Comments on: World’s Most Efficient Solar Technology Coming Soon

By: Top 10 Solar Technologies to Watch Out For - CleanTechnica

Top 10 Solar Technologies to Watch Out For - CleanTechnica — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 12:20:48 +0000

[…] glass mirrors, may be deployed in Arizona soon, the first commercial-scale installation of the world’s most efficient solar technology. The SunCatcher employs a system of mirrors attached to a parabolic dish to concentrate the sun’s […]

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 17:24:00 +0000

3 kW system for US$12,000.

Currently China is shipping solar panels for about $1 per watt. (Apparently for less than $1/W.)

A 3 kW PV system would cost $3,000 + inverter and hardware. Under $5,000 or less than half of the Stirling system.

It also would have no moving parts and and expected lifespan of 30, 40, 50+ years. Almost no operating expenses.

You could get almost three times as much output from a PV system. The price of PV has fallen so rapidly that it’s knocking thermal solar out of contention.

—

Speaking of rural workshops, Sun Electric is selling “laminates” – solar panels without junction boxes and frames for $0.58/watt. Gluing on a junction box, soldering a couple of wires, and building a simple frame is something that requires little equipment and could be done in a basic workshop.

$12,000 would buy over 20 kW of solar.

By: Vipen Mahajan

Vipen Mahajan — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 14:56:00 +0000

Dec 2011 . What i the update. I have been studying Open Source ecology, i.e no patents/licenses etc. of a 40 sq meter, solar panels , made of smaller mirrors, which track the sun,, by hand, and can be made in a rural workshop, in developing countries. Approx cost Rs 150,000 (approx US$ 4000). Couple with a 3-5 HP Stirling engine, (cost approx Rs 300,000), i.e. about US$12,000 for a 3 kw, electrical power output. With hot water of about 5-10 KWe heat equivalent for heating etc.

We are working on the details, designs etc. International cooperation/collaboration welcome.

By: Solar Energy Blowing Up, & in Surprising Places! – CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 13:06:45 +0000

[…] World’s Most Efficient Solar Technology Coming Early 2010 2) First Solar and China to Partner on Gigantic Solar Power Plant 3) $21 Billion Solar Power […]

By: Heidi

Heidi — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 00:47:43 +0000

Does anyone have info on how much they cost or how to aquire one of these?

By: James Smith João Pessoa, Brazil

James Smith João Pessoa, Brazil — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:15:11 +0000

I lived in Arizona for 25 years and one thing I learned for sure. If there is any way to screw something up, Phoenix will find it. If there is no way, they will invent a way.

Stirling Energy Systems will discover for themselves they should have placed this in New Mexico.

By: James Smith João Pessoa, Brazi

James Smith João Pessoa, Brazi — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:15:00 +0000

I lived in Arizona for 25 years and one thing I learned for sure. If there is any way to screw something up, Phoenix will find it. If there is no way, they will invent a way.

Stirling Energy Systems will discover for themselves they should have placed this in New Mexico.

By: rich EE

rich EE — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 06:20:53 +0000

I also did the math and got exactly identical

results to PVinsights . 21.41 pcnt.

[based on 1 KW per square meter .]

By: rich EE

rich EE — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 06:20:00 +0000

I also did the math and got exactly identical

results to PVinsights . 21.41 pcnt.

[based on 1 KW per square meter .]

By: MD

MD — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:20:31 +0000

sailingsoul has a point…

You know what the dirty little secret behind smart meters is don’t you?

Make a meter smart enough to figure out TOU and how many VA get pumped into your home, i.e. a 25W CFL may consume 50VA, how much harmonics are coming out of your house, and how poor your homes power factor is…

As a result your power utility can charge you for what time you ran anything with a motor (inductive device), how many VA your lights and appliances draw (not everything is a resistive load), how much harmonics your cheap appliances create, and how poor your homes power factor is…

All ways to take more of your $$$

By: MD

MD — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:20:00 +0000

sailingsoul has a point…

You know what the dirty little secret behind smart meters is don’t you?

All ways to take more of your $$$

By: sailingsoul

sailingsoul — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 23:10:14 +0000

Ha Ha Ha, You think this going to change anything for you? Anyone who thinks that someday smaller versions of this will be on local roofs, are uninformed, or being selectively blind to how the market works. For example; Look at when Nanosolar announced (Dec.07) they can sell panels at under $1 a watt, their next words were, but our production is already sold for over the next year. Prove me wrong, Google “nanosolar panels for sale”, you can’t get them NO WHERE at almost two years later. They’ll not being sold to the larger market of 10’s of millions of home owners (++100M world wide), but to power producers, who already have the monopoly and intend to keep it. Like in Germany and Spain who are both building +1 Mw Nanosolar farms and will be selling the power to users, at oil prices.

Just look at how this new generator is being implemented. The’ re going to put 60 of these units on new land, far from users and sell the power to users at oil prices, transmission losses be dammed, instead of on users roofs where the power is used. They (oil) invested in this during the early development and as investors will never allow any end user, to buy this “now proven?” hardware that takes free sun and outputs electricity.

Come on people, wake up! Can you really believe for a second, that the power producers that sell every household power, at $50 a month and much more, will ever allow any company to sell a product that will give their customers an alternative cutting then out. No way.

OH YES! This is good news. Electricity at oil prices, without the oil. However end users, need not apply. SS

P.S. Don’t believe that any “new break through” in wind power will mean your going to benefit. There going to get that “zoned” prohibited when it becomes a threat.

By: sailingsoul

sailingsoul — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 23:10:00 +0000

OH YES! This is good news. Electricity at oil prices, without the oil. However end users, need not apply. SS

P.S. Don’t believe that any “new break through” in wind power will mean your going to benefit. There going to get that “zoned” prohibited when it becomes a threat.

By: Danish Muzaffar

Danish Muzaffar — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 23:18:52 +0000

Great info ,Smaller units could go directly on the roofs of factories, warehouses, department stores and commercial businesses, airports, schools and universities, hospitals, appartment buildings, government and military buildings, etc. – even homes

By: Danish Muzaffar

Danish Muzaffar — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 23:18:00 +0000

By: Bill T.

Bill T. — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:38:21 +0000

Forest of windmills in the north, solar dishes sprouting like wildflowers in the desert — it’s byoo-tee-full!!!

By: Bill T.

Bill T. — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:38:00 +0000

Forest of windmills in the north, solar dishes sprouting like wildflowers in the desert — it’s byoo-tee-full!!!

By: Fcarrera

Fcarrera — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:54:24 +0000

Lets agree with Sandia National Laboratories with their math, and for the sake of argument 21.414%, efficiency.

Having smaller units in roof tops or back yards is better return on your investment with less risk of having your savings tied up in a mishandled world economy.

I would jump on this investment in a heartbeat.

By: Fcarrera

Fcarrera — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:54:00 +0000

Lets agree with Sandia National Laboratories with their math, and for the sake of argument 21.414%, efficiency.

Having smaller units in roof tops or back yards is better return on your investment with less risk of having your savings tied up in a mishandled world economy.

I would jump on this investment in a heartbeat.

By: octavio torres

octavio torres — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:23:16 +0000

Really good article. Although this technology had been mentioned several times it is good news to know that there is going to be a real deployment of this hybrid solar technology. Now the questions for us as off-the-grid consumers: When is it going to be available to the general public for residential use? Could anyone provide a cost-efectivenes comparisons against solar photovaltic panels?

Regards

Octavio Torres, from Mexico