Solar San Diego

CIGS = Benjamins: Thin Film Firm Miasolé Gets Infusion of Cash

What is CIGS?

CIGS is a compound of copper, indium, gallium and selenium (Cu(In,Ga)Se2). When combined in the proper ratios, these materials form a semiconductor that can be applied as a thin film to create photovoltaic cells on many carrier substrates. The CIGS ("absorber") layer absorbs photons, the first step in the transformation of solar energy to electricity.
                                                                                                                                                                                     (Courtesy:  Miasolé)

CIGS is the compound used by Santa Clara solar  company Miasolé in its thin-film solar cells.  The company announced last Friday that it had received $35 million in venture capital financing.   This financing will allow Miasolé to perhaps begin mass producing their panels CIGS, a promising technology, is also used by another company mentioned in these pages, Nanosolar, as well as other cutting edge solar companies including HelioVolt and DayStar Technologies. 

Solar Systems to Build World's Most Advanced Solar Power Station: Solar Energy Down Under

Solar Systems, out of Melbourne, Australia, will build the world's most advanced solar power station in northwest part of the State of Victoria.   

Media Release 
Wednesday, 25 October 2006

World-leading mega scale solar power  station for Victoria
Federal and State governments unite to award $125M of grants to $420M  solar power project   

A $420 million large-scale solar power plant – the biggest and most efficient solar photovoltaic  power station in the world - is to be built in north-west Victoria.    Australian company Solar Systems will demonstrate its unique, world leading design  incorporating space technology in a 154MW solar power station connected to the national  electricity grid.     The power station will use high performance solar cells originally developed to power  satellites. Solar Systems has developed the capability to concentrate the sun by 500 times  onto the solar cells for ultra high power output.    

The Victorian power station will generate clean electricity directly from the sun to meet the  annual needs of over 45,000 homes with zero greenhouse gas emissions.   

The Australian Treasurer Peter Costello announced a $75 million grant to the project under  the Federal Government’s Low Emissions Technology Demonstration Fund (LETDF). Solar  Systems was one of more than 30 companies that bid for $500 million under the LETDF  program, which aims to foster competitive technology that will significantly reduce greenhouse  gas emissions.   

The Victorian Premier Steve Bracks announced that the Victorian Government will also  support the project with a grant of $50 million; recognising the significant benefits that the  project will bring to the State.   

The station will be built in north-west Victoria. Solar Systems will build the power station  across a number of different sites and will consult with local Government and communities  about appropriate locations. Solar Systems has formed a new company – Solar Systems  Generation Pty Ltd to construct the station.  

Solar Systems’ Managing Director Dave Holland said it was an exciting day for the company,  which has invested over $50 million since it began developing the technology 16 years ago.     “This plant is the first step in a strategic plan to roll out large-scale solar technology across  Australia and internationally. It represents the beginning of a new international industry,” Mr  Holland said. “This funding announcement significantly advances the company’s technology  commercialisation process that has already seen four smaller solar power stations  established in central Australia.    

“The plant will make a significant contribution towards reducing Victoria’s environmental  impact by reducing greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 400,000 tonnes per year.   

“The vast majority of the power station technology will be Australian.

“The project is also important for Victoria’s and Australia’s economy. It is expected to create  approximately 950 new jobs at the peak of construction and be a catalyst for a new industry  that will create more than 10,000 permanent jobs,” Holland said.   

“Two new manufacturing facilities will be constructed in Victoria and key suppliers are  expected to invest in expansion to meet the project demand. Approximately 70 per cent of the  total project cost is expected be invested in Victoria.”   

“The project is a major step towards harnessing the greatest, fully sustainable energy  resource the world has. Less than 1% of the world’s arid lands could produce the world’s  energy needs using Solar Systems’ current technology - without harmful emissions or  concern about finite fuel supply.”   

The power station will use technology known as ‘Heliostat Concentrator Photovoltaic’  (HCPV). It will consist of fields of heliostats (sun-tracking mirrors) focusing sunlight on  receivers. The receivers house photovoltaic (PV) modules, which consist of arrays of ultra  high-efficiency solar cells that convert the sunlight directly into electricity. Photovoltaic literally  means ‘electricity-from-light’. The heliostat control system, PV modules and cooling system  are patented by Solar Systems.    

Solar Systems has collaborated with US company Spectrolab (a Boeing company) to optimise  ultra high efficiency space technology for earth based power stations.  The resulting  photovoltaic cell arrays are three times more efficient than typical solar panels. Further cell  efficiency improvements are underway.   

Solar Systems’ Technical Director John Lasich has led the development of this technology to  meet his vision for affordable, clean energy from the sun since the 1970s.   

“This is a new generation of solar technology,” Mr Lasich said. “The secret is to be able to  make a solar power module work about 1500 times harder than typical solar panels. If you  can do this at high efficiency using low cost materials, you have the recipe for an infinite  supply of clean energy at an affordable price.   

“This new power station will demonstrate these principles and produce the most affordable  solar energy yet generated.”   

Solar Systems is a private Melbourne-based company that has established commercial solar  power stations at four locations in Central Australia, where the essential technology to be  used in the Victorian power station has already been proven

Silcon Valley's Solar Stars

CNN Money and Business 2.0 magazine have a piece about solar energy firms in the Silicon Valley, including several companies featured herein:

There's a missile-bunker vibe you get when walking into Solaicx, a Silicon Valley startup that manufactures the silicon wafers that are the building blocks of solar panels.

In one half of the nondescript Santa Clara warehouse, three men sit hunched on a wood platform 8 feet above the cement floor, their eyes locked on two monitors. The screens show data and video gathered from a 24-foot-tall steel tower. The tower begins in a squat, gourd-shaped base and tapers to a cannon-size column with a long drum spinning slowly on top. Thick power cables snake down its sides. Another sci-fi-looking tower rises up off to one side of the building

Read the entire article here.

Centralized Solar is the way to go, says Khosla

The Red Herring reported on a speech by Vinod Khosla, the venture capitalist behind the Apollo Alliance.  Khosla spoke at Solar Power 2006, discussing the potential of centralized solar thermal systems.  Khosla believes that such systems can provide 90% of energy needs.

United Press International expanded on the speech which also dealt with the economic viability of solar energy.  Read the UPI article here. 

Deutschland über der Sonne

On the heels of the Q-Cells, and PowerLight deal, mentioned here, United Press International has an article about the large German solar company presence at Solar Power 2006 in San Jose. 

"(German) companies like Q-Cells and Solar World are coming to the U.S. ... they see the U.S. as the next big thing," Rhone Resch, the president of the American Solar Energy Industries Association, told United Press International this week at the Solar Power 2006 conference in San Jose, Calif.

A fairly large German delegation is present at the conference this year -- in addition to Q-Cells and Solar World, SCHOTT and Steca have individual booths, and Aeroline Tube Systems, Baumann GmbH, IMO Antriebseinheit GmbH and Wurth Solar GmbH & Co. KG are represented at a German Pavilion at the confab.

According to Resch, whose organization is one of the conference co-sponsors, the booming solar energy market in Germany will go flat in the coming year, and may even decrease.

Germany and Japan are the world leaders in solar energy.

"The German parliament is decreasing incentives" for homeowners who install photovoltaic panels on their rooftops, Resch said. This is part of the reason he sees the growth there leveling out.

Thus the attention on the United States, a market that Australian solar energy expert Martin A. Green from the University of New South Wales on Wednesday called "a sleeping giant that is waking up."

Read the entire article here.  SolarSanDiego.Net applauds the entry of German solar companies into the US as a way to make US companies more competive and lead to quicker breakthroughs in solar technology!

Solar Hot Spot: Mercury News Spotlight on Solar Power 2006

Solar Power 2006 is the centerpiece of an article in today's San Jose Mercury News.  The Conference and Expo, which takes place in San Jose, is explored along with a portion about local companies, in the article.

SunPower has increased Solar Panel efficiency

CNet.com is reporting from Solar Power 2006, in an article by Martin LaMonica, that SunPower, a division of Cypress Semiconductor has announced that it has increased solar panel efficiency:

SunPower says it has managed to increase efficiency of the silicon cells from 20 percent to 22 percent. Further, the 5-foot by 3-and-a-half-foot panels will pack 96 individual cells within them, compared to the 72 contained in the company’s current product.

Overall, these changes result in a 43 percent increase in power, said Julie Blunden, vice president of external affairs at SunPower. Each panel can generate 315 watts of electricity and will have roughly the same cost per watt as the existing line, she said.

The theoretical limit of monocrystalline silicon cell efficiency is about 25 percent, Blunden said.

Read the entire article here.  More news from Solar Power 2006 as it comes up.   

PowerLight Goes Across the Atlantic For Cells

            

PowerLight, a leading provider of large scale solar project systems has entered into a long term agreement with Q-Cells, a German company that is the world's largest independent manufacturer of high-performance solar cells, to supply the Berkely based company with $150 million in solar cells with an option that can be exercised by PowerLight to buy an additional $60 million in cells.   Recently the Red Herring wrote about  the Top 3 Solar Trends, one of which was "A focus on silicon:" pointing out a shortage of solar-grade silicon.  It appears that PowerLight has gone a long way in insuring that it's supplies do not dry up even as demand for solar arrays heats up. 

Red Herring's Top 3 Solar Trends; Solar Power 2006

In anticipation of Solar Power 2006, the Red Herring points out the Top 3 Solar Trends in an article.  The three trends are identified as "1) A focus on silicon...2) More Funding...3) Advances in supporting technologies...."  Read the entire article by clicking the above link.

The Solar Power Conference and Expo 2006 is taking place in San Jose beginning on Monday October 16.  The Conference will be streaming live video featuring "Interviews, product demonstrations and small segments of conference general sessions..."  California Clean Tech Open renewable energy finalists GreenVolts and CoolEarth Solar, will be among the presenters at the conference. 

EUREKA! Going Solar in Humbolt County

The Times-Standard in Eureka has an interesting Q&A with Redwood Coast Energy Authority  Executive Director David Boyd.   Boyd talks about his authority and the process of going solar in Humbolt County.  Read the entire interview here.