Missouri: A New Day Dawning in Solar Energy Advancements
By Christopher Chung
When you think of solar energy in the U.S., Missouri may not be the first place that comes to mind. But a new study by Professor Matt Croucher of Arizona State University has put Missouri among the top states for solar power generation.
It’s a matter of resources – and resourcefulness. Missouri is in a great place for solar, with more than 200 sunny days on average per year and solar resources ranging from 4.5 to 5.0 kilowatt-hours per square meter per day. That number puts Missouri higher than Germany, the country that leads the world in solar energy production.
Missouri also has the sixth lowest cost-per-watt for solar installation and better than average opportunities for job creation in the industry. But the thing that really tips the scales in the state’s favor is the fact that demand for solar power is high.
Solar initiatives are more than just environmental obligations for the state of Missouri. They are also engines for economic growth. In the past few years Missouri has aggressively implemented programs requiring utility companies to increase their renewable energy portfolios. In 2008, the state’s citizens overwhelmingly approved a measure calling for 15 percent of Missouri’s electricity to originate from clean energy sources by 2021. The measure included a two percent solar carve-out (or 190,000 megawatt hours.) Missouri was one of only 16 states to adopt such a provision.
In 2009, the state formed the Missouri Solar Energy Industry Association (MOSEIA) with the goal of increasing market growth for solar in the state. MOSEIA works to protect the regulatory language for enhancing Missouri’s solar initiatives and for passing subsequent legislation.
Missouri also offers numerous government loans and incentives for solar energy. The state’s Linked Deposit Loan Program – along with Property Assessed Clean Energy loans for commercial developments – helps promote the creation and retention of solar energy jobs. Solar rebates and federal investment tax credits strengthen Missouri’s foothold as a solar energy state.
Aside from legislation, Missouri also has one of the best business climates in the nation, making it an ideal location for solar start-ups. The state ranks third for low business costs and has the fifth best corporate income tax index in the U.S. A central location helps support Missouri’s thriving manufacturing industry, with 52 percent of all manufacturing establishments located within a single day’s drive. The state’s top ten transportation network is a terrific asset for industries – like solar – which depend on low-cost shipping to stay profitable.
But workforce is continually cited as the state’s most important asset. And, with a work force of over 3 million, Missouri has the numbers to support solar production on a large scale. A recent report from the Brookings Institution ranked Missouri 6th for solar photovoltaic jobs in 2010 and 8th for degree of solar photovoltaic job specialization. The state also placed 8th for growth in solar thermal jobs from 2003-2010, a fact that is drawing attention from companies in the industry:
• Milbank Manufacturing recently announced plans for new production lines in Kansas City, Mo. where renewable energy products – including solar components – will be made. The $2.7 million expansion is expected to create 57 new jobs.
• Solutia, a world-leading provider of critical components for use in the solar energy market is headquartered in St. Louis. Solutia produces encapsulants for solar modules, heat transfer fluids for concentrated solar power plants and PV film coatings.
• Dow Chemical is currently developing a solar park in conjunction with the city of Columbia. It will be the largest solar production site in the state of Missouri.
The Columbia project will join a number of solar arrays across the state. Emerson Electric, headquartered in St. Louis, recently built a new data center powered by more than 550 solar panels. At peak output, the array meets about 16 percent of the center’s energy requirements.
Kansas City Power & Light has announced plans to install rooftop solar technology at selected commercial buildings, government facilities and residences as part of its SmartGrid demonstration, made possible by a $24 million grant from the Department of Energy.
Recently, the St. Louis Housing Authority, along with Sunwheel Energy Partners, began the final phase of a $10.4 million solar installation. Using more than 2,000 solar panels, the project will create enough electricity to power more than 70 homes for a year. The expected reduction in carbon dioxide emissions will be equivalent to removing 170 cars from the road.
None of these projects would be possible, were it not for new energy research coming out of Missouri’s colleges and universities. At the University of Missouri – Columbia (MU), Professor Patrick Pinhero, Ph.D., recently developed a flexible solar sheet that captures 95 percent of available light – that’s nearly five times the efficiency of traditional panels. Pinhero is looking to commercialize his technology within the next five years.
MU also collaborated with Missouri Science and Technology University (Missouri S&T) in Rolla to build a solar house which placed 11th in the recent Solar Decatholon in Washington D.C. The house joins three previous entries to make up S&T’s “Solar Village,” a community of solar-powered homes available for rent by students and faculty. The school recently won a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for research in solar energy and energy management, which will allow students to use hybrid solar thermal electric panels (STEPS) in their house design.
These advances in research and production breed a certain optimism for Missouri’s solar industry, and companies are beginning to take notice. Solar is no longer a “someday” concept. It’s happening right now in Missouri.
Christopher Chung is Chief Executive Officer of Missouri Partnership, a public private non-profit corporation working closely with the Missouri Department of Economic Development and regional and local economic development organizations around the state.
For more information visit: www.missouripartnership.com
Removing the Rare Element Shackles from Solar Energy
By Daryl J. Ehrmantraut
Our future energy requirements depend on reaching the ‘holy grail’ of electricity generation – Finding a cheaper alternative to coal and other fossil fuels. The availability of an alternative energy source would also contribute significantly to energy self-sufficiency in North America.
Every hour more energy from the sun hits the earth than the world’s entire population consumes in a single year. Given this abundance, solar energy is our world’s most obvious energy choice. Why then, is less than 1% of our global electricity supply powered by solar energy? Because the industry has been unable to harness the three critical success factors for global solar deployment – high efficiency, low cost and high materials availability for deployment on a global scale.
Current solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies generate electrical power by converting solar radiation into an electric current using semiconductor material. The process involved is called the photovoltaic effect (PV). Today, solar PV cannot be realized on a worldwide scale because neither of the two main technologies presented today; crystalline silicon PV and thin-film PV, completely address the three critical success factors. Crystalline silicon PV possesses high efficiency using abundant materials but they are very expensive to manufacture. It wins on two of the 3 critical success factors. Thin-film PV on the other hand is cheap to manufacture but has low efficiency and relies on rare and toxic elements in its manufacture. It wins on one critical success factor. Furthermore most thin-film technologies use dangerous, toxic materials including cadmium telluride and indium among others.
Despite the challenges, the global market for solar PV technology is growing very rapidly. Some analysts predicting solar PV could contribute as much as 10-15% of our global electricity by 2050.
As we seek to move solar energy into the mainstream, we need to retain the industry’s green integrity and bypass the pitfalls of electronic waste. Creating safe, affordable solar energy solutions requires research and development that eliminates the sector’s reliance the scarce and dangerous elements that are in limited supply, toxic, difficult to mine, or found only in select, sometimes geopolitically unfriendly regions of the world.
At Quantum Solar Power Corp., we are developing NGD™ a solar PV device which we believe will address all 3 critical success factors –high efficiency, low cost and high scalability through the use of abundant non-toxic materials. We believe Quantum will win on all three critical success factors. Quantum’s revolutionary approach to solar PV design will revolutionize the solar power market. We invite other solar technology companies and manufacturers to join our quest to create safe, affordable solar technology solutions that will literally light up the lives of people across the world.
There is no doubt that our predicted energy needs have a “sunny” future. According to the American Solar Energy Society, U.S. manufacturing of PV components — wafers, cells, and modules — has increased substantially year-over-year, with growth rates demonstrated at 97%, 81%, and 62% respectively. In 2009, the U.S. solar industry grew 36% to nearly $4 billion and supported the addition of 17,000 new jobs.
It is important for our geopolitical future that we create a clean energy economy along with a strong energy policy. A sunny future for our children demands that we continue to create green sector jobs that replace our dependency on fossil fuels with renewable energy through wind turbines, hydro-electric power and solar photovoltaic technologies that make solar energy a globally deployable, environmentally smart energy source.
About the author:
Daryl J. Ehrmantraut is Chief Executive Officer, President & Director of Quantum Solar Power Corporation, www.quantumsp.com, which is developing a “Next Generation Device” (NGD™) photovoltaic technology. Mr. Ehrmantraut lives and works in Vancouver, Canada. He can be reached at info@quantumsp.com
Dept of Energy Investing $50 Million to Advance Domestic Solar Manufacturing Market
DOE announced on August 2 its $50 million investment over two years for the SUNPATH program. The program is designed to help the United States reclaim its competitive edge in solar energy manufacturing. SUNPATH, which stands for Scaling Up Nascent PV AT Home, is the second Photovoltaic Manufacturing Initiative supporting DOE’s SunShot Initiative.
SUNPATH seeks to increase domestic manufacturing through investments that have sustainable, competitive cost and performance advantages. It will help companies with pilot-scale commercial production scale up their manufacturing capabilities, enabling them to overcome a funding gap that often curtails domestic business at a critical stage. By bridging this gap, SUNPATH will help ensure that innovative, low-cost solar technologies are manufactured in the United States.
The United States maintained a dominant share of the global solar market in 1995, manufacturing 43% of the world’s PV panels. It has declined steadily to just 7% by 2010. DOE is seeking applicants with industrial-scale demonstrations of PV modules, cells, or substrates that offer lower-cost solutions in line with the SunShot goal. Applications are due by October 28, 2011. See the DOE press release, the application requirements at the Funding Opportunity Exchange, and the DOE SunShot Initiative.
Silicon Energy Unveils One of the World’s Strongest Extended Warranties for PV Systems
Woodland Park Zoo
Silicon Energy, a manufacturer of world-class solar photovoltaic (PV) systems for the North American market, announced today that it has extended its Silicon Energy Cascade PV System Power Warranties by five years. Based on over two years of field performance data and extensive third-party testing by NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory), Silicon Energy’s decision to extend its product warranty makes it one of the strongest warranties in the industry.
“We are committed to making solar a mainstream energy source with products that are safe, durable, maximize energy production, increase energy harvest, are aesthetically appealing, and support our local economy and environment with smart manufacturing practices,” said Gary Shaver, president, Silicon Energy. “Customers who choose Silicon Energy for their PV systems are choosing best-in-class products, now backed by one of the industry’s top warranties. Our product lifespan, application flexibility and optimized energy harvesting capability make our product a great investment.”
For Silicon Energy’s growing network of partners and contractors who sell and install the company’s PV systems, the extended warranty provides an added incentive for customers who want a long-term system that boasts a 40+ year usable life and innovative design that provides completely sealed wiring to make it extremely safe, a theft-resistant mounting system, the highest industry fire rating, and frameless design that allows water, dirt, snow and ice to easily flow off for optimal light access and energy creation even in extreme weather conditions. The Silicon Energy glass-on-glass construction also enables installations such as awnings, carports, patio covers, and bus shelters. For those design-conscious customers, the company also provides custom color mounting hardware for visual continuity.
Silicon Energy’s extended warranty is available starting July 1st for its Cascade PV System.
· Limited Product Warranty Materials & Workmanship: 5 years
· Limited Power Warranty:
Power Output Table
1-15 years (up from 10 years) ? 90% PMAX
16-30 years (up from 25 years) ? 80% PMAX
In addition to presenting its extended warranty, Silicon Energy recently has been able to reduce its pricing as a result of manufacturing improvements and strengthened vendor relationships.
“When choosing Silicon Energy PV systems, our customers are making a sound investment in solar, their local economy, their environment, and clean energy creation for many, many years to come,” closed Shaver.
About Silicon Energy
Founded in 2007, Silicon Energy delivers the highest quality and durable photovoltaic (PV) modules on the market today. Made in Washington and Minnesota, Silicon Energy’s sustainable approach to doing business offers customers a durably-made, locally-manufactured product that was created without negative environmental impact. The company’s philosophy of supporting the local and US economy and commitment to creating long-lasting, aesthetically pleasing PV allows customers to be confident that they are reducing their carbon footprint through solar installations and contributing to local business. Silicon Energy PV Systems are available through select partners for home, commercial, government and utility installations. For more information about Silicon Energy, please visit www.silicon-energy.com or call (360) 618-6500.
EchoFirst Solar Energy Technology: How It Works
EchoFirst® Inc. (formerly PVT Solar) is the creator of Echo®, a revolutionary new solar energy system that delivers twice the energy of a basic solar electric (PV) system.
Unlike a basic solar system that only captures about 15% of the sun’s energy, Echo® captures over 50% of the sun’s energy, making it a more efficient system. This video helps explain the technology behind Echo’s revolutionary technology that produces electricity plus home heating, home cooling, water heating and fresh air ventilation.
For more information visit their website, EchoFirst.com
New Solar Product Captures Up to 95 Percent of Light Energy
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Efficiency is a problem with today’s solar panels; they only collect about 20 percent of available light. Now, a University of Missouri engineer has developed a flexible solar sheet that captures more than 90 percent of available light, and he plans to make prototypes available to consumers within the next five years.
Patrick Pinhero, an associate professor in the MU Chemical Engineering Department, is developing a flexible solar sheet that captures more than 90 percent of available light. Today’s solar panels only collect 20 percent of available light.
Patrick Pinhero, an associate professor in the MU Chemical Engineering Department, says energy generated using traditional photovoltaic (PV) methods of solar collection is inefficient and neglects much of the available solar electromagnetic (sunlight) spectrum. The device his team has developed – essentially a thin, moldable sheet of small antennas called nantenna – can harvest the heat from industrial processes and convert it into usable electricity. Their ambition is to extend this concept to a direct solar facing nantenna device capable of collecting solar irradiation in the near infrared and optical regions of the solar spectrum.
Working with his former team at the Idaho National Laboratory and Garrett Moddel, an electrical engineering professor at the University of Colorado, Pinhero and his team have now developed a way to extract electricity from the collected heat and sunlight using special high-speed electrical circuitry. This team also partners with Dennis Slafer of MicroContinuum, Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., to immediately port laboratory bench-scale technologies into manufacturable devices that can be inexpensively mass-produced.
“Our overall goal is to collect and utilize as much solar energy as is theoretically possible and bring it to the commercial market in an inexpensive package that is accessible to everyone,” Pinhero said. “If successful, this product will put us orders of magnitudes ahead of the current solar energy technologies we have available to us today.”
As part of a rollout plan, the team is securing funding from the U.S. Department of Energy and private investors. The second phase features an energy-harvesting device for existing industrial infrastructure, including heat-process factories and solar farms.
Within five years, the research team believes they will have a product that complements conventional PV solar panels. Because it’s a flexible film, Pinhero believes it could be incorporated into roof shingle products, or be custom-made to power vehicles.
Once the funding is secure, Pinhero envisions several commercial product spin-offs, including infrared (IR) detection. These include improved contraband-identifying products for airports and the military, optical computing, and infrared line-of-sight telecommunications.
A study on the design and manufacturing process was published in the Journal of Solar Energy Engineering.
Southern California Edison Connects 32-Acre, 5 Million Watt Solar Array to its Grid
ROSEMEAD, Calif., Feb. 24, 2011 – Southern California Edison (SCE) today connected the state’s largest investor-owned utility photovoltaic plant to its Central Valley power grid. The new generating station, the utility’s first ground-mount PV installation, covers 32 acres of land SCE has leased from the city of Porterville, Calif. It adds 5 million watts of peak capacity – enough power to serve 3,250 average homes – to SCE’s network of 11 solar stations.
Construction and testing of the 29,426-panel solar array near the Porterville Municipal Airport took about six months and created 125 jobs. The new Central Valley solar station is connected directly to the utility’s neighborhood power circuits and benefits all SCE customers in the region.
“Our hope when we launched SCE’s Solar PV Program was that it would help California achieve its ambitious renewable energy goals, while increasing industry knowledge about solar PV efficiency and interaction with local distribution circuits,” said Mark Nelson, SCE’s director of Generation Planning and Strategy. “That hope has become a reality.”
In addition to building its own network of 40-50 solar stations, SCE is signing power purchase agreements with independent producers willing to construct a similar number of solar plants collectively. The combined installations are expected to create some 1,200 jobs in all.
“It is more than exciting for Porterville to take this first step with SCE. Hopefully, in years to come, a solar project like this will be commonplace,” said Mayor Ronald Irish.
About Southern California Edison
An Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, serving a population of nearly 14 million via 4.9 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central, Coastal and Southern California.
