Sustainable Energy
Cheaper Solar Power
New solar arrays from SolFocus generate more power than conventional solar panels but use just one-thousandth as much expensive semiconductor material. The arrays’ curved mirrors focus sunlight onto one-square-centimeter solar cells, concentrating the light 500 times and improving the cells’ efficiency. SolFocus’s first power-producing installation will be generating 500 kilowatts of electricity by the end of the summer. The company expects that by 2010, electricity from its arrays will be about as cheap as electricity from conventional sources.
Courtesy of SolFocus
Subscribe
Product: SF-1000S-CPV-30 6.2-kilowatt 30-panel array
Cost: 24 to 28 cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity; SolFocus expects that figure to fall to 13 to 14 cents per kilowatt-hour by 2010
Source: www.solfocus.com
Company: SolFocus
Related Video
Can we sustainably provide food, water, and energy to a growing population during a climate crisis?
-
Curbing emissions isn’t enough—we need emergency solutions for climate change
Top energy scientist Daniel Schrag says we have to adapt and innovate, because we’re already signed up for centuries of higher global temperatures.
-
Why lithium-ion may rule batteries for a long time to come
Materials scientist Gerd Ceder is overseeing a research effort to extend the capabilities of the dominant form of energy storage, using a new class of compounds.
-
How California could affordably reach 100 percent clean electricity
Depending on solar and wind without nuclear, carbon capture, or other “firm low-carbon resources” would be extremely expensive, MIT researchers find.