Here’s an idea that I believe won’t work: a concentrated solar photovoltaic (CPV) collector the size of a satellite TV dish with a solar tracker and a battery, sold to apartment dwellers. In the first place, these people grossly over …
Category: Photovoltaics
Understanding the Efficiency of Solar PV
Why aren’t solar PV cells more efficient? Here’s an answer from a physicist who looks at the problem from the perspective of the Carnot Limit, i.e., the theoretical limit to the efficiency of a heat engine, which is a function …
Will Solar Eat Its Own Lunch?
Here’s an article that explores what happens when the penetration of solar PV into the grid mix is so large that it begins to create an over-supply, thus driving the price down for incremental amounts of energy generated from this …
Streamlining the Solar PV Permitting Process
As I’ve reported frequently, part of the reason for Germany’s boom in solar PV is that the permitting process for the individual homeowner is trivial. Contrast this with the U.S. where the same action can take months.
Philanthropy in Africa Can Backfire
A reader points out that efforts to bring education and clean energy to the poorest of the poor in Africa only creates further dependence. It’s true that giving things away is antithetical to the concept of establishing commerce. For example, …
Solar PV: Is Bigger Better?
We’ve all had the thought: What are the relative merits of utility-scale solar PV vs. the distributed, rooftop version? To be sure, there are numerous factors to be considered. In terms of the levelized cost of energy for each kWh, …
More on Floating Solar PV Power Plants
Yesterday, a reader expressed interest in creating solar PV plants that float on large bodies of water that act to stem evaporation as they generate electrical power, and I directed him to an article my friend Gary Tulie had written on …
Floating Solar PV Power Plants
A reader notes: Craig – pretty neat that someone is turning unused golf courses into solar farms, but the idea in this story that really caught my eye was a proposal to “develop and operate a 13.4 megawatt floating solar …
Advice to Solar PV Entrepreneurs: Begin with Market Research
A reader introduces his company: We are Zion Solar. Our company is a concept-stage solar generator designer and manufacturer. We are based in Los Angeles, CA. The idea is to build beautiful and powerful off-grid solar generators. Our deck linked …
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Celebrating the Solar Impulse
Yesterday’s ground-breaking landing in Hawaii (pictured left) of the solar PV-powered aircraft “Solar Impulse” after its trip across the Pacific is a time for celebration. The triumph goes far beyond the astonishing accomplishments of materials science and solar photovoltaics themselves; …
