Solar Powered Cooking Brings Positive Differences to Third World Countries

Solar Start-up Solyndra Scores with Series of Tubes

Solyndra, a start-up making thin-film photovoltaic systems, has secured $600 million in funding.

It’s additionally secured $1.2 billion in contracts from clients in the U.S. and Europe, the Fremont, Calif.-based company revealed Tuesday.

What start-up gets that kind of funding and client promise? Basically, one that’s invented thin-film solar panels shaped like old-school fluorescent lightbulbs.

Since 2005, Solyndra has quietly been developing a proprietary CIGS-based thin film photovoltaic (PV) system and a staff of more than 500 employees.

CIGS is a material that includes a combination of copper, indium, gallium, and selenide. It’s now being used by quite a number of companies to make thin-film solar cells among other things.

Solyndra’s cylindrical PV panels don’t have to be spaced to leave room for rotation toward the sun as with flat solar panels. The panels are actually rows of cylindrical tubes which are installed horizontally and close to one another.

The tubes can “capture sunlight across a 360-degree photovoltaic surface capable of converting direct, diffuse, and reflected sunlight into electricity,” according to Solyndra. Read more

Pacific Gas and Electric Company Interconnects 25,000th Net Metered Solar Customer in Northern and Central California

Utility’s 25,000 Solar Interconnections Make up Almost Half of Nation’s Customer-Owned Solar

SAN FRANCISCO - Pacific Gas and Electric Company today celebrated the 25,000th net metered solar interconnection in its northern and central California service area, representing almost half of the nation’s customer-owned solar. Net energy metering allows eligible renewable customers to offset the cost of their electric usage with energy they export to the power grid. The 25,000th PG&E net metered solar customer, David Bower, is also part of the California Solar Initiative (CSI) program. To encourage customer investment in solar, PG&E provides rebate incentives that will total $4,500 for a system that supplies 2.4 kilowatts (kW) of power to Bower’s home.

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3D Solar Cells Are the Next Generation in Sustainable Energy

The newest technological breakthrough in eco-friendly, sustainable energy is 3D solar cells.  Several companies have been working to improve the energy efficiency of solar panels as well as make solar more economically afforded to install.  One of the innovations has been changing from the flat panel model to solar panels and solar cells that curve in order to capture additional sunlight throughout the daylight hours.  Read more

Solyndra: Optimized Photovoltaic Systems for Commercial Rooftops

Commercial rooftops represent an enormous potential resource for alternative energy production.  In the U.S. alone, approximately 30 billion square feet of commercial rooftop surface is available for PV systems and could be utilized to create in excess of 150 gigawatts of electricity. Globally, this number could be two to three times higher. Tapping even a small fraction of this potential would make a significant impact on the world’s energy needs. Read more

Bloo Solar: Total Solar From Sun Up to Sun Down

Bloo Solar, based in Sacramento, California, is developing and manufacturing the “Bloo Solar Brush” a revolutionary nano-structured ultra thin film solar photovoltaic products that will provide affordable clean renewable energy for consumers.  Bloo’s unique technology absorbs and converts more sunlight throughout the day, resulting in a dramatic increase in total power output.  Read more

SunFlake Technology Developing Next Generation of Solar Cells

SunFlake is developing a new generation of solar cells based on a novel shape of semiconductor nanostructures (NanoFlakes).  The patent pending nanostructures can eliminate the need for a lattice-matched substrate as well as the need for a clean solar grade substrate.  Read more

Konarka Opens World’s Largest Roll-to-Roll Thin Film Solar Manufacturing Facility with One Gigawatt Nameplate Capacity

Former Polaroid Facility in New Bedford, Mass. Prepares Konarka for Large Scale Production of Power Plastic® Thin Film Photovoltaics

Lowell, Mass., Oct. 7, 2008 - Konarka Technologies, Inc., an innovator in development and commercialization of Power Plastic®, a material that converts light to energy, today announced the company has opened the largest roll-to-roll flexible thin film solar manufacturing facility in the world, preparing for the commercialization and mass production of its patent-protected thin film solar material, Power Plastic. Located in New Bedford, Massachusetts, the 250,000 square foot building was previously the location for Polaroid Corporation’s most advanced printing technologies. 

“This facility has state-of-the-art printing capabilities that are ready for full operation, with the future potential to produce over a gigawatt of flexible plastic solar modules per year,” commented Howard Berke, executive chairman and co-founder of Konarka. “Our technical leadership and innovation in flexible thin film solar, along with this facility’s capabilities of producing in excess of 10 million square meters of material per year, will allow us to produce Power Plastic for indoor, portable, outdoor and building integrated applications.”

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Industry Leaders Forecast Dramatic Growth in the U.S. Solar Market by 2016 with Extension of Credit

Federal Solar Tax Credits Extended for 8 Years, US Poised to Become Largest Solar Market in the World

WASHINGTON - Today, by a vote of 263 to 171, the U.S. House of Representatives passed historic legislation that extends the 30-percent federal investment tax credit for both residential and commercial solar installations for 8 years. This landmark legislation is part of H.R. 1424, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, designed to address the U.S. financial crisis. It is the most significant federal policy ever enacted for the solar industry. President Bush has vowed to sign the bill into law. The Senate passed the bill on Wednesday night.

“This bill is a major step in our long journey toward energy independence and ensures that solar energy will be a significant part of America’s energy future,” said SEIA president Rhone Resch. “This long-term extension of the solar tax credits will create a domestic solar industry with hundreds of thousands of jobs while providing clean, affordable, carbon-free energy to millions of American families, businesses, and communities.”

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