(Page 2 of 2)
Other companies, notably Heliovolt and Nanosolar, are in a race to make thin-film panels using copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) cells. These have shown efficiencies on par with crystalline silicon and can be made on flexible substrates. In comparison with amorphous silicon, CIGS is a relatively difficult material to work with, and no one has been able to create low-cost products consistently in large quantities, says Ryan Boas, an analyst with Photon Consulting, in Boston.
Building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), especially rooftop applications, would be the biggest market for flexible PV technology, Boas says. That's because flexible products are inherently very light, in addition to being quick and easy to install. "Imagine carrying a roll of flexible product on the roof and unrolling it," he says. "Workers are already used to unrolling roofing material."
But there are hidden risks and costs associated with BIPV, Schmidtke says. "BIPV is often touted as low cost," she says, "but in actuality, you've got greater risk in terms of a watertight system [for roofing materials] or fire risk, and that increases total installation cost." However, BIPV does have the advantage of being more aesthetically pleasing, which is important to consumers, she says.
So far, Xunlight has raised $40 million from investors. In December, the state of Ohio gave the company a $7 million loan to speed up the construction of a 25-megawatt production line for its flexible solar modules. The company expects to have commercial products available in 2010.
A new solar-cell design could cut costs and is suitable for large-scale flexible panels.
Startup Enphase Energy is shrinking DC-to-AC inverters to extract more juice from solar panels.
A new printing method could cut costs and produce more-precise features.
roll to roll as differentiator?
United Solar and Stan O were proud to be roll to roll many years ago, no? Not sure why the author implies that this is the advantage for Xunlight over United Solar Ovonic?
I remember an old video on PBS highlighting Ovshinsky and Energy Conversion Devices not only for the NIMH and Hydrogen, but for the roll to roll thin film solar incorporated into roofing materials. On top of that, I am quite sure that Uni-Solar's efficiency is higher than the 8% mentioned for Xunlight.
This seems like a copy cat company to me, not innovation unfortunately.
http://www.uni-solar.com/uploadedFiles/Uni-SolarTechnologyandManufacturingProcessAppendix.pdf
Re: roll to roll as differentiator?
I agree with Designbus, this seems like another company trying to develop a roll out solar cell. Unfortunately, it has not caught on yet. WHY?
I surmise that the Price per square foot is too high. And price per generated KW hour is too high.
A smart business owner, or home owner, would go for this, but the time to recoup the investment of Solar Celling your Roof, should be less than 2 year, especially, in this bad economy.
So imaging a electrical saving of $300 to $400 per year for a normal house, returned over two year, would at max limit the initial investment amount $1 to $2k. If they could manage to reduce the price to this level, I would image solar cells being ubiquitous. Currently I think solar celling a house cost around $10K to $15K which is way to high!
Hence, I am most interested in manufacturing cost reductions, unfortunately this article does not mention anything about cost : (
Next time tell us how much per square foot!
Dr. Brian Glassman
Ph.D in Innovation Management from Purdue University.
Brian.Glassman@Gmail.com
Re: roll to roll as differentiator?
Nice. I did not know that regarding Mr. Deng. Also, I must admit that the words "quite sure" were probably an overstatement when speaking of the efficiencies. I had utilized a chart found via google (see link below), that I'd seen for the first time as I was writing the comment. Obviously not the best source.
http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Energy_Conversion_Devices_(ENER)
I suppose my motivation for commenting in the first place was less to argue that ECD is somehow superior to Xunlight (or First Solar for that matter) and more that they had been doing roll to roll for years while the author seemed to be implying that Xunlight was blazing the trail.
Re: roll to roll as differentiator?
Wow, this (the panel level data on the link in the comment I am trying to reply to) looks like a seriously useful collection of data ... the world turns quite quickly though ... don't suppose whoever put it together actually has cost per panel info as well?
Some years ago I read about a tech. guru who had invented a system of making solar panels similar to making paper. He had a manufacturing unit in Silicon Valley and was starting another in Germany. I'd like to know how his system progressed so I wonder can anyone give a contact reference for his company ?
Thanks
Jack Williams
Ireland
Woke with the idea of rollable solar panels for a survival idea and found this discussion with the information that these two companies obviously have been trying develope and get this technology going for some time.
What I am/was thinking; what if solar panels could be made on one side of a rollable polymer skin and be like a sunshade that could be pulled from your roof like today's sunshades/sunscreens?
It could be used for added electricity in your home which could be stored, and on a sunny day, you could pull it out to completely run your house electrics.
Also, thinking about that application, why wouldn't it be feasible to create roll type solar panels that could roll down from the top of your roof in good weather and hide-a-way in bad (although snowed in days would be good too if you wanted to scrape the snow off your roof to pull out the panels -snowy days cause super sun reflectivity).
Just my thought and idea.
Thanks for showing me that the idea of rollable solar panels was already someone's idea too.
...now if we could just get them as small as my idea...
Manufacturing in the United States is in trouble. That's bad news not just for the country's economy but for the future of innovation.
On Twitter
Become a Fan on Facebook
Subscribe to the Feed
StupidPeasant
98 Comments
price
How tough is it as far as walking on it or cleaning it, like scraping snow or scrubbing oily soot off? Where I live, we get dry desert sand storms and a lot of lighting. How would such a thing covering a roof act with heavy static electricity? Would my house act like a big capacitor? It is a hard life as a roof in many cities.
Reply
ECD Fan
4 Comments
Re: price
Reply
StupidPeasant
98 Comments
Re: price
Thank you. excellent.
Reply