Bell Labs

How Efficient Will Solar PV Be In The Future? 10-Year Predictions For The Industry

7 years ago Derek Markham 0 Comments

If you were to walk into a solar store and purchase some of their best-selling PV panels, it is likely that their solar irradiance-to-electricity conversion efficiency would be around 17%. This is the typical efficiency (Fraunhofer ISE Photovoltaics Report, 2017) of the top-selling PV product, a multi-crystalline silicon panel. This means that for a typical panel, 17% of all incident solar energy is converted directly to usable electricity. This is quite impressive for a device that has no moving parts and can generate power at the location where the electricity is required (no transmission losses). It is no wonder that PV is already one of the cheapest power technologies available.

Author John Perlin & The Solar Cell

9 years ago Glenn Meyers 0 Comments

In a discussion today about solar energy and the coming Year of Light, author John Perlin helped enlighten me about the importance of the solar cell (photovoltaic systems) as a source for renewable electrical energy. What is the single most significant consideration in designing a PV system, as opposed to … [continued]

60 Years of Solar Cells!

10 years ago Guest Contributor 2 Comments

Originally published on Suniblog. By David Baldwin The newsreel is just 90 seconds long. It is incredibly — and, to me, endearingly — crude, ragged, and inept. Against a background of loud, out-of-tune orchestral music, a narrator speaks of harnessing the power of the sun, as the camera shows us (a-ha!) the setting … [continued]

A Brief History of Everything Solar

12 years ago Zachary Shahan 6 Comments

  The following is an excellent short history of solar panels and solar power from guest contributor Dane Cross. I think you’ll thoroughly enjoy it — I did! What do Archimedes, Einstein and Arnold Schwarzenegger all have in common? Answer: They’ve all contributed to the development of solar power.   From the 3rd Century BC when Archimedes … [continued]