Comments on: Semprius to Produce Dot-Sized, Low Cost-High Efficiency Solar CPV Cells, Modules at NC Plant

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 03:10:00 +0000

Here’s my take on storage.

1) We don’t need it (except for wind firming) for several years. We’ve got a lot of dispatchable supply that can be used for fill-in.

2) Worst case, we could install lots of pump-up hydro. We have thousands of existing dams that could be used. I doubt we’ll go to pump-up because there are almost certainly going to be cheaper solutions.

3) There are multiple US “better coming” battery technologies in the works.

The most promising, IMO, is Ambri’s liquid metal battery. It’s working at the prototype level and should be very cheap.

The first to come on line apparently will be Aquion’s sodium-ion battery. They should start manufacturing this year. Their battery should be very affordable, just not as cheap as Ambri’s.

Other interesting technologies such as zinc-air, lithium-air and redox-flow approaches are also possibilities.

Of course we have no idea what China might be developing. We tend to sell China short, I’m afraid, but should remember that China has major battery companies and lots of well-trained engineers and scientists.

And there are other non-battery approaches being studied. One interesting one is to store energy as heat in large well-insulated containers of gravel and to move the heat between containers using argon gas and heat pumps.

It’s early in the storage game. Way too early to pick winner.

By: Bruce Miller

Bruce Miller — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 00:51:00 +0000

Coal Oil and enriched uranium reactors (plus their waste disposal costs) Challenged! Will further electric storage schemes even surpass the ‘old School” logic? Can molten salts be used?Something better coming? From China?

By: Advanced Solar CPV Manufacturing Plant to Open in NC this Month - CleanTechnica

Advanced Solar CPV Manufacturing Plant to Open in NC this Month - CleanTechnica — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 12:58:25 +0000

[…] “SunShot Incubator” program, refining and proving its technology with NREL in Golden. NREL validated Semprius’ tiny, dot-sized CPV cells as having an energy conversion efficiency of 41% at a concentration of […]

By: New Solar Module Efficiency Record.. & These Modules Are Coming to Market | CleanTechnica

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:10:11 +0000

[…] of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). (Yep, we’ve covered Semprius a few times in the past […]

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 10:01:14 +0000

Manufacturing facility — the capacity is in reference to how many cells/modules it will be able to produce (5 MW worth,.. eventually 35 MW worth)

By: LE

LE — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 02:30:39 +0000

RE: “Semprius to Produce Dot-Sized, Low Cost-High Efficiency Solar CPV Cells, Modules at NC Plant”; AND/OR:
“… Semprius’ manufacturing plant in Henderson, NC… The plant’s due… with an initial capacity of 5 megawatts (MW), expanding to 35 MW over time.”

Is the NC-Henderson building a ‘CPV-module manufacturing-facility/’ AND/OR a ‘solar-energy plant’ to produce/distribute power???