DOE Pours $151M Into Promising Clean Tech Technologies

October 26, 2009

The Energy Department’s ARPA-E put $151 million into 37 pioneering clean-tech companies on Monday – the first installment of $400 million set aside in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The grants are hoped to spark the next industrial revolution and 43 percent will go to small businesses, 35 percent to educational institutions and 19 percent to large corporations, said Energy Secretary Steven Chu.

Among the most promising technologies are:

*An all-liquid metal battery developed by MIT battery scientist Don Sadoway. The grid-scale battery could provide a low cost way of storing energy from wind and solar farms

*A bioreactor using a pair of microorganisms to convert CO2 into gasoline. The first organism converts it to sugar, the second to fuel. The technique was developed at the University of Minnesota.

*Synthetic enzymes that lower the cost of capturing CO2 from power plants and factories. The work is being done at the United Technologies’ research center.

*A process for creating silicon wafer directly from molten silicon, potentially halving the cost of producing solar cells. The technology is being developed by 1355 Technologies at MIT.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

G24 Says It Is Shipping Dye Sensitive Solar Cells

October 12, 2009

Dye sensitive solar cells hold out the promise of being cheap to make and exceptionally useful, since they can be printed on a flexible materials, such as plastic.

A dye sensitive solar cell from G24 Innovations

A dye sensitive solar cell from G24 Innovations

On Monday, G24 Innovations claimed it shipped the first commercial modules of this promising technology to bag maker Mascotte Industrial Associates of Hong Kong

G24 said the module generates electricity both indoors and out to recharge devices such as mobile phones, cameras and portable LED lights. It is produced using a “roll-to-roll” manufacturing process.

Mascotte will display several bags at the Hong Kong Electronics Fair this week. They should be available for sale in December.

G24 licensed the dye sensitive technology from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in 2006. If the cells prove to have respectable capacity the shipments are a notable achievement.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

Mobile Solar Hot Spots – What Will They Think Of Next

September 16, 2009

I’m not sure what flowers have to do with the Prius.

The hot spots reportedly get on average 70 percent of their power from the sun

The hot spots reportedly get on average 70 percent of their power from the sun

But for some reason, Toyota decided to promote its popular hybrid this summer with solar powered Wi-Fi hot spots that it hauled around the country.

The hot spots are 18-feet tall, free for use and look like daisies (along with other flowers).

These tallboys have finally arrived in San Francisco and will remain planted in the Yerba Buena gardens until Sept. 27. If you stop by, please let me know if they work.

Toyota says on average they generate 70 percent of their power from the sun.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

RoseStreet Claims Hydrogen Breakthrough With Thin Film Solar Cell

September 14, 2009

RoseStreet Labs Energy claims a hydrogen milestone: the ability to generate hydrogen gas from sunlight using solar cells and no external energy.

The company claims to use no external power, but refuses to offer any details on achievement

The company claims to use no external power, but refuses to offer any details on achievement

The Phoenix company offered little detail about its achievement or the volume of hydrogen gas it observed. And two officials at Rosestreet, when contacted, declined to elaborate.

Nonetheless, if true, the development could be promising since up to now generating hydrogen has consumed significant energy. In a press release the company said the hydrogen was generated without external power or the use of petroleum products, such as natural gas.

Rosestreet said its thin-film cells, based primarily on nitride technology, are expected to begin commercial field trials in 2010 and achieve 25 percent or greater efficiencies. Still, its pace of development has been slow.

The company licensed photovoltaic technology from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Cornell University in 2005 and vowed then the technology could achieve astronomical efficiency above 48 percent. A year earlier, it had purchased a wafer bumping plant from Kulicke and Soffa Industries.

While the prospect of generating hydrogen without an external power source is exciting, Rosestreet’s unwillingness to discuss the accomplishment even at a high level is suspicious. Perhaps this message on the company Web site best explains its goals: Rosestreet is seeking investment funding.

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Innovalight Claims Solar Ink Efficiency Milestone

September 8, 2009

Innovalight hopes to simplify the manufacturing of crystalline silicon solar cells with its inkjet printing technology.

Innovalight hopes to simplify the production of solar cells.

Innovalight hopes to simplify the production of solar cells.

By printing with silicon ink, the number of production steps can be cut in half, which lowers costs, the Sunnyvale company claims. In June, the private firm installed a pilot system at its headquarters that it said was capable of printing more than 2,000 solar cells an hour.

The system, developed with Netherlands-based OTB Solar, produces crystalline silicon calls with a thickness of 50 microns.

On Monday, Innovalight made a second substantive claim: that its ink-based cells demonstrated 18 percent efficiency at converting light into energy.

The results were certified by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory and The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Germany, the company claims in a press release.

The goal is to bring its ink efficiency to over 20 percent, said Innovalight, which is working with several solar cell manufacturers.

Crystalline solar cells still account for 86 percent of the commercial market, despite the onslaught of low-cost thin film products.

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First Solar To Be World’s Largest Solar Producer In 2009

September 8, 2009

Over production, slowing demand and price declines have hemorrhaged the businesses of most solar cell producers this year.

But the pain hasn’t been spread evenly. Companies such as Suntech, Sharp Electronics and Q-cells have seen commanding market positions whittle.

Big dog First Solar has not. The company is poised to finish the year as the largest manufacturer of solar cells with 12.8 percent of the market, up from 7.5 percent last year, says iSuppli.

Its major competitors (listed above) will see their market shares decline, the research firm says.

First Solar has several advantages going for it. Its thin-film technology gives it low production costs and enables it to under cut the price of crystalline cells.

“With its capability to produce cells at a cost of 89 cents per watt in the second quarter, First Solar is generating stable operating margins, while its competitors are struggling to stay profitable,” iSuppli Senior Director Henning Wicht said in a research rerport.

The company also has maintained low inventories so that it is selling what it produces rather than stock piling it and has built established sales operations in Europe.

ISuppli estimates First Solar will manufacture 1,100 megawatts of solar cells this year, more than double last year’s total.

Second place Suntech will end the year with 6.9 percent market share, projects iSuppli.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

Unsold Solar Cells Piling Up In Warehouses

July 27, 2009

The woes of the solar industry continue and are likely to get worse.

Once in short supply, polysilicon wafers for solar cells are in abundance and prices are falling

Once in short supply, polysilicon wafers for solar cells are in abundance and prices are falling

With demand having collapsed at the start of the year and new factories continuing to come on line, unsold solar cells and modules are piling up in warehouses.

The industry’s only salvation may be a price collapse, making solar cells as cheap as optical bandwidth at the depths of the dot-com washout.

At that point, the dynamics of the industry could change dramatically. Until then, companies will have an increasingly difficult time making money.

In a sign of the continuing troubles, inventories of solar gear, including silicon wafers, soared 64 percent in the first quarter, according to iSuppli.

The glut added 1.5 months of supply to an industry already producing more goods than the market is able to absorb. Prices have suffered and will decline further.

ISuppli believes that the “spot” market price for a kilogram for polysilicon, a foundation material for solar cells, will fall to $50 by December from $180 a kilogram at the start of the year. It is a startling decline.

Companies such as REC, Yingli, and SolarWorld have felt the brunt of the inventory excess because they are involved in all stages of solar cell production, from the polysilicon to wafers and cells. Inventories for these integrated manufacturers rose to more than 161 days from 86 days in the first quarter of last year.

ISuppli expects inventories to continue swelling into 2010 –with the woes facing producers mounting.

Source: iSuppli

Source: iSuppli

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Posted by Mark Boslet

Solar Startup Plans To Take Internet Business Model To Southern California

April 8, 2009

Solar energy is all well and good. But if you can’t easily get solar cells from the factory to a residential rooftop, what is it worth?

The dilemma is a little like the one facing electric car startups, such as Tesla. If a company doesn’t have a national network of dealers, how big can its car sales become?

Sungevity will announced three down-state installers on April 22

Sungevity will announced three down-state installers on April 22

Sungevity hopes to solve the solar challenge. The company has been installing solar cells on homes in the San Francisco Bay Area using an Internet-based ordering technique that lets homeowners choose from five competing systems. The process eliminates the site visit by relying on satellite maps – and potentially saves buyers money.

Co-founder Danny Kennedy says the startup does two to four homes a week.

Now it plans to take its business model on the road and expand to Southern California. It will be an interesting experiment to watch.

Sungevity plans to announce a partnership with three down-state solar installers on April 22. The expansion will enable it to cover 65 percent of the state.

The company could be serving 5 percent of the entire California market by 2010 or 2011, says Kennedy – a big step.

While sales turn down over the winter, partly due to the economic downturn, business has recently shown some life. “We’ve picked up again,” he said.

It will be interesting to see the company’s reception down south.

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Solar Market Battered By Oversupply And Tight Credit

February 24, 2009

The solar industry is being battered by falling prices and tight credit.

First Solar is ready to cut prices and extend pament terms

First Solar is ready to cut prices and extend payment terms

Oversupply is trimming solar-cell prices at the same time as utilities can’t find bank financing to build large-scale solar farms, said First Solar CEO Michael Ahearn.

“The short-term outlook has never looked more difficult,” he said Tuesday on an earnings conference call. “We regard oversupply as a risk we need to monitor closely.”

Ahearn’s downbeat assessment of the industry came as he projected first-quarter sales at his company would fall from the fourth quarter or remain unchanged. First Solar’s fourth-quarter sales rose 24 percent sequentially.

The company’s dramatic change of fortune can only partly be blamed on the downturn, Ahearn said. The fourth quarter saw a surge of excess supply and lower prices as a result, he said.

While some manufacturers are showing signs they will curtail production, the situation is serious enough that Ahearn said First Solar will consider lowering prices to high-volume customers.

The company also decided to extend customer payment terms from 10 to 45 days as it increases production at its Malaysian plant.

The stimulus bill signed by the Obama Administration will expand the retail solar market in the U.S., but won’t have an immediate impact on large-scale utility projects, he said. These projects take years to plan and will more likely benefit from flexible vendor financing, he said.

Bank lending marginally improved in the first quarter, but “the global banking systems remains fragile,” Ahearn added.

First Solar announced that it is now capable of producing solar cells at a cost of 98 cents a watt, a goal it had been chasing for seven years. Ahearn sees manufacturing costs dropping as low as 65 cents a watt by 2012, raising the competitiveness of the cells.

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Breakthrough For Solar Cells Touted: Cheaper Materials For Cheaper Cells

February 19, 2009

Scientists at Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Labs identified nine materials that they claim can be used to construct cheaper solar cells than those made with crystalline silicon.

All nine materials are abundant enough to supply the world’s 17,000 TWh of electricity demand, according to excerpts of a study posted on the American Chemical Society Web site.

The study from Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Labs also looked at material abundance

The study from Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Labs also looked at material abundance

Solar cell production today is constrained by cost and availability. Widely used crystalline silicon is both in short supply and too expensive to make low-cost cells. Thin-film technologies now under development hold the potential to be more efficient – thus providing a lower cost per kilowatt hour of electricity – but may not be easily produced on a large scale.

To increase the use of photovoltaics, engineers need to focus not just on developing higher performing cells but on ones that deliver low costs, the scientists say.

Their study narrowed 23 promising semiconductor materials to 12 that were determined to be plentiful enough. It then weeded those 12 to nine gauged potentially inexpensive enough to best crystalline silicon.

The materials include iron pyrite, copper sulfide and copper oxide, according to an article by Semiconductor International.

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