Tag: solar

After the Obama administration-embraced solar-panel company Solyndra collapsed and defaulted on its government-backed loans, the surging U.S. solar industry is suddenly worried that the subsidies it receives -- tax credits and loans guarantees -- could dry up in the face of opposition from conservatives.

ScienceDaily (May 20, 2011) Scientists at Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, have further boosted the energy conversion efficiency of flexible solar cells made of copper indium gallium (di)selenide (also known as CIGS) to a new world record of 18.7 percent -- a significant improvement over the previous record of 17.6 percent achieved by the same team in June 2010.

The measurements have been independently certified by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Freiburg, Germany.

ScienceDaily (Apr. 3, 2010) A new technique developed by Princeton University engineers for producing electricity-conducting plastics could dramatically lower the cost of manufacturing solar panels.

By overcoming technical hurdles to producing plastics that are translucent, malleable and able to conduct electricity, the researchers have opened the door to broader use of the materials in a wide range of electrical devices.

Government incentives and lower solar prices are starting to pay off.

In a few years, the United States is likely to be the world's largest market for solar power, eclipsing Germany, which has taken the lead as a result of strong government incentives in spite of the relative paucity of sunlight in that country.
A number of factors could make growth possible in the United States--especially changes in legislation that give utilities incentives to create large solar farms.

Mascotte Industrial Associates (Hong Kong) Limited (MIA) - subsidiary of HSI listed Mascotte Holdings Limited (0136) - a leading manufacturer of equipment bags for major brands in the photo, electronic and multimedia industry announces the launch of its first commercial products using DSSC technology at the Autumn Hong Kong Electronic Show.

G24 Innovations (G24i), a global pioneer of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSC), announces the first ever commercial shipment of DSSC photovoltaic modules to Hong Kong-based consumer electronics bag manufacturer which MIA.

Dye-sensitized cells get a double boost from nanowires and optical fiber.

Dye-sensitized solar cells are flexible and cheap to make, but they tend to be inefficient at converting light into electricity. One way to boost the performance of any solar cell is to increase the surface area available to incoming light. So a group of researchers at Georgia Tech has made dye-sensitized solar cells with a much higher effective surface area by wrapping the cells around optical fibers. These fiber solar cells are six times more efficient than a zinc oxide solar cell with the same surface area, and if they can be built using cheap polymer fibers, they shouldn't be significantly more expensive to make.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The United States and China are in a head-to-head race to become the world's top market for solar power, and panel makers are wasting no time making plans to cash in on the growth promise of both markets despite the global recession.

The U.S. and China lag far behind Europe in demand for solar power, but are expected to vault ahead in the next few years as both nation's work to curb their emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.