While Republicans are going after the Obama Administration over Solyndra, proving they're enemies of a growing industry (not a good political position to be in ), real progress continues to be made out of sight.
Some of the bad news is actually good news. The failure of Stirling Energy pretty much takes solar thermal off the table. With that question dealt with investments in solar photovoltaics can be redoubled.
Fact is we are on track for cost parity with fossil fuels. If we remain stuck in the past our economy will suffer.
And while most pessimists focus on the raw efficiency of cells, there are many, many dimensions of improvement coming on-stream.
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Reduce the silicon in a panel and you cut its production cost in half. That's the business of Astrowatt, which is offering substrates and back contacts that have the added advantage of making silicon cells as flexible as thin film.
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ArrayPower is promising to reduce the cost of converting the DC power of solar panels into AC power for use in the grid. The key is pulse amplitude modulation, a technique borrowed from Ethernet and LED lighting.
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Roseicollis Technologies offers the SunSaluter, a $10 panel tracker that replaces $600 tilting motors with simple bamboo and recycled metal, that tilts the panel to face the Sun constantly and increases the amount of power it generates up to 40%. The inventor is a 19-year old Ivy League drop-out. (Stop me if you've heard that one before .)
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Arizona State has a new technology that separates sunlight into its constituent colors to dramatically increase solar efficiency. The new cells are also fabricated in one step – another huge improvement.
Overall, venture funds going to green technology were up 23% in the third quarter from the same quarter last year.
Those using Solyndra or any other failure to sound this industry's doom don't know how technology evolves, or how industry works. Failures are part of the game. But from failure you often get success. And the more failures you have in an industry, the more likely it is that success is just around the corner.
A major difference with the Array Converter (“ArrayPower”) is that the implementation is actually industrial three phase.
Because the switching was about 30us when I came up with it and the original design powered all three phases on every cycle, the only energy storage required on the solar panel was to balance the power between the three phases during that time. i.e. Tiny.
As of now, I am not aware of any other true three phase solution integrated into a solar panel. By true three phase I mean each solar panel drives all three phases and the power is always balanced.
The more traditional approach (before the Array Converter) was to power one pair of phases with each micro inverter and some multiple of three micro inverters to power all three phase pairs. This requires large amounts of storage and can result in power imbalance.
In Tesla’s three phase system, the currents and voltages all sum to zero at any particular instant in time, or put another way, the power in the largest phase (at that instant) is equal to the power in the two smaller phases.
I believe the three phase patent Array Converter issued as an extension (same term) of the original 2008 two phase patent.
The Array Converter was originally conceived for utility scale and industrial rooftop in the US and the wider three phase market internationally.
Cheers,
Kent Kernahan
A major difference with the Array Converter (“ArrayPower”) is that the implementation is actually industrial three phase.
Because the switching was about 30us when I came up with it and the original design powered all three phases on every cycle, the only energy storage required on the solar panel was to balance the power between the three phases during that time. i.e. Tiny.
As of now, I am not aware of any other true three phase solution integrated into a solar panel. By true three phase I mean each solar panel drives all three phases and the power is always balanced.
The more traditional approach (before the Array Converter) was to power one pair of phases with each micro inverter and some multiple of three micro inverters to power all three phase pairs. This requires large amounts of storage and can result in power imbalance.
In Tesla’s three phase system, the currents and voltages all sum to zero at any particular instant in time, or put another way, the power in the largest phase (at that instant) is equal to the power in the two smaller phases.
I believe the three phase patent Array Converter issued as an extension (same term) of the original 2008 two phase patent.
The Array Converter was originally conceived for utility scale and industrial rooftop in the US and the wider three phase market internationally.
Cheers,
Kent Kernahan
Solar and wind energy are the future same as WordPress web hosting and VPS
Solar and wind energy are the future same as WordPress web hosting and VPS
Solar Powered Car Accessories
What solar power accessories car? We use these car accessories usually in our cars. Includes a number of different devices such as mobile phone chargers, heat exhaustion, and a number of different devices that can add to our vehicle. Not only will for …