Who ever thought that every home in America would have a radio, a television, a phone, a computer, and now a solar rooftop? If it can be imagined, then it can be done.

As crude oil price fluctuates between $70 and $110 a barrel in the past year, and nuclear power plant expansion has been restricted after Japan’s disaster, renewable energies, such as photovoltaic (PV), have potential to fill the void left by the dwindling nuclear capacity. Let’s imagine what if every residential home in the U.S. had a solar roof? It is our interest to estimate the maximum potential of rooftop PV capacity in America, assuming 100% market penetration.

Before the market size estimation, let’s review the current trend of the U.S. solar markets. Recent report from Interstate Renewable Energy Council shows the solar installed base of PV installation in 2010 doubled compared to the solar installed base in 2009, while installed capacity for other solar technologies, such as concentrating solar power (CSP) and solar thermal collector, has also increased significantly. Based on a study by Solar Energy Industries Association, cumulative grid-connected PV in the U.S. has now reached over 2.3GW, with top seven states (such as California and New Jersey) installed 88% of all PV in Q1 2011. However, U.S. solar markets fall behind some European countries, most notably Germany. In 2010 alone, Germany installed 7.4GW of PV systems and currently has an install base of 14.7GW install base, more than six times the U.S. cumulative solar installation. Germany’s solar market is traditionally driven by residential installation, supported by generous government incentives. The primary barrier stopping American homeowners from PV installation is cost.

Historically, the U.S. PV market has been driven by the non-residential sector with 42% of total installation in 2010, including commercial, public sector, and non-profit. However, residential and utility sectors have been gaining ground steadily with market share of 30% and 28%, respectively. Distributed rooftop represents the largest segment of the U.S. PV market. It is fueled by declining PV prices, government incentives, retail electricity rate earning, and lack of transmission losses.

Simple estimation of rooftop PV market size can be started with total roof space available. Based on data from U.S. Census Bureau, total U.S. housing units were 127.7 million in 2009. According to the National Association of Home Builders, the average home size in the United States was 2,700 square feet in 2009. If we assume average number of floors per building is two, the total residential roof space available is 172.4 billion square feet. In a more detailed rooftop PV market penetration scenario analysis, Navigant Consulting Inc. (NCI) used PV access factor and PV power density to estimate technical rooftop capacity for both residential and commercial buildings. The PV access factor takes into account of shading, building orientation, roof structural soundness, as well as cooler and warmer climates in different states. The resulting PV access factors for residential and commercial buildings are 25% and 60%, respectively. The PV power density is calculated with a weight-averaged module efficiency using market share for the three most prevalent PV technologies today: crystalline silicon, cadmium telluride, and CIGS. The resulting PV power density is 13.7 MW/million ft2, assuming an average module efficiency of 18.5% in 2015. The total rooftop PV technical potential can be calculated as:

Rooftop PV technical potential = Total roof space available * PV access factor * PV power density

Based on the NCI study, the combined U.S. rooftop PV technical potential, independent of economics, for both residential and commercial building will reach 712.2GW in year 2015. The following chart represents the state-by-state results of the technical potential:

Figure 1. U.S. rooftop PV technical potential in 2015, estimated by Navigant Consulting Inc.

National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) applied a different approach, the Solar Deployment System (SolarDS) model, to estimate that the technical potential of residential and commercial rooftop PV market are approximately 300GW each by year 2030. In the NREL model, shaded roofs and obstructed roof space were eliminated, and customer adoption rate was considered to cover economic factors, such as PV cost, policy incentive, and financing.

Based on above potential market size analysis, the current cumulative grid-connected PV installation only represents 0.3% of total U.S. rooftop PV technical potential, which indicates a huge market potential. In addition, the rooftop PV system has to be replaced every 15 to 20 years, which represents another market opportunity. If we use the NCI estimated U.S. rooftop PV technical potential of 712.2 GW in 2015, assuming 100% market penetration, we can estimate how much electricity energy can be generated by such power. If we assume 10 hours/day and 200 days/year with sunshine, the total rooftop PV generated electricity energy will be 1,424 billion kWh, or 1,424 TWh, in U.S. by 2015. Compared to the total U.S. electricity generation of 3,953 TWh in 2009, the technical potential of electricity generation from rooftop PV can take over 1/3 of U.S. electricity consumption demand. As indicated in the following chart from U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), total solar generated electricity, from both solar thermal and PV, only represents less than 0.1% of total electricity generation in 2009. Rooftop PV has a huge market capacity to grow, and the dramatic installation cost drop will accelerate the rooftop PV market penetration. The current crystalline solar module price has dropped to $1.25/watt, compared to $2.80/watt two years ago.

Figure 2. U.S. electricity generation mix in 2009.

(Source: EIA Electric Power Monthly, October 2010)

There are two ways to assimilate PV arrays with rooftops: either integrated into them, or mounted on them. Mounting PV panels on rooftop requires more dangerous labor practices and is not aesthetically pleasing. Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) are photovoltaic materials used to replace conventional building materials in roof, skylights, or facades. The advantage of BIPV over conventional roof-mounted PV panels is that the initial cost can be offset by reducing the amount spent on building materials and labor. BIPV also appears unobtrusive on a building structure. Current innovations have led to increasing diversity of BIPV products on the market, including rigid BIPV tiles and transparent BIPV glass. Advances in thin-film PV technologies have led to flexible solar tiles and shingles.

BIPV market competition has shifted from module provider to construction site. The fight for BIPV leadership in building and construction has begun. A recent article from Greentech Media points out the only way to realize BIPV is to be active in the architecture and early design of the building, consulting on matters as integral as the compass orientation of the building. For example, OneRoof Energy, a California-based residential BIPV provider, established strategic alliance with a national network of roofing contractors. The exclusive integrator relationship, as well as its innovative financing program to reduce homeowner installation cost, provides strong competitive advantages for the company to gain market share nationwide. Please excuse our shameless self-promotion as David Anthony one of the authors of this article is an investor and board member of OneRoof Energy.

Figure 3. Residential BIPV Installation

By comparing residential and commercial market for BIPV, residential sector has more advantages using standard-sized BIPV materials. Many commercial buildings require custom size panel, due to specs from the building designer. It is impossible for BIPV makers to prepare a variety of custom-sized modules in a mass production line. In addition, landlords of commercial building in many cities have no incentive to install BIPV. For example, in New York City, the electricity bill is paid by the tenant not the landlord. Therefore, the real BIPV opportunity stays with residential sector, not commercial building. Residential rooftop PV market has a bright future with huge market potential, and already shows strong growth in recent years. The BIPV market could reach $5.8 billion in 2016, based on a report from Pike Research.

Beside electricity generation, the rooftop PV market could also have potential to create millions of job opportunities for America. For a typical 0.5 MW solar installation, it will take 6 contractors for installation and another 3 full-timers for maintenance per year. We assume rooftop PV market will take 20 years to reach 100% penetration. In the past 10 years, the average number of annual new home construction is 1.47 million units. Considering recent housing market slow down, we can assume the new home construction will be 1 million units per year over the next 20 years, which is 0.78% growth of U.S. total housing units. Therefore, the total U.S. rooftop PV technical potential will reach 800 GW in 2030. For a simple estimation, we assume 40 GW/year for the next 20 years. Each year, we assume the rooftop PV market will create 480,000 jobs for installation. In addition, it will create 240,000 jobs per year for maintenance service, with total 4.8 million jobs for the next 20 years. Therefore, the rooftop PV market could generate more than 5 million jobs for U.S., if we assume 100% market penetration by 2030. This “back of the envelope” excludes the re-roof market which could add to both employment and BIPV installation.

With potential to create over 5 million jobs and one third of U.S. electricity energy, the rooftop PV system will become more lucrative for investors, government and US home owners. As PV electric rates are approaching “grid parity”, there is no reason for U.S. to lag so far behind Germany, if government provides enough inventive and infrastructures for PV market development.

Given the upcoming 2012 election year we hope President Obama, Texas Governor Perry and former Massachusetts Governor Romney read this article.

Article by David Anthony and Tao Zheng

Tao Zheng is a material scientist in advanced materials and cleantech industry. He held 20+ patents and patent applications, and published many peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals. Tao Zheng received his B.S. degree in polymer materials sciences from Tsinghua University in China, and a Ph.D. degree in chemical engineering from University of Cincinnati. He obtained his MBA degree with distinction in finance and strategy from New York University, Stern School of Business, where he was designated as “Stern Scholar” and received “Harold Price Entrepreneurship Award”.

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Mitsubishi and Nippon Fruehauf, a light metals manufacturer, have developed an “idling-stop” solar-powered air conditioning unit that cools the truck cabin when the engine is not running.

Called the “i-Cool Solar,” the solar-powered, 900 W (maximum) AC system uses a series of Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. solar photovoltaic (PV) thin-film cells on a Nippon Fruehauf mount attached to the top of the trailer, behind the cabin or tractor. A battery stores the electricity for use when the truck is at a standstill or the engine is not running.

The addition of solar cells insures that the battery is kept fully charged, allowing for the stable operation of truck tailgates and wings. The solar cells also make possible a one-percent fuel savings per year, as well as a savings of about 1.8 liters (1.90 quarts) of light hour per hour. For a 10-ton truck, this is the equivalent of 1,500 liters (396 gallons) of light oil not used each year.

According to Mitsubishi Chemical, if all the trucks in Japan used the i-Cool Solar, the country’s carbon dioxide emissions would fall by 1.65 million tons. The companies are also planning a smaller version of the i-Cool for use in cars.

The solar AC unit should be commercially available in the spring of 2012. The current “i-Cool,” was released on May 24 and consists of a battery that stores electricity while the truck is moving and makes it available when the engine is not operating. Nippon Fruehauf also makes trailer bodies.

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During Solar Power International 2010 (SPI 10), each afternoon there were more than eight concurrent conference sessions. It was not possible to attend them all, but the “The Next Great Solar Cell Material: What Technology Will Emerge Dominant on the Market?” session was particularly interesting. I briefly attended two other sessions. It was more than a little ironic that the “Greening the Solar Industry” session had fewer than 30 people. At the same time the “Where’s the Solar Money” and the “Cell Material” sessions were standing room only with more than 300 people each. Below is a brief summary of the two best presentations in the “Cell Material” session. Please forgive potential misreporting of technical information. The goal of this blog is to share the highlights about future technology trends in solar.

To prepare for his talk, Simone Arizzi, Global Technology Manager with DuPont Photovoltaic Solutions, conducted an informal poll of fellow scientists and found a wide variety of answers to the question of future solar cell technology. He chose one colleague’s response as the most representative: “I don’t have the foggiest idea, but I do know that it will be made by DuPont.”

Arizzi presented a very interesting comparison of how three other industries (automotive, electronics, and construction) handled growth over time. To compare the auto and solar industries, Arizzi displayed a photo of different automobiles: a Model T, a Prius, and a Los Angeles traffic jam. “Right now PV is at the similar stage as the Model T. There are only one or two mass manufacturers in the industry. Like the Model T, all modules look alike to the untrained eye.” The photo of a Prius and the traffic jam—filled with 18-wheelers, motorcycles, and SUVs—was to illustrate how in the future PV will likely introduce niche products to address specific needs. “The future of PV is to start designing for niche needs like specific geographies and climates,” Arizzi said. “In the future we will see design adapt to end use applications.”

Arizzi also said it is difficult to predict specific developments in future PV modules, but we do know that they will:

• have novel functionalities
• be thin and light in order to enhance cost efficiencies
• start introducing substituted materials such as new polymers to substitute for glass and metal

Solar can learn two things from the electronics industry

• miniaturization achieved through higher density of transistors (However, in PV there is a physical barrier for how small systems can get.)
• systems integration to optimize cost, performance, reliability (Current examples for PV include: 1) batch sheet optimization, 2) enhancements at the subcomponent level such as backside integration of circuitry and front side integration with functionalities.)

Arizzi discussed the parallels between solar and the construction industry. A priority for construction is to build things that last a long time. “The two factors that will define PV of tomorrow will be reliability and durability. In the future we will require solar systems to have 50, even 100-year life spans.”

Ryne Raffaelle, Director of NREL’s National Center for Photovoltaics, began his strong presentation with a look back to 1995 when solar first broke the 30 percent efficiency barrier. Just two weeks ago Spire Semiconductor announced a solar cell with 42.3 percent efficiency. Raffaelle was confident that it is a matter of when, not if, solar will exceed 50 percent efficiency.

To get there, Raffaelle says we will need

• metamorphic growth
• mechanical stacking
• spectrum splitting concentrators
• quantum mechanic approaches such as lower band gap middle junction

Some of the existing cutting edge technology concepts include:

• hot carrier extraction
• nanophotonics

Like Arizzi, Raffaelle was able to outline the characteristics of future successful technologies:

• thinner cells
• improved efficiencies
• lower costs
• flexible material (this is very attractive on building integration)
• greater than 50 percent efficiency
• new materials (that are earth abundant, nontoxic, noncontaminating)
• quantum confinement approaches

With respect to substitutes for silicon, Raffaelle outlined some of the breakthroughs that first began with copper in the 1970s. Although copper is not sufficiently stable, copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) and cadmium telluride (CdTe) cells have become permanent parts of solar technology. “The exploration of other materials will continue. The kesterites look good and sulfur is virtually the same crystal structure as CIGS. If you think about future potential materials, it leads you back to silicon. One thing about silicon is that it is bulletproof. You get 80 percent performance at 30 years.”

The session moderator asked panelists to identify which material will dominate when 20 percent of power comes from solar? And which will be the first to reach grid parity? All panelists agreed this is a nearly impossible question to answer. However, there seemed to be consensus that in the future the dominant solar cell will be a hybrid of the positive attributes of crystalline and thin film.

Arizzi said, “I am convinced crystalline, thin film, and CPV will make it. One of the strengths of the industry is that there are multiple technology platforms and options. PV overall will succeed. It is only a matter of how big one will be over the other.”

Chris Constantine, Director of New Technologies at Oerlikon Solar, concluded the session on a strong note by saying: “The sun is a diffuse, nonuniform, resource. CPV works really well in certain areas but not in others. Thin film is more appropriate for others. We are all talking about timing. Each individual company needs to know, when in the next three years, there is a market for its technology that is at least as good the competition.”

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LG Electronics announced the company’s entry into the United States PV market at the Solar Power International conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Geoff Slevin, recently appointed Vice President of the Solar Division at LG Electronics North America, said that “The U.S. is one of the fastest growing solar markets in the world and is expected to grow significantly over the next several years, in part due to federal and state incentives”. Before joining LG, Slevin was general manager for Carlisle Energy Services and vice president of sales and marketing at BP Solar.

LG plans to capitalize on its existing footprint outside of the US, but it will have to battle hard with well-established American players like First Solar, a thin film leader in the US, or Sunpower , a US leader in monocrystalline, as well as big Chinese competitors such as Suntech or Trina Solar, which sell both mono- and polycrystalline modules.

LG’s plans to enter the US market represent an important milestone for a company that has been investing in solar R&D since 1985. With a team of more than a hundred R&D professionals working on crystalline cells, thin film and module development, LG Electronics plans to invest $824.5 million by 2015 in its solar business. The company is now developing a high-efficiency crystalline cell and its thin film cells are among the most efficient in the market with an initial efficiency rate of 11.1%.

LG’s competitive advantage is not necessarily the warranty of its modules (the standard 12 years at 90% and 25 years at 80%), but rather their advantages lie in their unique features such as a light weight anodized frame design with improved toughness that drains liquid, the Reactive Ion Etching used on the wafers to increase light capture, or the Metal Wrap Through (MWT) technology, which reduces the surface area of silicon covered by metal ribbons, hence increasing efficiency. Further, as part of a larger conglomerate, LG Solar has access to cheaper capital and more resources than a traditional new entrant. This makes the company less likely to disappear in the next 25 years than a smaller company, giving them a head start in bankability and competitiveness.

The products displayed at the Solar Power International conference include LG’s monocrystalline and multicrystalline modules, which will be the first to hit the market, as well as more evolved models for release next year such as a higher power monocrystalline, tandem thin film, metal wrap through (MWT) high performance multicrystalline modules, and Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) modules. The diversity of technologies used in their products will require a heavy investment, considering that each requires different sources of machinery for mass production. Its Korean facilities will produce 120MW in 2010 and the company plans to increase production every year.

LG managed to enter the US market before South-Korean giant Samsung, focused on producing high-efficiency cells at low cost, or Hyundai, also investing heavily in solar energy.

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Physicists at Rutgers University in New Jersey have discovered new properties in a material that could result in efficient and inexpensive plastic solar cells for electricity production. The discovery, posted online and slated for publication in an upcoming issue of the journal Nature Materials, reveals that energy carrying particles generated by packets of light can travel on the order of a thousand times farther in organic (carbon-based) semiconductors than scientists previously observed. This boosts scientists’ hopes that solar cells based on this new type of technology may one day overtake silicon solar cells in cost and performance, thereby increasing the practicality of solar generated electricity as an alternate energy source to fossil fuels.

All solar cells require a light absorbing material contained within the cell structure to absorb photons and generate electrons via the photovoltaic effect. The materials used in solar cells tend to have the property of preferentially absorbing the wavelengths of solar light that reach the Earth surface.

Many currently available solar cells are configured as bulk materials that are subsequently cut into wafers (silicon being the most prevalent bulk material). Other materials are configured as thin-films such as polymers that are deposited on supporting substrates, while a third group are configured as nanocrystals and used as quantum dots (electron-confined nanoparticles) embedded in a supporting matrix.

Silicon remains the only material that is well-researched in both bulk (also called wafer-based) and thin-film configurations.
“Organic semiconductors are promising for solar cells and other uses, such as video displays, because they can be fabricated in large plastic sheets,” said Vitaly Podzorov, assistant professor of Physics at Rutgers. “But their limited photo-voltaic conversion efficiency has held them back. We expect our discovery to stimulate further development and progress.”

The invention of conductive polymers (for which Alan Heeger, Alan G. MacDiarmid and Hideki Shirakawa were awarded a Nobel prize) may lead to the development of much cheaper cells that are based on inexpensive plastics. However, organic solar cells generally suffer from degradation upon exposure to UV light and may not be viable long term. Additionally, the conjugated double bond systems in the polymers which carry the charge, react more readily with light and oxygen. So most conductive polymers, being highly unsaturated and reactive, are highly sensitive to atmospheric moisture and oxidation, making commercial applications difficult.

Podzorov and his colleagues observed that excitons — particles that form when semiconducting materials absorb photons, or light particles — can travel a thousand times farther in an extremely pure crystal organic semiconductor called rubrene. Until now, excitons were typically observed to travel less than 20 nanometers — billionths of a meter — in organic semiconductors.
“This is the first time we observed excitons migrating a few microns,” said Podzorov, noting that they measured diffusion lengths from two to eight microns, or millionths of a meter. This is similar to exciton diffusion in inorganic solar cell materials such as silicon and gallium arsenide.

“Once the exciton diffusion distance becomes comparable to the light absorption length, you can collect most of the sunlight for energy conversion,” he said.

Excitons are particle-like entities consisting of an electron and an electron hole (a positive charge attributed to the absence of an electron). They can generate a photo-voltage when they hit a semiconductor boundary or junction, and the electrons move to one side and the holes move to the other side of the junction.

While the extremely pure rubrene crystals fabricated by the Rutgers physicists are suitable only for laboratory research at this time, the research shows that the exciton diffusion bottleneck is not an intrinsic limitation of organic semiconductors. Continuing development could result in more efficient materials.

Article by Andy Soos, appearing courtesy Environmental News Network.

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Advances in solar energy efficiencies have so far been made with irregular surfaces, thinner tabbing between cells, more optically perfect glass and even special coatings, but now Stanford engineers say the best efficiency is via ultra-thin polymer films inside solar cells that allow more “bounce room.”

Add to that a slightly rougher surface, such as is achieved with black silicon, and efficiencies begin to approach a rating that is 10 times more than conventional wisdom suggests is possible.

What does conventional wisdom suggest? First, solar cell efficiencies are proscribed by the materials used; that is, each material, or combination, has a natural band gap, or filter, which prevents certain wavelengths of radiant energy from being absorbed and used.

Efficiency is also hampered by electrical resistance in the semiconductor, in the wiring that connects with the inverter, and in the inverter itself.

Where Stanford scientists have triumphed is in keeping the photons inside the solar cell long enough to extract the maximum energy available. As Shanhui Fan, associate professor of electrical engineering, said, “The longer a photon is in the cell, the better chance it will get absorbed.” (People who feed mice to snakes already understand this principle, unfortunately).

During the final week in September, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Fan talked to a Stanford University reporter and noted the dual nature of photons, which can exhibit as particles or waves (the famous “double-slit experiment documented by Thomas Young).

This led, naturally, to an experiment in which Fan and postdoctoral researcher Zongfu Yu (the lead author of the PNAS paper) tried to determine if the conventional limits also held true at the nanoscale level.

Without getting into confusing detail, it seems that light at ‘subwavelength’ scales (Yu’s word) can be confined for longer periods of time than light at the macro level, thus also extending the energy absorption rates and efficiency.

The final material arrangement Yu arrived at, which consisted of organic thin film between two “cladding layers” with a single, rough layer, achieved a 12-fold increase in solar efficiency after the parameters of the various layers were adjusted according to mathematical simulations made beforehand.

Of course, neither Yu nor Fan are revealing the precise formula, but Fan admits that, if one does it “right,” there is enormous potential for solar cell efficiency that could lead to vast improvements throughout the solar industry.

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Retail giant Wal-Mart will nearly double the number of stores where it uses solar energy technology, including numerous locations where it will deploy next-generation thin-film panels. Wal-Mart has also begun installing wind turbines at some of its stores and is experimenting with geothermal energy systems to reduce heating and air conditioning use, the company said. Wal-Mart, which has installed solar panels at 31 of its 8,400 stores since 2007, will soon add solar technologies at 20 to 30 additional stores in California and Arizona, providing up to a third of the energy at the stores.

More than half of the new stores will use thin-film technology, including cadmium telluride and copper-indium-gallium-selenide systems, which are less material-intensive than the traditional silicon cells. Because it is lighter, thin-film technology can be used at more locations, including in states where snow accumulation makes use of heavier panels impossible. While the technology has been around for years, it is less efficient than traditional panels. Recent advances, however, have made thin-film technology more practical for larger rooftops.

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The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has confirmed results for a record-breaking conversion efficiency in solar cell technology. Oerlikon Solar and Corning Incorporated have combined technologies to produce a tandem solar cell using thin-film silicon. Oerlikon’s proprietary Micromorph® solar cells and Corning’s specialty, advanced light-capturing glass combined to achieve 11.9-percent stabilized conversion efficiency in NREL tests.

That efficiency beats out the previous record of 11.7 percent in 2004. This is the latest advancement in Oerlikon’s ThinFab line of solar panels, which, according to the company, have also achieved a world record in production cost per watt at 50 euro cents per watt-peak (about $0.64 USD).

Micromorph technology is itself an advancement on amorphous silicon solar cells (a-Si cells). Put simply, a-Si cells consist of a thin layer of silicon deposited onto a transparent conductive oxide (TCO). Oerlikon’s Micromorph technology adds another layer in tandem with the first. This added microcrystalline absorber enables the solar cell to absorb a wider spectrum of light, edging into the red and near-infrared spectrum which conventional silicon solar cells cannot do. According to Germany-based Oerlikon this extra absorption increases cell conversion efficiency (the rate at which sunlight is converted into electricity), by 30 percent.

Corning Inc.’s proprietary glass, or glazing, technology ensures that a higher amount of light is available for absorption by the solar cells beneath it. It is in this way that the two companies continue to make advancements in thin-film silicon.

Low production costs have long been a point of pride for thin-film technologies. Last year, American firm First Solar broke the coveted $1.00/watt barrier (now residing at about $0.76/watt) for its cadmium telluride solar cells (CdTe). Yet low conversion efficiency has been the only factor preventing thin-film products from surpassing their crystalline silicon predecessors, which still dominate more than 90 percent of the global solar market.

However, with efficiencies nearing 12 percent and production costs approaching a half dollar, the gap continues to close between first- and second-generation technologies. Most crystalline silicon (c-Si) modules on the market produce at efficiencies between 15 and 20 percent, but cost well over $1.00 per watt to manufacture. a-Si products use much less silicon and are cheaper to produce than conventional panels. It’s for this reason — and based on advancements such as Oerlikon and Corning’s — that thin-film solar cells are expected to take over dominance of the solar market within the next decade, depending on a variety of technological and commercial factors.

Oerlikon Solar is presenting its record-breaking Micromorph technology this week at the 25th Annual European Photovoltaics Solar Energy Conference in Valencia, Spain.

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President Obama took the occasion of Independence Day to announce that the federal government will authorize $2 billion of Recovery Act funding to support the solar industry. Administered by the Department of Energy, the funds will target two companies: Abengoa Solar and Abound Solar Manufacturing.

Abengoa – an international solar firm with its roots in Spain—plans to build the world’s largest concentrating solar power plant in Arizona. The company says the facility, dubbed the Solana Project, will produce enough energy to power 70,000 households.  The plant will use thermal storage equipment to parabolically recover energy for a 280 MW output capacity. The administration says the project will create 1,600 construction jobs.

Abound Solar produces next-generation thin–film photovoltaic modules designed for use in systems utilizing large scale, grid connected solar arrays – from one-tenth of an acre to hundreds of acres – in a variety of climates.  The company will build two new plants in Colorado and Indiana that will create more than 2,000 construction jobs and over 1,500 permanent jobs.

The choice of the two companies may indicate the direction that the Obama administration intends to take in advance of the passage of comprehensive energy legislation.  Over the last several years, clean energy companies have been heading overseas to China and Europe, where government policies have created a more hospitable environment for green manufacturing and a promising market for clean energy products. A recent report from the Pew Charitable Trusts confirmed that China has overtaken the United States in clean energy investment. This may have finally put American policy makers and investors on notice: either act boldly to support clean energy manufacturing, sustainable investment initiatives and green jobs, or continue to take a back seat to China and Europe, which are committed to shaping a robust, clean energy future.

Driving the point home in his weekly radio address, the President said of the funding, “The Department of Energy will help the U.S. transition to a “clean energy economy” that creates hundreds of thousands of jobs in the future.”

Photo: Jeremy Levine

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Ted Turner is out once again, ready to lead the world. The media mogul sat down in an exclusive one-on-one with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer earlier this month and spoke about his ongoing interests in renewable energy and green jobs.

Since stepping back from his role in the wheelhouse at Time Warner in 2003, the cable news pioneer has devoted himself to projects he believes in, investing as though the future of the world depended on it – and it just might.

Turner has partnered with The Southern Company to develop what he says is “the largest solar installation in the United States” a 30 megawatt plant in northern NM which will be able to power 14,000 homes . Slated for completion by the end of this year, The Southern Turner Renewable Energy project will be managed and operated by First Solar, a leader in thin film module manufacturing, and will consist of an array of 500,000 PV solar modules using First Solar’s technology. The facility and related infrastructure will create thousands of jobs.

When asked about his support of the proposed Kerry-Lieberman energy legislation and the dangers that advocates for renewable energy might face if Congressional control is turned over to Republicans in the fall, Turner was confident that the benefits of greening the grid will transcend party politics. “I really believe this is a non-partisan issue,” Turner said. I believe that the Republicans deep down, they want the jobs to be here in the United States instead of the Middle East. They want us to have financial security and create jobs here in America; this is a non-partisan no-brainer bill.”

photo: FrontPage Magazine

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