New Material Could Double Output Of Solar Panels
Researchers at Lehigh University say they have found a way to make solar panels that are much more efficient that today’s panels.
solar efficiency
In Ultrathin Layers, NREL Researchers Find A Path To Better Materials
Unexpected Crystalline Structure Explains Mechanism of Long-Used Solar Cell Treatment and Hints That Further Materials Discoveries Await For more than three decades, photovoltaic researchers have known that the addition of a single chemical — cadmium chloride — creates better-performing cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cells. But they have not understood exactly … [continued]
The Top 20 NREL Stories Of 2022
Throughout 2022, researchers, staff, and leadership at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) worked together with collaborators and partners to advance renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. As this busy year at NREL draws to a close, we look back at some of the laboratory’s … [continued]
How Does Local Solar Stack Up Against The Grid? New Map Provides Countrywide Comparison Of…
If you’re interested in knowing exactly where in the country solar energy is the most efficient — as compared to the local grid — then this new map (posted below) from Energy Points should be right up your alley. The map directly compares the efficiency of the local grid to … [continued]
Dog Bites Man As Amonix Sets Yet Another Solar Cell Efficiency Record
You know we’re getting somewhere when record-shattering solar power efficiency marks are popping up faster than zombies at your local Comic Con, so let’s hear it for the California-based innovator Amonix, which has been setting records practically since it first started up in 1989. In the latest development, Amonix has … [continued]
Wright’s Law & Moore’s Law Best Predict Technology Progress
Recent research from MIT and the Santa Fe Institute confirms that Wright’s Law and Moore’s Law are very good predictors for technological progress, the best known laws for predicting technological efficiency improvements. As the article below notes, Wright’s Law is identified as the top performer. And this is very important for clean energy … [continued]
Solar Tech Improvements; Solar Project News; Solar Manufacturing News… (Solar Energy News Roundup)
Other than the solar energy news we’ve already posted on, here’s some more solar energy news from the last week or so from around the cleantech interwebs: Solar Technology News Solar nanowire array may increase percentage of sun’s frequencies available for energy conversion. Changing the concentration of indium allows … [continued]
New World Record for Tandem Polymer Solar Cell Efficiency
“Scientists boosted the significance of tandem polymer solar cells by successfully testing cells with low-bandgap polymers that achieved certified conversion efficiencies of 8.62 ± 0.3% with respect to standard terrestrial reporting conditions,” the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) announced today. “Further, after the researchers incorporated a new infrared-absorbing polymer … [continued]
SCHOTT Solar Achieves Nearly 20% PV Efficiency Using New Fabrication Technology
SCHOTT Solar is producing silicon solar PV cells with nearly 20% efficiency at comparatively low cost using a combination of innovative technologies that promise to drive the cost of manufacturing solar photovoltaic cells, and the cost of producing electricity from solar energy, further down the curve.
Solar Cell with 114% External Quantum Efficiency
Scientists at National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) reported “the first solar cell that produces a photocurrent that has an external quantum efficiency greater than 100 percent when photoexcited with photons from the high energy region of the solar spectrum” at the end of last week. Promising news. More from NREL: The … [continued]
