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Solar Power Panels without Silocon Cells?!?!? 100 year old Physics overturned.

BethesdaWX

By BethesdaWX,
in Climate Change

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BethesdaWX

BethesdaWX

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Not directly related to Climate Change/AGW....but it is fascinating nonetheless. Seeing the human race learn news things is always encouraging, especially when we need to re-write physics because of it.

http://wattsupwithth...ors-discovered/

This Could really help Solar Power make a Strong Comeback in the coming decades.

A dramatic and surprising magnetic effect of light discovered by University of Michigan researchers could lead to solar power without traditional semiconductor-based solar cells.

Light has electric and magnetic components. Until now, scientists thought the effects of the magnetic field were so weak that they could be ignored. Rand and his colleagues found that at the right intensity, when light is traveling through a material that does not conduct electricity, the light field can generate magnetic effects that are 100 million times stronger than previously expected. Under these circumstances, the magnetic effects develop strength equivalent to a strong electric effect.

“This could lead to a new kind of solar cell without semiconductors and without absorption to produce charge separation,” Rand said. “In solar cells, the light goes into a material, gets absorbed and creates heat. Here, we expect to have a very low heat load. Instead of the light being absorbed, energy is stored in the magnetic moment. Intense magnetization can be induced by intense light and then it is ultimately capable of providing a capacitive power source.”

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Clifford

Clifford

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And it must be focused to an intensity of 10 million watts per square centimeter.

Interesting solar cell concept.

And it may produce something worthwhile 50 years down the road.

I was wondering... if they can produce this in a transparent substance, is there a limit to the number of layers?

Anyway, this is awfully powerful.

Let's see.

A square meter is 10,000 sq cm.

If your peak solar radiation is about 1,000 watts/meter, then you would need about a 10,000 sq meter, or a 100x100 meter reflector to focus the light on that single square cm to get 10 million watts/sq cm.

So...

One could convert a football stadium into a parabolic reflector for that 1 sq cm cell.

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BethesdaWX

BethesdaWX

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Solar already is making a comeback.. it has reached record conversion efficiencies over 20% and annual installations are growing like 50%+ /year. Prior to the recession they were increasing like 100%/yr.

Installations this year are expected to top 15GW I think.

Thats nice. I'm installing solar panels on My roof this yr, so the more efficient the better.

FYI I also drive a hybrid, so I am environmentally friendly ;)

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Clifford

Clifford

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Solar already is making a comeback.. it has reached record conversion efficiencies over 20% and annual installations are growing like 50%+ /year. Prior to the recession they were increasing like 100%/yr.

Installations this year are expected to top 15GW I think.

Many of the plain silicone cells are 19-20% efficient.

The Triple Junction Cells (requiring concentrated light) are up to 41.6% efficient.

http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=810

Thus, surpassing the estimated 10% efficiency of the cells discussed above.

The prices on solar panels seem to be slowly dropping, although there is a lot more to the installations than just the panels.

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Clifford

Clifford

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Thats nice. I'm installing solar panels on My roof this yr, so the more efficient the better.

FYI I also drive a hybrid, so I am environmentally friendly ;)

Keep in mind that efficiency is essentially just a measurement of the watts generated per area.

I.E. If you have 10% efficient panels, they will generate the same amount of power as 20% efficient panels, but you will need twice as much space.

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BethesdaWX

BethesdaWX

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Keep in mind that efficiency is essentially just a measurement of the watts generated per area.

I.E. If you have 10% efficient panels, they will generate the same amount of power as 20% efficient panels, but you will need twice as much space.

yep i did the research. Also some energy to go into the back-up generator when I lose power (happens everal times a yr).

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Clifford

Clifford

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yep i did the research. Also some energy to go into the back-up generator when I lose power (happens everal times a yr).

Backup power depends a lot on your system.

"Off Grid" systems usually have a large battery bank, and thus are completely isolated from "grid power". Excess power is often wasted.

"Grid Attached" systems often have no batteries, and only function when the grid power is up. Thus you can have a very expensive system that is totally unusable when the grid goes down. I also calculated once that the cost of a system to generate the equivalent amount of electricity to the $10 per month typical connection fees can be several thousand dollars. I assume you can have grid attached with battery backup.

Things like electric stoves, electric furnaces, and electric AC units can be difficult to run on solar power, especially when one may need the heat more on cloudy days than sunny days.

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BethesdaWX

BethesdaWX

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Backup power depends a lot on your system.

"Off Grid" systems usually have a large battery bank, and thus are completely isolated from "grid power". Excess power is often wasted.

"Grid Attached" systems often have no batteries, and only function when the grid power is up. Thus you can have a very expensive system that is totally unusable when the grid goes down. I also calculated once that the cost of a system to generate the equivalent amount of electricity to the $10 per month typical connection fees can be several thousand dollars. I assume you can have grid attached with battery backup.

Things like electric stoves, electric furnaces, and electric AC units can be difficult to run on solar power, especially when one may need the heat more on cloudy days than sunny days.

haha good thing my house is propane powered (stove, fireplaces, water heater, etc). For electricity, grid attached w/ battery backup is the bet....the backup generator was very expensive though.

I've spend about $75,000 fixing this place up over the past 6 months :( I'm getting broke.

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skierinvermont

skierinvermont

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Many of the plain silicone cells are 19-20% efficient.

The Triple Junction Cells (requiring concentrated light) are up to 41.6% efficient.

http://boeing.mediar...p?s=43&item=810

Thus, surpassing the estimated 10% efficiency of the cells discussed above.

The prices on solar panels seem to be slowly dropping, although there is a lot more to the installations than just the panels.

This graph only runs up to 2008. Current cost per watt is as low as 1$/watt for First Solar thin film panels, and around $2/watt or a little less for regular PV. Cost per watt doesn't include installation costs, land requirements and taxes, or factor in the life expectancy of the panels, which is why regular PV still dominates over thin film. Current production in 2011 will be 3X that of 2008.

price.jpg

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Clifford

Clifford

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haha, will do. Do they have a website?

http://us.sunpowercorp.com/

It depends on how you're doing the install.

They don't seem to like to sell retail solar panels, at least it is hard to find any good information about their panels on the web without getting a complete install quote. I think they have good products, but I don't like their marketing.

Sunelec has a whole bunch of odd stuff, but very competitive prices with many panels less than $2/watt.

http://www.sunelec.com/

They will frequently have laminates (frameless) for less than $1/watt which is dirt cheap for the solar industry.

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BethesdaWX

BethesdaWX

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http://us.sunpowercorp.com/

It depends on how you're doing the install.

They don't seem to like to sell retail solar panels, at least it is hard to find any good information about their panels on the web without getting a complete install quote. I think they have good products, but I don't like their marketing.

Sunelec has a whole bunch of odd stuff, but very competitive prices with many panels less than $2/watt.

http://www.sunelec.com/

They will frequently have laminates (frameless) for less than $1/watt which is dirt cheap for the solar industry.

Cheap prices like that make me suspicious. And of course I wouldn't install these myself! :P

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