Super-Concentrated Solar PV – Looks Like a Breakthrough Here

Here’s an article about a breakthrough in super-concentrated solar PV from IBM researchers in Europe.  Incident sunlight is focused from a large parabolic mirror onto a semiconductor chip, producing electricity.  What’s new here?  Well, the concentration rate is 1000:1, meaning that an incredible amount of heat is generated simultaneously, which the team is able to capture and use for another purpose, e.g., water desalination.  The overall efficiency is over 80%!

I was happy to note that the fellow in this video is encouraged by the same basic fact that I often quote: At any given moment in time, the Earth is receiving 85,000 terawatts of power from the sun, while we’re using only 15 terawatts in the sum total of all our applications – about 1/6000th.  It’s there for the taking.