New Jersey is now a true solar power

By Joe Tyrrell, newjerseynewsroom.com

As Congress wrestles with national energy policies and gubernatorial candidates tout their plans here, New Jersey officials say the state deserves credit as a leader in promoting solar power.

In just a few years of coordinated efforts, New Jersey has gone from a non-factor to number two among the states in solar installations connected to the power grid. While far behind California, New Jersey currently generates about twice as many solar kilowatt hours as number three Colorado.

While applauding the gains, many in the industry also say the state, like the nation, has fallen well short of performance goals. New Jersey rose to the top of solar charts in a period when there was little competition from other states.

Now, as the federal government begins to pay attention to renewable energy, New Jersey is in the midst of a challenging transition away from an easy to understand program, which gave rebates to install solar power cells.

The new program shifts the focus away from consumers to utility companies and investors by creating a marketplace for renewable energy credits. The concept has its supporters, though many are more hopeful than confident.

Still, at a time when solar businesses believe the technology is on the verge of a belated boom in the United States, recent New Jersey statistics wowed some attendees at a recent industry conference in Philadelphia.

“Making this even more remarkable is that in 2001 New Jersey had only six” solar cell installations connected to the power grid, compared to more than 4,000 today, wrote Bob Haavind of Photovoltaics World.

His report can be viewed here.

Click newjerseynewsroom.com for complete article.

Dye-sensitized Solar Cells To Power Air Force Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

From ScienceDaily.com

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are expected to power Air Force unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the future because they are an optimum energy harvesting source that may lead to longer flight times without refueling.

The University of Washington’s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) project team, with lead researcher Dr. Minoru Taya is working on airborne solar cells by using a flexible film and a thin glass coating with transparent conductive electrodes. He has found that DSSCs made from organic materials, which use (dyes) and moth-eye film, are able to catch photons and convert them into synthesized electrons that can harvest high photon energy.

A few years ago the team mounted dye-sensitized solar cells on the wings of a toy airplane. The propeller was effectively powered, but the plane was not able to become airborne because the glass based solar cells they were using were too heavy. Upon experimentation, they decided to use film battery technology, which worked and in fact, enabled the plane to fly.

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Transparent Solar Cells Made For Windows

From ScienceDaily.com

Offering a view of the garden and an adjacent field, it looks like any other window. But this window offers an additional feature: it also produces electricity. The facades of the house, too, harness solar energy to supply the occupants with electrical power. This is what the domestic power supply of the future could look like. The surface area used to produce energy would increase greatly with transparent solar cells.

To translate the vision of see-through solar cells and transparent electronics into reality, two different transparent coatings would be required – one to conduct the electricity via electrons, the n-conductors, and one in which electron holes enable the electricity to flow, the p-conductors. To produce these coatings the engineers dope the base material with a few other atoms. Depending on which atoms they use, they obtain the differently conducting coatings. N-conducting transparent materials are state of the art, but the p-conductors are problematic. Their conductivity is too low and often their transparency is poor. Manufacturers need a transparent base material which is amenable to both n- and p-doping.

At present, indium tin oxide is mainly used for the n-conductors, but this is costly. Indium has become a rare commodity and its price has increased tenfold since 2002. The search for substitute materials is therefore in full swing. At the same time, various questions need to be answered, such as which materials would be best suitable, what they should be doped with to obtain good conductivity, and how good their transparency is. Research scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM working in cooperation with other Fraunhofer colleagues have developed material physics models and methods which help in the search.

“If transparent p-conductors with adequate conductivity could be produced, it would be possible to realize completely transparent electronics,” says Dr. Wolfgang Körner, research scientist at the IWM. Using electron microscope images, the researchers initially determine the grain boundaries which most frequently occur in the material – i.e. irregularities in the ordered crystal structure. These defect structures are modeled atom by atom. Special simulation methods calculate how the electrons are distributed in the structures and thus in the solid body. From the data the researchers extract how conductive and transparent the material is. “We have found, for example, that phosphorus is suitable for p-doping zinc oxide, but that nitrogen is more promising,” says Körner.

Korean scientists develop efficient plastic-based solar cell

From Hindu.com

In a major breakthrough that can speed up commercial use of solar energy, South Korean scientists on Monday announced the development of a highly efficient plastic-based power cell that can mimic the photo-photovoltaic activities of plants.

The team led by Lee Kwang-hee at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), said the solar cells developed by them reached an unprecedented energy efficiency rate of 6.2 per cent.

“This is the highest number reached by any single-layer plastic, organic photo-voltaic solar cell created in the world to date and should greatly help commercial use of power generation using sunlight,” Lee, a material science professor at the state-run laboratory, said.

The scientists said they used a new material that have “open circuit voltage” properties and titanium oxide to bring about high efficiency.

If fully developed the solar cells, which can easily bend, could be attached to coats, bags, various electronic appliances and building windows, Yonhap news agency reported.

The breakthrough has been confirmed by the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory and published in the latest on- line edition of international journal of Nature Photonics.

Lee said that under so-called green light conditions, the energy efficiency of the new plastic power cells reached 17 per cent, which is more than enough to start commercial power generation.

Experts said an efficiency rate of 7 per cent must be reached for plastic solar cells to become commercially viable.

Energy efficiency indicates the percentage of sunshine that solar cells turn into electricity.

Conventional inorganic silicon-based solar cells used in homes have an efficiency rate of 7 to 8 per cent, while very expensive panels placed on satellites have numbers reaching 15 per cent.

The technology, developed jointly with U.S. researchers led by Alan Heeger of the University of California, Santa Barbara, is an extension of cutting edge research carried out in the past.

The Lee-Heeger team announced in 2007 that they had built a stacked or double-layered organic photo-voltaic that had a power efficiency of 6.5 per cent.

Printable solar cells on the way

By Melanie Macfarlane, GMagazine.com.au

SYDNEY: Solar panels could soon be printed in the same way as bank notes, thanks to world-leading innovation by Australian scientists.

Researchers from the Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium, which includes scientists from the CSIRO in Melbourne, The University of Melbourne and Monash University have developed a new technique that could open up the door for cheap, mass produced solar cells.

“These solar cells are cutting edge technology and offer advantages over traditional solar technology,” Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources, Peter Batchelor said at the launch.

The new cells are printed onto a thin plastic which, unlike current silicon solar cells, is flexible and can easily be crafted to fit any rooftop. “The production of these film-like solar cells will be literally as easy as printing money,” Batchelor said.

Gerry Wilson, a member of the team at CSIRO Future Manufacturing Flagship said mankind has been printing for centuries and this is only one of many potential applications for “printable electronics”.

The active ingredient in the new solar cells is the thin-printed layers of light sensitive inks that absorb energy from the sun. Wilson explained that during the ongoing trial period these inks will be tested for maximum efficiency.

Currently, the printable solar cells are two to five per cent efficient, Wilson said, something they are trying to improve it “by tweaking the chemical structure” of the inks. Solar cells currently on the market range from five to 24 per cent efficiency.

CSIRO Executive Steve Morton believes the new cells are the next generation technology. “We have assembled a team of world-class scientists spanning chemistry, physics and materials science to develop the molecular building blocks which will form the basis of this solar energy revolution,” he said.

Jai Singh, a physicist from Charles Darwin University, said that while the technology is still in its infancy, it could provide a cost effective alternative energy source.

“They are cost effective because the expensive Indium Tin Oxide used in traditional solar cells will be replaced by low cost functionalised graphene layers,” he said.

The Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr said the trial was an exciting development for the industry.

“This research is at the forefront of polymer technology, which has already brought to the world the banknotes used in Australia and 21 other countries. It is an important step in building up the solar industry in Australia,” he said.

Andrew Blakers, Director of ARC Centre for Solar Energy Systems at Australian National University said any investment in the industry is always welcomed and will encourage progress in renewable energy sources.

“Australian solar industry needs to be encouraged and well funded in order for Australia to take its place as a world leader in this industry,” he said.