Solar Power World

The Power of Community

The Arizona Public Service Company (APS) is studying the effects of large amounts of distributed photovoltaic (PV) generation by piloting a new community project in which the utility owns, maintains, and receives energy generated by solar modules installed on customer rooftops. The “Community Power Project” aims to install solar modules on approximately 200 households in the Doney Park area of Flagstaff, Arizona, by the end of 2011. To date, more than 90 systems have... Read More

23% Crystalline Silicon Solar Cell Efficiency

Once again the record for the world’s highest energy conversion efficiency has been broken for crystalline silicon-type solar cells. SANYO Electric Co., Ltd. has achieved an efficiency of 23.0%, breaking their previous record of 22.3%, at a research level for its proprietary HIT solar photovoltaic cells. The full details can be downloaded here, but the following is an overview.1. Improving the quality of heterojunction of HIT solar cell The structure of the HIT solar... Read More

Grätzel Cells Increase Photovoltaic Efficiency

Grätzel cells are photovoltaic devices that take advantage of the interaction of a structured semiconductor less than one nanometre in size and an organic dye that acts as a solar collector. According to Elena Guillén, member of UPO’s Coloides y Celdas Solares Nanoestructuradas (Nanostructured Colloids and Solar Cells) Group, this dye can be either synthetic or natural and can even enable the use of chlorophyll for this type of cell. Thus, researchers at UPO have begun... Read More