Solar Power World

Carbon nanotubes focus sun 100 fold

This filament containing about 30 million carbon nanotubes absorbs energy from the sun as photons and then re-emits photons of lower energy, creating the fluorescence seen here. The red regions indicate highest energy intensity, and green and blue are lower intensity. Using carbon nanotubes (hollow tubes of carbon atoms), MIT chemical engineers have found a way to concentrate solar energy 100 fold over a regular (nonconcentrated) photovoltaic cell. Such nanotubes could form... Read More

Analyst says PV Materials Seeing 27% Growth In 2010

Advanced chemicals and materials used to make PV solar cells and modules continue to establish a foothold, poised to grow to about $14B by 2015, according to an industry analyst. The market for PV chemicals and materials declined slightly to around $2.44B in 2009, and should grow 27% to $3.1B in 2010, and step along to a $14B tally within the next six years, forecasts Linx Consulting. Driving this growth will be end-market demand for solar power, expected to push from 5.8GW... Read More

Large-Scale Solar Power Farms Arise

When it comes to solar these days, it’s go big or go home. Utilities are being pushed to use more renewable energy, heating up the business of large-scale solar power. There are competing designs for utility-scale solar farms. By concentrating light to make steam, some designs use heat to generate electricity. In parallel, other companies concentrate light onto photovoltaic cells to generate electricity. The latter, known as concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) systems, may... Read More

New Technology May Eliminate Large Panels

Researchers at Georgia Tech. University claim to have found a way to convert sunlight to electricity, which might no longer mean large panels of photovoltaic cells would be needed atop flat surfaces like roofs. Fiber-optic Cable Using zinc oxide nanostructures grown on optical fibers and coated with dye-sensitized solar cell materials, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a new type of three-dimensional photovoltaic system. The approach could allow... Read More