Working to Push the Cost of Solar Down

March 12, 2007 – Vol.11 No.51

WORKING TO PUSH THE COST OF SOLAR DOWN.

Now, by law, the state of New Mexico will have 20 percent of its power provided by renewables by 2020.

Now, by law, 20 percent of the European Union’s total energy supply - power, heat and for transport - should be from renewable sources by 2020.

New Mexico is a decidedly sunny place. Solar energy will be an obvious choice for renewable energy there.

Europe has already embraced solar energy for electric power, heat and hot water. That embrace will deepen in the coming years

Laws signed thousands of miles apart will contribute to the continuing growth of the solar energy industry. But the high cost of solar energy must drop, or consumers in 2020 will be paying higher energy bills than today because of signatures penned on dotted lines 13 years before.

Fortunately solar energy, like all renewable energies, is still in the early stages of commercialization. Costs are falling, but not off a cliff. Like any product, mass production will help bring down the cost of solar.

In itself concentrating solar photovoltaic power (CPV) seems one of the better choices for economical solar energy: The relatively inexpensive methods of magnification of the Sun’s rays on ever cheaper solar electric cells should yield high energy output at a low cost.

Mass production for CPV may be on the way.

Delta Group of Taipai, Taiwan, a specialist in industrial automation, has announced that it has completed the development of a cost-effective assembly process for the manufacturing of CPV receiver modules. That is, the company has developed a manufacturing and assembly line process to economically produce the modules that reflect and concentrate the Sun’s rays on solar cells.

According to the company, the concentrating receiver modules using solar cells supplied by Spectrolab will have efficiencies of 35 percent, or more. The company thinks its manufacturing process will ensure the wide commercial availability of CPV.

Delta worked alongside Spectrolab to develop the manufacturing and assembly process. Spectrolab, too, will work on its processes to manufacture its multijunction cells at a quicker, less expensive rate.

For traditional flat plate solar energy, BP Solar, along with other solar companies such as Konarka, will also be working to cut the cost of solar energy under the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Solar America Initiative (SAI). SAI aims to drop the cost of solar power to equal conventional power by 2015.

Under the SAI, BP has been awarded a grant of up to $7.5 million in a first phase. BP will work with suppliers and other research partners to expand the availability of silicon grade solar; reduce the amount of silicon in each cell; make cells operate more efficiently; and lower the installation cost of solar systems. For solar cells, BP’s goal is to reduce the thickness by 50 percent and increase efficiency by 25 percent.

If goals are met in each phase of BP’s proposed research and development program, a total of $40 million could be awarded to the company under the SAI program.

Konarka expects to receive $1.2 million in its first phase of SAI funding. The company will focus on manufacturing research and product reliability assurance for extremely low-cost photovoltaic cells using organic dyes that convert sunlight to electricity. Konarka will partner with the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the University of Delaware. If all goes well and research expectations are met, approximately $3.6 million will be available over three years.

Visit Delta Group at http://www.deltaww.com/ Spectrolab at http://www.spectrolab.com/ BP Solar at http://www.bpsolar.com/ Konarka at http://www.konarka.com/