solar power breakthu reported - more facts needed

[greenman3610]

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=143&art_id=vn20060211110132138C184427


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Another large German solar company is negotiating with the South African inventors for rights to the technology, while a South African consortium of businesses are keen to build local factories.

The new, highly efficient and cheap alloy solar panel is much more efficient than the costly old silicone solar panels.

International experts have admitted that nothing else comes close to the effectiveness of the South African invention.

The South African solar panels consist of a thin layer of a unique metal alloy that converts light into energy. The photo-responsive alloy can operate on virtually all flexible surfaces, which means it could in future find a host of other applications.

Alberts said the new panels are approximately five microns thick (a human hair is 20 microns thick) while the older silicon panels are 350 microns thick. the cost of the South African technology is a fraction of the less effective silicone solar panels.
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the article is a bit thin on info --- anyone have any more on this?

[gordontron]

1. perhaps they

are talking about the technology which converts infared into electricity. Although that came out a while ago...hmmm

[punpirate]

4. Umm... you might be thinking of...

... Peltier effect devices, which have been around for quite some time. This says "photo-responsive" so I would guess that it's bound by photoelectric effect.

More information is definitely required.

[benburch]

2. Very cool!

Of course we'll never get it here. Likely Bush will outlaw the stuff.

[linazelle]

11. Yep...he'll start a war claiming the panels are WMDs. nt

[Warpy]

3. I read about this about a year ago, and that's what I'm waiting

for. I live in the desert in a house with a flat roof, ideal for solar as soon as this technology gears up and becomes readily available.

I just hope Stupid doesn't start lobbing nukes first.

[Ready4Change]

5. Any other links?

While I love the sound of it, I can't find any other information regardin it. One would think. if it'
s going into production next month that there would be more information on it.

Also, while they say it is cheaper and much more efficient than silicon panels, they don't give any indication HOW much cheaper or more efficient. Is a panel costing $600 going to be replacable by one costing $500, or $200? If silicon panels are 15% efficient, is this new material 16%, or 65%?

Until I see real products and real results, I'm not holding my breath. (much)

[dysfunctional press]

6. with Peak Oil starting-

i guess they've determined it's time, profit-wise- to start rolling out efffective alternatives. after all, it'll take time to ramp them up as successors to Big Petroleum. still plenty of time for people to suck down the ever-more-expensive black goo.

...except for that darn old global warming thing.

[leeroysphitz]

12. You don't know that. Until someting more concrete

comes out this can't be taken any more seriously than any other internet rumor. If I had a dime for each of these "perpetual motion", "miracle" energy sources I've run across on-line I wouldn't NEED cheap, renewable energy...

[daleo]

7. Bush will have to invade South Africa

And put a stop to this invention, which is clearly a terrorist threat to his oil company pals.

[Greyhound]

8. Everything I'm finding points to the same article. This could be

wonderful news. I got a little exited when they 'discovered' cold fusion 5 or 6 years ago so I'll wait until someone verifies this.

[eppur_se_muova]

9. Here's an older post from SA Popular Mechanics.

"
He is talking about a patented semiconductor material, copper indium gallium selenium sulphide or Cu(In,Ga)(Se,S)2 for short. Five elements that, taken separately, are pretty pointless as collectors of sunlight. But then they’re subjected to a bit of high-tech alchemy… or should that be domestic science?

“You know, it’s a recipe… the whole thing is much like baking bread,” he says. “You start off with ingredients that have certain characteristics, and after mixing, preparing and baking you have a product whose characteristics are completely different to what you started with.”

Professor Alberts says the thin film technology he and his team developed can generate up to 150 watts of electrical power at a cost below R10 per watt peak. He adds that it has demonstrated not only high efficiency, but also long-term performance stability. “The pilot plant demonstrated that these thin film solar modules could be produced by highly scalable and proven industrial technologies such as physical vapour phase deposition and diffusion processes.” Commercial-scale thin film modules are being produced with output powers between 10 and 40W in direct sunlight.

Quoted costs of R10/Wp look highly favourable against the cost of “traditional” electricity. And better still against the R35 per watt production cost of conventional modules. The import price locally of a silicon-based 50W solar panel is about R2000 (R40/Wp).
"
more at: http://cooltech.iafrica.com/features/508857.htm

The "German" company IFE appears to be a Scandinavian consortium, based in Norway: http://www.ife.no/avdelinger/energisystemer/prosjekter/nordicpv/view

Of course, "silicone" should be "silicon".

R1 = US$ 0.165975 US$ 1 = R 6.02500

edit for formatting

[amerikat]

10. looks like CIGS technology.

Copper,Indium,Gallium diSelinide(selinium). Unless they have made a major breakthrough from hypothetical efficiency to actual efficiency this is old news.

http://www.scienceinafrica.co.za/2004/november/energy.htm

[iamtechus]

13. Production starts next month

More ....

One of the world leaders in solar energy, German company IFE Solar Systems, has invested more than R500-million in the South African invention and is set to manufacture 500 000 of the panels before the end of the year at a new plant in Germany.

Production will start next month and the factory will run 24 hours a day, producing more than 1 000 panels a day to meet expected demand.

Another large German solar company is negotiating with the South African inventors for rights to the technology, while a South African consortium of businesses are keen to build local factories.

http://www.ecomiles.com/ecologs/ecolog.aspx?EcologID=320

[OneBlueSky]

14. too bad it's not the U.S. taking the lead in this kind of R&D . . .

new alternative energy industries could help replace some of the good jobs that have gone overseas . . . or just evaporated . . .

but making that a national priority would require a government with vision . . .

ours, unfortnately, is damn near blind . . .

[proud patriot]

15. my sentiments exactly

I really wish we were " trying to land on the moon "
with alternatives to fossil fuels . I think could
come up with some great breakthroughs if are nation
was behind it .

[Lorien]

16. Wow.

I can hardly wait for this to become available as roofing tiles here in the US. I plan to build an extremely energy efficent home when I sell the home I'm in now, and a solar roof is part of the plan.