Comments on: The solar power you don’t hear about http://climateprogress.org/2007/08/30/the-solar-power-you-dont-hear-about/ The Latest on Climate Science, Solutions, and Politics Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:55:22 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: medyum http://climateprogress.org/2007/08/30/the-solar-power-you-dont-hear-about/#comment-91422 medyum Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:37:17 +0000 http://climateprogress.org/2007/08/30/the-solar-power-you-dont-hear-about/#comment-91422 I see I was mistaken earlier. I thought that parabolic mirrors could be used with PV type generation. But it seems they are only used for solar thermal power. <a href="http://www.medyum.gen.tr" rel="nofollow">Medyum</a> I see I was mistaken earlier. I thought that parabolic mirrors could be used with PV type generation. But it seems they are only used for solar thermal power.

Medyum

]]> By: Anthony Ventura http://climateprogress.org/2007/08/30/the-solar-power-you-dont-hear-about/#comment-24461 Anthony Ventura Fri, 12 Dec 2008 01:12:41 +0000 http://climateprogress.org/2007/08/30/the-solar-power-you-dont-hear-about/#comment-24461 Thermal, in conjunction with the Sterling engine may be our escape from oil dependency. Thermal, in conjunction with the Sterling engine may be our escape from
oil dependency.

]]> By: Estetik http://climateprogress.org/2007/08/30/the-solar-power-you-dont-hear-about/#comment-23917 Estetik Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:52:41 +0000 http://climateprogress.org/2007/08/30/the-solar-power-you-dont-hear-about/#comment-23917 Does anyone believe that gas will be affordable? Does anyone believe that gas is really green. We need electricity to run all those hybrid and electric cars, don’t we Does anyone believe that gas will be affordable? Does anyone believe that gas is really green. We need electricity to run all those hybrid and electric cars, don’t we

]]> By: vahila http://climateprogress.org/2007/08/30/the-solar-power-you-dont-hear-about/#comment-16656 vahila Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:37:20 +0000 http://climateprogress.org/2007/08/30/the-solar-power-you-dont-hear-about/#comment-16656 please add our website please add our website

]]> By: Nick http://climateprogress.org/2007/08/30/the-solar-power-you-dont-hear-about/#comment-9217 Nick Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:10:49 +0000 http://climateprogress.org/2007/08/30/the-solar-power-you-dont-hear-about/#comment-9217 For Charles Barton: "On sunny afternoons, those 10 plants would produce as much electricity as three nuclear reactors, but they can be built in as little as two years, compared with a decade or longer for a nuclear plant. Some of the new plants will feature systems that allow them to store heat and generate electricity for hours after sunset." (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/business/06solar.html?em&ex=1204952400&en=9a5c87133de08b32&ei=5087%0A) For Charles Barton:
“On sunny afternoons, those 10 plants would produce as much electricity as three nuclear reactors, but they can be built in as little as two years, compared with a decade or longer for a nuclear plant. Some of the new plants will feature systems that allow them to store heat and generate electricity for hours after sunset.” (http://www.nytimes.com/ 2008/ 03/ 06/ business/ 06solar.html?em&ex=1204952400&en=9a5c87133de08b32&ei=5087)

]]> By: Bernard Molloy http://climateprogress.org/2007/08/30/the-solar-power-you-dont-hear-about/#comment-6730 Bernard Molloy Mon, 12 Nov 2007 04:14:45 +0000 http://climateprogress.org/2007/08/30/the-solar-power-you-dont-hear-about/#comment-6730 A concentrated solar PV farm has been funded by the Australian government around 150 MW using the high efficiency 43% cells and flat mirror heliostats. The company involved Solar sytems is moving towards setting up a manufacturing plant at present. They have previously built parabloic relector concentrated PV in the outback for remote settlement. A concentrated solar PV farm has been funded by the Australian government around 150 MW using the high efficiency 43% cells and flat mirror heliostats. The company involved Solar sytems is moving towards setting up a manufacturing plant at present. They have previously built parabloic relector concentrated PV in the outback for remote settlement.

]]> By: Charles Barton http://climateprogress.org/2007/08/30/the-solar-power-you-dont-hear-about/#comment-6096 Charles Barton Thu, 11 Oct 2007 20:50:40 +0000 http://climateprogress.org/2007/08/30/the-solar-power-you-dont-hear-about/#comment-6096 Solar for daytime peak power would no doubt work very well in the southwest, The Southeast has a lot of cloudy days, so solar woud not do so well. So what do you do for day/night base? Coal anyone? Does anyone believe that gas will be affordable? Does anyone believe that gas is really green. We need electricity to run all those hybrid and electric cars, don't we? Anyone for sitting in the dark at night with no TV? Lets see. What do we have left? Oh yes, nuclear. Why didn't anyone think of that before? Solar for daytime peak power would no doubt work very well in the southwest, The Southeast has a lot of cloudy days, so solar woud not do so well. So what do you do for day/night base? Coal anyone? Does anyone believe that gas will be affordable? Does anyone believe that gas is really green. We need electricity to run all those hybrid and electric cars, don’t we? Anyone for sitting in the dark at night with no TV? Lets see. What do we have left? Oh yes, nuclear. Why didn’t anyone think of that before?

]]> By: Paul K http://climateprogress.org/2007/08/30/the-solar-power-you-dont-hear-about/#comment-5442 Paul K Fri, 31 Aug 2007 04:33:56 +0000 http://climateprogress.org/2007/08/30/the-solar-power-you-dont-hear-about/#comment-5442 Earl, How is the cost/watt calculated? Does it mainly reflect the amortized cost of initial investment or the ongoing cost of power production? Earl,
How is the cost/watt calculated? Does it mainly reflect the amortized cost of initial investment or the ongoing cost of power production?

]]> By: Earl Killian http://climateprogress.org/2007/08/30/the-solar-power-you-dont-hear-about/#comment-5441 Earl Killian Fri, 31 Aug 2007 01:37:14 +0000 http://climateprogress.org/2007/08/30/the-solar-power-you-dont-hear-about/#comment-5441 To answer the second half of mk's query: there is concentrated PV, but most of it is too complicated for residential and the PV costs too much for wholesale, so it isn't much used. I think all the 40% PV efficiency numbers you hear are based multi-band-gap cells receiving concentrated sunlight, though I am not sure why concentration helps (it increases the heat, which is usually bad for PV). (One exception to what I just said: there are PV startups working on concentrators for PV that yield less than 2x concentration and require no moving parts, and so will be suitable for residential use.) What is annoying about the $4/W PV + $1/W inverter + $4/W installation equation is that PV at one fourth the price (i.e. $1/W, which would be a great breakthru) only reduces the residential system price by a factor of 1.5 (from $9/W to $6/W: nice, but hardly the 4x breakthru you would expect from such a PV breakthru). Where $1/W PV breakthru could make a big difference though is in wholesale electricity generation, since there one assumes the price of the inverters and installation can be reduced by the massive scale of the system. Of course, many off-grid homes avoid the $1/W inverter cost (and the 6-10% efficiency loss) by using DC for many of the appliances. DC lighting (e.g. LEDs) is obvious, but one can also buy extremely efficient DC refrigerators for off-grid homes. If PV comes down in price, there will be some incentive to add DC wiring to homes (in parallel with the existing AC wiring). One small advantage: all those ugly power bricks (which are AC to DC converters) plugged into the wall could go away if we had a DC standard for homes. That not is not only a convenience win, but an efficiency win. The other sad thing about PV: if it is 20% efficient, that means 80% of the energy is turned into heat, which is generally wasted in PV systems. One exception is the neat design by OM Solar, which puts that heat to work (e.g. for building comfort in winter). To answer the second half of mk’s query: there is concentrated PV, but most of it is too complicated for residential and the PV costs too much for wholesale, so it isn’t much used. I think all the 40% PV efficiency numbers you hear are based multi-band-gap cells receiving concentrated sunlight, though I am not sure why concentration helps (it increases the heat, which is usually bad for PV). (One exception to what I just said: there are PV startups working on concentrators for PV that yield less than 2x concentration and require no moving parts, and so will be suitable for residential use.)

What is annoying about the $4/W PV + $1/W inverter + $4/W installation equation is that PV at one fourth the price (i.e. $1/W, which would be a great breakthru) only reduces the residential system price by a factor of 1.5 (from $9/W to $6/W: nice, but hardly the 4x breakthru you would expect from such a PV breakthru). Where $1/W PV breakthru could make a big difference though is in wholesale electricity generation, since there one assumes the price of the inverters and installation can be reduced by the massive scale of the system.

Of course, many off-grid homes avoid the $1/W inverter cost (and the 6-10% efficiency loss) by using DC for many of the appliances. DC lighting (e.g. LEDs) is obvious, but one can also buy extremely efficient DC refrigerators for off-grid homes. If PV comes down in price, there will be some incentive to add DC wiring to homes (in parallel with the existing AC wiring). One small advantage: all those ugly power bricks (which are AC to DC converters) plugged into the wall could go away if we had a DC standard for homes. That not is not only a convenience win, but an efficiency win.

The other sad thing about PV: if it is 20% efficient, that means 80% of the energy is turned into heat, which is generally wasted in PV systems. One exception is the neat design by OM Solar, which puts that heat to work (e.g. for building comfort in winter).

]]> By: Joe http://climateprogress.org/2007/08/30/the-solar-power-you-dont-hear-about/#comment-5440 Joe Thu, 30 Aug 2007 21:22:29 +0000 http://climateprogress.org/2007/08/30/the-solar-power-you-dont-hear-about/#comment-5440 Too expensive. PV's big advantage is modularity, the possibility of integrating a system directly into the roof of a building, for instance. Too expensive. PV’s big advantage is modularity, the possibility of integrating a system directly into the roof of a building, for instance.

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