pair per photon. So they wired individual carbon nanotubes between a pair of oppositely charged electrodes and hit the device with blasts of laser light. They found that the tubes could generate at least two pairs of charges for each photon. And if the researchers added a little electrical juice of their own to the electrodes, the device could collect those excess charges from the tubes.
"That they see this effect so efficiently is really striking," says Philippe Guyot-Sionnest, a chemist at the University of Chicago in Illinois. "If it is confirmed, it is pretty exciting." That still won't make these nanodevices ready for use in actual solar cells. For now, McEuen cautions, the effect works only below 60 kelvin, far too cold to be used in real-world solar cells. But McEuen adds that if he and his colleagues can better understand the effect, they may be able to duplicate it in other materials that work at higher temperatures.
Robert F. Service
ScienceNOW Daily News
11 September 2009
Thin Film Solar
- G24iutilises the latest breakthrough in material science and nanotechnology creating a new class of advanced solar cells which are the closest mankind has come to replicating nature’s photosynthesis. G24i’s DYE SENSITISED THIN FILM manufactures a uniquely thin, extremely flexible and versatile nano-enabled photovoltaic (solar) material that converts light energy into electrical energy, even under low-light, indoor conditions.
- International Solar Electric Technology, Inc. (ISET) developed next generation thin film solar electric products and systems, an ink-based process for manufacturing thin-film CIGS solar cells and modules on both rigid and flexible lightweight substrates
- Global Solar Energy is the solar industry leader that manufactures highly-efficient thin film solar cells for glass module or flexible material products
- Silicon Solar manufactures and distributes a large selection of residential solar panels, solar cells, lights, fountains and hot water systems
- Suntech Power (STP)
- Yingli Green Energy (YGE)
- JA Solar Holdings (JASO)
EMCORE Deploys First Concentrator Solar Photovoltaic System in China with the XinAo Group
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Nov 21, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- EMCORE Corporation a leading provider of semiconductor-based components and subsystems for the broadband, fiber-optic, satellite and terrestrial solar power markets, announced today its first deployment of a concentrator photovolataics (CPV) system in China with the XinAo Group, one of China's largest energy companies. As part of an earlier agreement, the 50 kilowatt (kW) test and evaluation system is fully installed and operational, and is producing power in accordance with specifications. EMCORE and XinAo continue to have discussions regarding the possible construction of a joint-owned plant in China, to manufacture CPV systems designed and certified by EMCORE for its innovative coal gasification project and the Chinese market.
Dr. John Iannelli, Corporate Chief Technology Officer and General Manager of EMCORE's Solar Power Division stated, "We are pleased to introduce the first CPV terrestrial power system in China in partnership with the XinAo Group and look forward to pursuing other solar power opportunities in China's emerging renewable energy market."
In early October, EMCORE was also granted access permits for its 850-kW commercial solar park installation in the Extremedora region of Spain. In addition to these two deployments, EMCORE expects several other pilot sites to be deployed by the end of the year.
EMCORE's deployed CPV systems are powered by our industry leading high-efficiency compound semiconductor-based multi-junction solar cells that operate with 500x concentration. EMCORE continues its investment to develop a next-generation system design with enhanced performance (including a module efficiency of approximately 30%) and much improved cost structure. The new design (Generation III) is scheduled to be in volume production by the second half of calendar 2009. EMCORE has recently responded to several RFPs from public utility companies using Gen-III products as its baseline and expects to receive positive feedback on these proposals before the end of 2008.
Albuquerque, NM, July 25, 2008 - EMCORE Corporation (NASDQ: EMKR) a leading provider of Semi-conductor-based components and subsystems for the broadband, fiber-optic, satellite and terrestrial solar power markets, announced today that its world record Inverted Metamorphic (IMM) solar cell technology has been chosen by R&D Magazine for an R&D 100 award. This prestigious award recognizes the IMM solar cell as one of the most innovative technologies of 2008.
This revolutionary solar cell technology provides a platform for EMCORE’s next generation photovoltaic products for space and terrestrial solar power applications. Solar cells built using IMM technology recently achieved world record conversion efficiency of 33% used in space, and it is anticipated that efficiency levels in the 42%-45% range will be achieved when adapted for use under the 500-1500X concentrated illumination, typical in terrestrial concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) systems. Once commercialized, the CPV systems that are powered with EMCORE’s IMM based products will see a reduction in the cost of power generated by approximately 10% to 20%. EMCORE expects to commercialize this technology for both space and terrestrial applications in 2009.
Developed in conjunction with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Vehicle Systems Directorate of the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the IMM design is comprised of a novel combination of compound semiconductors that enables a superior response to the solar spectrum as compared to conventional multi-junction architecture. Due to its unique design, the IMM cell is approximately one fifteenth the thickness of the conventional multi-junction solar cell and will enable a new class of extremely lightweight, high-efficiency, and flexible solar arrays for space applications. Furthermore, this technology can be readily integrated into EMCORE’s complete line of CPV receiver products and the increased conversion efficiency will enable the most cost effective CPV systems. EMCORE has developed a strong intellectual property position for this innovative technology, with over 10 patents pending in the area of solar cell design and manufacturing techniques.
source
Dr. John Iannelli, Corporate Chief Technology Officer and General Manager of EMCORE's Solar Power Division stated, "We are pleased to introduce the first CPV terrestrial power system in China in partnership with the XinAo Group and look forward to pursuing other solar power opportunities in China's emerging renewable energy market."
In early October, EMCORE was also granted access permits for its 850-kW commercial solar park installation in the Extremedora region of Spain. In addition to these two deployments, EMCORE expects several other pilot sites to be deployed by the end of the year.
EMCORE's deployed CPV systems are powered by our industry leading high-efficiency compound semiconductor-based multi-junction solar cells that operate with 500x concentration. EMCORE continues its investment to develop a next-generation system design with enhanced performance (including a module efficiency of approximately 30%) and much improved cost structure. The new design (Generation III) is scheduled to be in volume production by the second half of calendar 2009. EMCORE has recently responded to several RFPs from public utility companies using Gen-III products as its baseline and expects to receive positive feedback on these proposals before the end of 2008.
EMCORE Wins 2008 R&D 100 Award For Inverted Metamorphic Multi-junction Solar Cell Technology
Albuquerque, NM, July 25, 2008 - EMCORE Corporation (NASDQ: EMKR) a leading provider of Semi-conductor-based components and subsystems for the broadband, fiber-optic, satellite and terrestrial solar power markets, announced today that its world record Inverted Metamorphic (IMM) solar cell technology has been chosen by R&D Magazine for an R&D 100 award. This prestigious award recognizes the IMM solar cell as one of the most innovative technologies of 2008.
This revolutionary solar cell technology provides a platform for EMCORE’s next generation photovoltaic products for space and terrestrial solar power applications. Solar cells built using IMM technology recently achieved world record conversion efficiency of 33% used in space, and it is anticipated that efficiency levels in the 42%-45% range will be achieved when adapted for use under the 500-1500X concentrated illumination, typical in terrestrial concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) systems. Once commercialized, the CPV systems that are powered with EMCORE’s IMM based products will see a reduction in the cost of power generated by approximately 10% to 20%. EMCORE expects to commercialize this technology for both space and terrestrial applications in 2009.
Developed in conjunction with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Vehicle Systems Directorate of the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the IMM design is comprised of a novel combination of compound semiconductors that enables a superior response to the solar spectrum as compared to conventional multi-junction architecture. Due to its unique design, the IMM cell is approximately one fifteenth the thickness of the conventional multi-junction solar cell and will enable a new class of extremely lightweight, high-efficiency, and flexible solar arrays for space applications. Furthermore, this technology can be readily integrated into EMCORE’s complete line of CPV receiver products and the increased conversion efficiency will enable the most cost effective CPV systems. EMCORE has developed a strong intellectual property position for this innovative technology, with over 10 patents pending in the area of solar cell design and manufacturing techniques.
source
focusing on solar's cost
Sunrgi claims that its concentrated photovoltaic system outshines the competition.
A Hollywood-based solar startup says that it will soon be able to produce electricity from the sun at costs that are competitive with fossil-fuel generation. The key is the company's dramatic improvement in the performance of concentrated photovoltaic technology.
Sunrgi, which emerged out of stealth mode last week, has created a concentrated photovoltaic system that uses a lens to focus sunlight up to 2,000 times onto tiny solar cells that can convert 37.5 percent of the sun's energy into electricity. Stronger concentrations of sunlight allow engineers to use much smaller solar cells, making it more economical to use higher-efficiency--but higher-cost--cells. Sunrgi, for example, will use cells based on gallium arsenside and germanium substrates.
Paul Sidlo, one of seven founding partners of Sunrgi, says that the system uses four times less photovoltaic material than other approaches, which typically aim for 500 times sun concentration. This includes systems being developed by California rivals SolFocus and Soliant Energy.
"We've miniaturized everything," Sidlo says. "What this leads to is reduced cost, and the big breakthrough here is all about lower cost." The company has also designed its system to be produced on slightly modified computer assembly lines, enabling further savings through high-volume production. The higher efficiency also means that a solar park built with Sunrgi's modules could use one-sixteenth of the space needed with conventional thin-film solar cells, adds Sidlo. The result is lower real-estate costs for developers.
Sunrgi estimates that its system will be capable of producing electricity at a wholesale cost of five cents per kilowatt-hour. Prototypes have been built and tested both in the laboratory and in the field, and the company expects to start commercial production in 12 to 15 months. "It's quite an aggressive claim," says Daniel Friedman, a solar-energy researcher at the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). He says that most others in the space are still working toward seven or eight cents per kilowatt-hour. "I can't say Sunrgi won't achieve what it's claiming, but right now, it's just on paper, and costs like that are only going to be a reality at the large manufacturing level," he says. "Even then, the five-cent figure sounds really optimistic."
Arguably the biggest breakthrough for Sunrgi is in the area of heat management, which is essential to any concentrated photovoltaic system. The intense heat created by concentrating the sun so much can reduce both the efficiency and the life of the solar cell. At 2,000 times sun concentration, temperatures can exceed 1800 °C--similar to the heat from an acetylene torch, and hot enough to melt the solar cell.
Cells in such systems are usually cooled through a combination of heat conduction, air or liquid convection, and radiation; the goal is to remove as much of the heat as quickly as possible, says Sunrgi partner KRS Murthy, who has been labeled the "thermal wizard" by his colleagues. "At each stage of conduction, convection, and radiation, we've made an improvement over what others have done," he says.
source
A Hollywood-based solar startup says that it will soon be able to produce electricity from the sun at costs that are competitive with fossil-fuel generation. The key is the company's dramatic improvement in the performance of concentrated photovoltaic technology.
Sunrgi, which emerged out of stealth mode last week, has created a concentrated photovoltaic system that uses a lens to focus sunlight up to 2,000 times onto tiny solar cells that can convert 37.5 percent of the sun's energy into electricity. Stronger concentrations of sunlight allow engineers to use much smaller solar cells, making it more economical to use higher-efficiency--but higher-cost--cells. Sunrgi, for example, will use cells based on gallium arsenside and germanium substrates.
Paul Sidlo, one of seven founding partners of Sunrgi, says that the system uses four times less photovoltaic material than other approaches, which typically aim for 500 times sun concentration. This includes systems being developed by California rivals SolFocus and Soliant Energy.
"We've miniaturized everything," Sidlo says. "What this leads to is reduced cost, and the big breakthrough here is all about lower cost." The company has also designed its system to be produced on slightly modified computer assembly lines, enabling further savings through high-volume production. The higher efficiency also means that a solar park built with Sunrgi's modules could use one-sixteenth of the space needed with conventional thin-film solar cells, adds Sidlo. The result is lower real-estate costs for developers.
Sunrgi estimates that its system will be capable of producing electricity at a wholesale cost of five cents per kilowatt-hour. Prototypes have been built and tested both in the laboratory and in the field, and the company expects to start commercial production in 12 to 15 months. "It's quite an aggressive claim," says Daniel Friedman, a solar-energy researcher at the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). He says that most others in the space are still working toward seven or eight cents per kilowatt-hour. "I can't say Sunrgi won't achieve what it's claiming, but right now, it's just on paper, and costs like that are only going to be a reality at the large manufacturing level," he says. "Even then, the five-cent figure sounds really optimistic."
Arguably the biggest breakthrough for Sunrgi is in the area of heat management, which is essential to any concentrated photovoltaic system. The intense heat created by concentrating the sun so much can reduce both the efficiency and the life of the solar cell. At 2,000 times sun concentration, temperatures can exceed 1800 °C--similar to the heat from an acetylene torch, and hot enough to melt the solar cell.
Cells in such systems are usually cooled through a combination of heat conduction, air or liquid convection, and radiation; the goal is to remove as much of the heat as quickly as possible, says Sunrgi partner KRS Murthy, who has been labeled the "thermal wizard" by his colleagues. "At each stage of conduction, convection, and radiation, we've made an improvement over what others have done," he says.
More-Efficient Solar Cells
By changing the way that conventional silicon solar panels are made, Day4 Energy, a startup based in Burnaby, British Columbia, has found a way to cut the cost of solar power by 25 percent, says George Rubin, the company's president.
The company has developed a new electrode that, together with a redesigned solar-cell structure, allows solar panels to absorb more light and operate at a higher voltage. This increases the efficiency of multicrystalline silicon solar panels from an industry standard of about 14 percent to nearly 17 percent. Because of this higher efficiency, Day4's solar panels generate more power than conventional panels do, yet they will cost the same, Rubin says. He estimates the cost per watt of solar power would be about $3, compared with $4 for conventional solar cells. That will translate into electricity prices of about 20 cents per kilowatt-hour in sunny areas, down from about 25 cents per kilowatt-hour, he says.
Other experimental solar technologies could lead to much lower prices--indeed, they promise to compete with the average cost of electricity in the United States, which is about 10 cents per kilowatt-hour. But such technologies, including advanced solar concentrators and some thin-film semiconductor solar cells, probably won't be available for years. Day4's technology could be for sale within 18 months, the company says.
In conventional solar panels, the silicon that converts light into electricity is covered with a network of silver lines that conduct electrons and serve as connection points for soldering together the individual solar cells that make up a panel. The network consists of rows of thin silver lines that feed into thicker wires called bus bars. Day4 replaces these bus bars with a new electrode that consists of rows of fine copper wires coated with an alloy material. The wires are embedded in an adhesive and aligned on a plastic film. The coated copper wires run on top of and perpendicular to the thin silver lines, connecting them to neighboring cells. The new electrode conducts electricity better than the silver lines, resulting in less power loss. It also covers up less of the silicon than the bus bars, leaving more area for absorbing light.
source
The company has developed a new electrode that, together with a redesigned solar-cell structure, allows solar panels to absorb more light and operate at a higher voltage. This increases the efficiency of multicrystalline silicon solar panels from an industry standard of about 14 percent to nearly 17 percent. Because of this higher efficiency, Day4's solar panels generate more power than conventional panels do, yet they will cost the same, Rubin says. He estimates the cost per watt of solar power would be about $3, compared with $4 for conventional solar cells. That will translate into electricity prices of about 20 cents per kilowatt-hour in sunny areas, down from about 25 cents per kilowatt-hour, he says.
Other experimental solar technologies could lead to much lower prices--indeed, they promise to compete with the average cost of electricity in the United States, which is about 10 cents per kilowatt-hour. But such technologies, including advanced solar concentrators and some thin-film semiconductor solar cells, probably won't be available for years. Day4's technology could be for sale within 18 months, the company says.
In conventional solar panels, the silicon that converts light into electricity is covered with a network of silver lines that conduct electrons and serve as connection points for soldering together the individual solar cells that make up a panel. The network consists of rows of thin silver lines that feed into thicker wires called bus bars. Day4 replaces these bus bars with a new electrode that consists of rows of fine copper wires coated with an alloy material. The wires are embedded in an adhesive and aligned on a plastic film. The coated copper wires run on top of and perpendicular to the thin silver lines, connecting them to neighboring cells. The new electrode conducts electricity better than the silver lines, resulting in less power loss. It also covers up less of the silicon than the bus bars, leaving more area for absorbing light.
source
Solar Roofing Materials
Integrating solar cells into building materials could make solar power more attractive to homeowners.
In an effort to promote the adoption of solar technology, United Solar Ovonic of Auburn Hills, MI, has teamed with a major roofing company to create a metal roof system that generates electricity from sunlight. The partnership offers seven different prefabricated systems, ranging in capacity from 3 to 120 kilowatts. Tests show that the solar roof panels are rugged and can withstand winds in excess of 160 miles per hour.
read more
In an effort to promote the adoption of solar technology, United Solar Ovonic of Auburn Hills, MI, has teamed with a major roofing company to create a metal roof system that generates electricity from sunlight. The partnership offers seven different prefabricated systems, ranging in capacity from 3 to 120 kilowatts. Tests show that the solar roof panels are rugged and can withstand winds in excess of 160 miles per hour.
read more
intensifying the sun a new way to concentrate sunlight could make solar power competitive with fossil fuels.
Unlike the mirrors and lenses in conventional solar concentrators, Baldo's glass sheets act as waveguides, channeling light in the same way that fiber-optic cables transmit optical signals over long distances. The dyes coating the surfaces of the glass absorb sunlight; different dyes can be used to absorb different wavelengths of light. Then the dyes reëmit the light into the glass, which channels it to the edges. Solar-cell strips attached to the edges absorb the light and generate electricity. The larger the surface of the glass compared with the thickness of the edges, the more the light is concentrated and, to a point, the less the power costs.
Learn more >>
technologyreview/21217/
technologyreview/21066/
morgan solar - a totally new way of concentrating sunlight
Morgan solar invented a totally new optical technology for concentrating sunlight. Our Concentrated Photovoltaic (CPV) systems are highly efficient, easy to build and affordable.
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/out-of-africa-new-concentrating-solar-tech-inspired-by-congo-stint-1346.html
Morgan Solar claims its new solar concentrator is simpler – and up to four times cheaper. The company has raised $1.5M and plans to raise an additional $10M to $12M to reach production. It also plans to install its first test panel this month.
It was when John Paul Morgan was living in Congo, where he managed logistics for medical nonprofit Doctors Without Borders, that he was struck by the true importance of electricity.
A nearby town was plagued by cholera outbreaks because of frequent electrical outages that kept the water pump from working. The town he lived in, Shabunda, wasn't electrified at all; near the equator, that means no reading, no schoolwork, no housework – just utter darkness after the sun sets around 6 p.m.
"My friends are all desperate for electricity," he said. "The ability to see where you are and what you're doing is something we take for granted, because we can always control our environment. Not having power over your environment is ... debilitating and it influences the control you have over other parts of your life as well. When you're sitting around in the dark, you're sitting in the dark; you're kind of lost."
He became convinced that electricity was essential to education and to moving towns like Shabunda beyond subsistence farming, and he came home frustrated because he didn't think they would get out of what he calls "the dark ages" anytime soon.
So Morgan set his mind to solving the problem. He holed up in his living room for several months and emerged with what he says is a completely new type of solar panel that could dramatically reduce the price of solar power.
Backed by investment from their father, Eric Morgan, head of Capgemini in Spain, Portugal and Latin America, John Paul and his brother, Nicolas, launched stealthy Toronto-based Morgan Solar in June of last year. John Paul is the chief technology officer and Nicolas is the director of business development.
They have grown the company to seven people and raised a total of $1.5 million, with about half in cash and half in noncash contributions. Of that amount, approximately $1 million came from the Morgan family and $500,000 came from government grants and other sources, including the National Resource Council's Industrial Research Assistance Program.
Toronto-based Morgan Solar plans to install a 1-meter-by-1-meter (3.28-foot-by-3.28-foot) prototype panel on an aviary at the Earth Rangers Centre in Toronto and begin producing electricity from the panel by the end of September. The center, founded by Robert Schad – who previously founded Husky Injection Molding Systems, which sold to Onex Systems for $960 million last year – will independently monitor the trial panel.
Morgan Solar plans to install another eight panels on the center in October, and also is talking with potential partners in Spain who are considering testing Morgan's concentrators for 1 megawatt of projects, Nicolas said.
And the company has ambitious plans beyond the demonstration stage. Morgan Solar is working to raise an additional $10 million to $20 million and reach mass production in about a year.
"Six months ago, we were a company with an idea," Nicolas said. "Six months later, we're going to be a validated company with a reputable product."
The Technology
That product Morgan Solar is developing involves a thin sheet of acrylic that concentrates sunlight 750 times and redirects it to a tiny multilayered cell on the edge of the plastic, reducing the amount of photovoltaic material needed to convert sunlight into electricity, according to the company.
Other companies, such as SolFocus, Concentrix Solar, GreenVolts and Sunrgi, have for years been working on solar concentrators, which attempt to make solar power cheaper by using mirrors or lenses to magnify sunlight and direct it into a solar cell, which converts it into electricity. The idea is that being able to guide more light to a smaller solar cell would use less of the photovoltaic material – usually the most expensive material in a panel.
But concentrating-solar companies face several challenges.
For one thing, directing sunlight into one place can cause some panels to overheat and break down. The heat can also cause different materials in the concentrators to expand at different rates, leading to wear and tear.
Morgan Solar believes it has solved those problems with its new technology, which concentrates sunlight using what it calls a "light-guided solar optic" instead of a lens or reflector to direct light to the cell.
Two triangular optics are put together in a package about the size and shape of a CD case, each drawing light to one corner of the concentrator, Nicolas said. A panel will consist of 80 to 100 of these CD-case-like arrangements, he said.
The company says the design is cheaper, uses less material and is less likely to break than its competitors' systems.
By guiding light to the edge – not the bottom – of a panel, the concentrator releases heat instead of trapping it and doesn't overheat, according to Nicolas. He said thermal-modeling software has projected that the hottest part of the concentrator will reach a maximum of 86 degrees Celsius (186.8 degrees Fahrenheit), which he claims is a fifth of the heat of comparable systems, in the hottest conditions on Earth – 50 degrees Celsius, with zero wind, zero humidity, and maximum sunlight.
The concentrator is made of a single piece of plastic, avoiding thermal-expansion problems, Nicolas said.
The system also is less likely to break because its shape exposes it to less wind pressure than other systems, which have to be built to withstand the wind, he said. Combined with the low weight from the thin piece of plastic, the ability to withstand a higher wind load translates into cost savings on the tracker, which moves the panels alongside the sun, he said.
But the main advantage, according to Nicolas, is the potentially lower cost. Morgan Solar claims its technology could reduce costs to a quarter of its concentrating-solar competitors' costs with a design that uses much less in the way of materials – just a little bit of aluminum, acrylic and PV – and that it expects will be easy to manufacture.
"We've reinvented CPV. Now it's affordable," the Website boasts.
At that cost, four times cheaper than it is today, solar would be within reach of people John Paul knew in Shabunda, he said. That would mean that a 50-watt panel, which would be enough for a family to run two very efficient light bulbs in the evenings, would cost $100 instead of $400, he said, which his friends could borrow or otherwise finance.
"Obviously, the cheaper the better," he said. "But when I think about what would be the threshold to be able to get wider adoption spread where I was in the developing world, four times cheaper would make a big difference."
Morgan Solar hopes its technology will help make solar farms cost-effective, without any subsidies, sooner than the industry expects.
"The real goal is to be able to build solar panels that cost less than electricity can be produced today, and I think we can do that in the next year or two," Nicolas said. "We're not going to be the one company that makes solar affordable, but we're going to be one of the companies pushing the industry to be cheaper faster."
Other concentrating-solar companies already have seen some success.
SolFocus in July said it had completed the first phase of its first project (see SolFocus Installs Concentrating-Solar Project in Spain). Concentrix Solar said earlier this month it plans to begin production of its new generation of panels in September (see Solar Roundup: Earnings, Expectations and Updates).
And the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in July said it was spinning out a startup called Covalent Solar to develop technology that uses organic dyes to concentrate solar (see Dyeing for More Solar Power).
Nicolas said Morgan Solar's technology often is compared to the MIT technology, but claims that the company's optics can draw light to a more specific point and are more efficient.
Challenges Ahead
But the company still has some unanswered questions, and hopes the test will help answer them.
For one thing, it isn't sure how much electricity its panels will deliver or what their efficiency will be, although Nicolas said it expects its efficiency to be at least comparable to other concentrating-solar panels of equal size.
Another uncertainty is the exact material it will use to make its concentrators.
Morgan Solar hopes to use acrylic, which it believes will fit the requirements of its technology and cost 3 to 5 percent less to work with than glass, which is most commonly used for panels today.
But nobody has ever put that much light through acrylic before, according to Nicolas, and while scientists are "pretty sure" the material will work as expected, the company won't know for sure how it will react until it is tested. Nicolas said that if the material doesn't handle the light as expected, the company plans to switch to another one, such as glass.
The company plans to share more details about its technology later this month after it finishes submitting its patents.
Jed Dorsheimer, an analyst at Canaccord Adams, said while the technology apparently works in the laboratory and makes "a lot of sense" in theory, Morgan Solar's challenge will be to actually commercialize the technology.
All new solar technologies face the commercialization challenge, and concentrating PV companies also face the hurdle of demonstrating reliability so that banks will finance the projects, he said.
He added that while lower costs certainly would position Morgan Solar favorably, cost has not been a major impediment to concentrating PV, also called CPV.
"I don't think cost is the big issue for SolFocus, GreenVolts, Concentrix or Emcore," he said. "The biggest challenge is making sure the statistics are actually there and that companies can demonstrate them and get banks comfortable that CPV is not just some science project."
Meanwhile, Neal Dikeman, a founding partner of Jane Capital Partners, warned that concentrating-solar technology has a tiny market share today – less than 1 percent of the solar market - and could remain small if silicon prices shrink.
"I think people investing are investing in [CPV companies] because people couldn't get silicon," he said. "But if the cost curves continue to fall in silicon, why do you need concentrating?"
He said it will be too early to tell if the technology will work at larger scale even after the company completes its first test at the Earth Rangers Centre. "Tell them to call me after their 10th test."
But he added that the idea does have potential. "If there is one that works, something solid state [like Morgan Solar's concentrator] would probably be it."
The question is whether the company can get products on the market before others, he said.
The Race to the Finish
John Paul agreed the company is in a race.
"There are other people who are saying they're going to do the same thing or are trying to do the same thing," he said. "I think we're going to be much cheaper than other techs on the market."
Nicolas said all the startups working toward the same basic objective of low-cost solar power are good for the industry.
"There are seven or eight other companies just in Ontario that are going to come out of nowhere and surprise everyone," he said. "Maybe one in 10 really [deliver on their] announcements, but there are going to be thousands of announcements; it's going to be a really exciting thing for solar."
Morgan Solar expects to target industrial and commercial customers with its first concentrator products, aimed at projects in the 500-kilowatt to 1-megawatt range, Nicolas said.
Assuming it raises the $10 million to $20 million round it is seeking, Morgan Solar hopes to enter mass production between June and August of next year with its production panels, which will be larger than the demonstration panels at about 1.5 meters by 1 meter (about 4.9 feet by 3.28 feet), he said.
After the release of its first product, the company plans to increase the magnification power of its concentrator and believes it can reach as much as 1,400 suns - 1,400 times natural sunlight – using current multilayered cells.
Morgan Solar also has plans to develop two other products for buildings: a window that it expects will concentrate sunlight fourfold and a solar wall intended to concentrate sunlight between six- and eightfold, Nicolas said.
The company expects to begin working on these lower-concentration, building-integrated products in October or November and to bring them to market at around the same time as its first product, he said.
But it's focused on its higher-concentration product for now.
Based on groups it already has spoken with, if the technology works as planned and can be made as cheaply as expected, Morgan Solar already will be sold out for next year, Nicolas said. "We already have fairly advanced conversations with people about producing products, which is both scary and awesome."
The company aims to start its commercial rollout of its first product in North America and Europe – specifically Canada, the United States, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy and France – and later hopes to also sell in Asia.
None of these first markets are developing countries, and John Paul said to make no mistake – he's essentially a capitalist. It makes sense to target markets that will pay the most first.
Still, he said, his ultimate goal remains to make a difference in places like the Congo.
"Once you can make the systems inexpensive, then those third-world markets will start to be able to gain access to these systems and it will be deployed on a wider scale," he said. "That's where I want to take this – really widely avail power for everyone and not merely for Spain and Germany and the hot solar markets right now."
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/out-of-africa-new-concentrating-solar-tech-inspired-by-congo-stint-1346.html
Morgan Solar claims its new solar concentrator is simpler – and up to four times cheaper. The company has raised $1.5M and plans to raise an additional $10M to $12M to reach production. It also plans to install its first test panel this month.
It was when John Paul Morgan was living in Congo, where he managed logistics for medical nonprofit Doctors Without Borders, that he was struck by the true importance of electricity.
A nearby town was plagued by cholera outbreaks because of frequent electrical outages that kept the water pump from working. The town he lived in, Shabunda, wasn't electrified at all; near the equator, that means no reading, no schoolwork, no housework – just utter darkness after the sun sets around 6 p.m.
"My friends are all desperate for electricity," he said. "The ability to see where you are and what you're doing is something we take for granted, because we can always control our environment. Not having power over your environment is ... debilitating and it influences the control you have over other parts of your life as well. When you're sitting around in the dark, you're sitting in the dark; you're kind of lost."
He became convinced that electricity was essential to education and to moving towns like Shabunda beyond subsistence farming, and he came home frustrated because he didn't think they would get out of what he calls "the dark ages" anytime soon.
So Morgan set his mind to solving the problem. He holed up in his living room for several months and emerged with what he says is a completely new type of solar panel that could dramatically reduce the price of solar power.
Backed by investment from their father, Eric Morgan, head of Capgemini in Spain, Portugal and Latin America, John Paul and his brother, Nicolas, launched stealthy Toronto-based Morgan Solar in June of last year. John Paul is the chief technology officer and Nicolas is the director of business development.
They have grown the company to seven people and raised a total of $1.5 million, with about half in cash and half in noncash contributions. Of that amount, approximately $1 million came from the Morgan family and $500,000 came from government grants and other sources, including the National Resource Council's Industrial Research Assistance Program.
Toronto-based Morgan Solar plans to install a 1-meter-by-1-meter (3.28-foot-by-3.28-foot) prototype panel on an aviary at the Earth Rangers Centre in Toronto and begin producing electricity from the panel by the end of September. The center, founded by Robert Schad – who previously founded Husky Injection Molding Systems, which sold to Onex Systems for $960 million last year – will independently monitor the trial panel.
Morgan Solar plans to install another eight panels on the center in October, and also is talking with potential partners in Spain who are considering testing Morgan's concentrators for 1 megawatt of projects, Nicolas said.
And the company has ambitious plans beyond the demonstration stage. Morgan Solar is working to raise an additional $10 million to $20 million and reach mass production in about a year.
"Six months ago, we were a company with an idea," Nicolas said. "Six months later, we're going to be a validated company with a reputable product."
The Technology
That product Morgan Solar is developing involves a thin sheet of acrylic that concentrates sunlight 750 times and redirects it to a tiny multilayered cell on the edge of the plastic, reducing the amount of photovoltaic material needed to convert sunlight into electricity, according to the company.
Other companies, such as SolFocus, Concentrix Solar, GreenVolts and Sunrgi, have for years been working on solar concentrators, which attempt to make solar power cheaper by using mirrors or lenses to magnify sunlight and direct it into a solar cell, which converts it into electricity. The idea is that being able to guide more light to a smaller solar cell would use less of the photovoltaic material – usually the most expensive material in a panel.
But concentrating-solar companies face several challenges.
For one thing, directing sunlight into one place can cause some panels to overheat and break down. The heat can also cause different materials in the concentrators to expand at different rates, leading to wear and tear.
Morgan Solar believes it has solved those problems with its new technology, which concentrates sunlight using what it calls a "light-guided solar optic" instead of a lens or reflector to direct light to the cell.
Two triangular optics are put together in a package about the size and shape of a CD case, each drawing light to one corner of the concentrator, Nicolas said. A panel will consist of 80 to 100 of these CD-case-like arrangements, he said.
The company says the design is cheaper, uses less material and is less likely to break than its competitors' systems.
By guiding light to the edge – not the bottom – of a panel, the concentrator releases heat instead of trapping it and doesn't overheat, according to Nicolas. He said thermal-modeling software has projected that the hottest part of the concentrator will reach a maximum of 86 degrees Celsius (186.8 degrees Fahrenheit), which he claims is a fifth of the heat of comparable systems, in the hottest conditions on Earth – 50 degrees Celsius, with zero wind, zero humidity, and maximum sunlight.
The concentrator is made of a single piece of plastic, avoiding thermal-expansion problems, Nicolas said.
The system also is less likely to break because its shape exposes it to less wind pressure than other systems, which have to be built to withstand the wind, he said. Combined with the low weight from the thin piece of plastic, the ability to withstand a higher wind load translates into cost savings on the tracker, which moves the panels alongside the sun, he said.
But the main advantage, according to Nicolas, is the potentially lower cost. Morgan Solar claims its technology could reduce costs to a quarter of its concentrating-solar competitors' costs with a design that uses much less in the way of materials – just a little bit of aluminum, acrylic and PV – and that it expects will be easy to manufacture.
"We've reinvented CPV. Now it's affordable," the Website boasts.
At that cost, four times cheaper than it is today, solar would be within reach of people John Paul knew in Shabunda, he said. That would mean that a 50-watt panel, which would be enough for a family to run two very efficient light bulbs in the evenings, would cost $100 instead of $400, he said, which his friends could borrow or otherwise finance.
"Obviously, the cheaper the better," he said. "But when I think about what would be the threshold to be able to get wider adoption spread where I was in the developing world, four times cheaper would make a big difference."
Morgan Solar hopes its technology will help make solar farms cost-effective, without any subsidies, sooner than the industry expects.
"The real goal is to be able to build solar panels that cost less than electricity can be produced today, and I think we can do that in the next year or two," Nicolas said. "We're not going to be the one company that makes solar affordable, but we're going to be one of the companies pushing the industry to be cheaper faster."
Other concentrating-solar companies already have seen some success.
SolFocus in July said it had completed the first phase of its first project (see SolFocus Installs Concentrating-Solar Project in Spain). Concentrix Solar said earlier this month it plans to begin production of its new generation of panels in September (see Solar Roundup: Earnings, Expectations and Updates).
And the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in July said it was spinning out a startup called Covalent Solar to develop technology that uses organic dyes to concentrate solar (see Dyeing for More Solar Power).
Nicolas said Morgan Solar's technology often is compared to the MIT technology, but claims that the company's optics can draw light to a more specific point and are more efficient.
Challenges Ahead
But the company still has some unanswered questions, and hopes the test will help answer them.
For one thing, it isn't sure how much electricity its panels will deliver or what their efficiency will be, although Nicolas said it expects its efficiency to be at least comparable to other concentrating-solar panels of equal size.
Another uncertainty is the exact material it will use to make its concentrators.
Morgan Solar hopes to use acrylic, which it believes will fit the requirements of its technology and cost 3 to 5 percent less to work with than glass, which is most commonly used for panels today.
But nobody has ever put that much light through acrylic before, according to Nicolas, and while scientists are "pretty sure" the material will work as expected, the company won't know for sure how it will react until it is tested. Nicolas said that if the material doesn't handle the light as expected, the company plans to switch to another one, such as glass.
The company plans to share more details about its technology later this month after it finishes submitting its patents.
Jed Dorsheimer, an analyst at Canaccord Adams, said while the technology apparently works in the laboratory and makes "a lot of sense" in theory, Morgan Solar's challenge will be to actually commercialize the technology.
All new solar technologies face the commercialization challenge, and concentrating PV companies also face the hurdle of demonstrating reliability so that banks will finance the projects, he said.
He added that while lower costs certainly would position Morgan Solar favorably, cost has not been a major impediment to concentrating PV, also called CPV.
"I don't think cost is the big issue for SolFocus, GreenVolts, Concentrix or Emcore," he said. "The biggest challenge is making sure the statistics are actually there and that companies can demonstrate them and get banks comfortable that CPV is not just some science project."
Meanwhile, Neal Dikeman, a founding partner of Jane Capital Partners, warned that concentrating-solar technology has a tiny market share today – less than 1 percent of the solar market - and could remain small if silicon prices shrink.
"I think people investing are investing in [CPV companies] because people couldn't get silicon," he said. "But if the cost curves continue to fall in silicon, why do you need concentrating?"
He said it will be too early to tell if the technology will work at larger scale even after the company completes its first test at the Earth Rangers Centre. "Tell them to call me after their 10th test."
But he added that the idea does have potential. "If there is one that works, something solid state [like Morgan Solar's concentrator] would probably be it."
The question is whether the company can get products on the market before others, he said.
The Race to the Finish
John Paul agreed the company is in a race.
"There are other people who are saying they're going to do the same thing or are trying to do the same thing," he said. "I think we're going to be much cheaper than other techs on the market."
Nicolas said all the startups working toward the same basic objective of low-cost solar power are good for the industry.
"There are seven or eight other companies just in Ontario that are going to come out of nowhere and surprise everyone," he said. "Maybe one in 10 really [deliver on their] announcements, but there are going to be thousands of announcements; it's going to be a really exciting thing for solar."
Morgan Solar expects to target industrial and commercial customers with its first concentrator products, aimed at projects in the 500-kilowatt to 1-megawatt range, Nicolas said.
Assuming it raises the $10 million to $20 million round it is seeking, Morgan Solar hopes to enter mass production between June and August of next year with its production panels, which will be larger than the demonstration panels at about 1.5 meters by 1 meter (about 4.9 feet by 3.28 feet), he said.
After the release of its first product, the company plans to increase the magnification power of its concentrator and believes it can reach as much as 1,400 suns - 1,400 times natural sunlight – using current multilayered cells.
Morgan Solar also has plans to develop two other products for buildings: a window that it expects will concentrate sunlight fourfold and a solar wall intended to concentrate sunlight between six- and eightfold, Nicolas said.
The company expects to begin working on these lower-concentration, building-integrated products in October or November and to bring them to market at around the same time as its first product, he said.
But it's focused on its higher-concentration product for now.
Based on groups it already has spoken with, if the technology works as planned and can be made as cheaply as expected, Morgan Solar already will be sold out for next year, Nicolas said. "We already have fairly advanced conversations with people about producing products, which is both scary and awesome."
The company aims to start its commercial rollout of its first product in North America and Europe – specifically Canada, the United States, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy and France – and later hopes to also sell in Asia.
None of these first markets are developing countries, and John Paul said to make no mistake – he's essentially a capitalist. It makes sense to target markets that will pay the most first.
Still, he said, his ultimate goal remains to make a difference in places like the Congo.
"Once you can make the systems inexpensive, then those third-world markets will start to be able to gain access to these systems and it will be deployed on a wider scale," he said. "That's where I want to take this – really widely avail power for everyone and not merely for Spain and Germany and the hot solar markets right now."
