[amor de cosmos]

I'm Now Convinced That Global Solar Dominance Is In Sight
The Telegraph
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, The Telegraph
Apr. 10, 2014, 9:59 AM

Solar power will slowly squeeze the revenues of petro-rentier regimes in Russia, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. They will have to find a new business model, or fade into decline

Solar power has won the global argument. Photovoltaic energy is already so cheap that it competes with oil, diesel and liquefied natural gas in much of Asia without subsidies.

Roughly 29pc of electricity capacity added in America last year came from solar, rising to 100pc even in Massachusetts and Vermont. "More solar has been installed in the US in the past 18 months than in 30 years," says the US Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). California's subsidy pot is drying up but new solar has hardly missed a beat.

The technology is improving so fast - helped by the US military - that it has achieved a virtuous circle. Michael Parker and Flora Chang, at Sanford Bernstein, say we entering a new order of "global energy deflation" that must ineluctably erode the viability of oil, gas and the fossil fuel nexus over time. In the 1980s solar development was stopped in its tracks by the slump in oil prices. By now it has surely crossed the threshold irreversibly.

The ratchet effect of energy deflation may be imperceptible at first since solar makes up just 0.17pc of the world's $5 trillion energy market, or 3pc of its electricity. The trend does not preclude cyclical oil booms along the way. Nor does it obviate the need for shale fracking as a stop-gap, for national security reasons or in Britain's case to curb a shocking current account deficit of 5.4pc of GDP.

But the technology momentum goes only one way. "Eventually solar will become so large that there will be consequences everywhere," they said. This remarkable overthrow of everything we take for granted in world energy politics may occur within "the better part of a decade".

http://www.businessinsider.com/globa...n-sight-2014-4

Research Finds “Tunable” Semiconductors Will Allow Better Detectors, Solar Cells
Posted On April 13, 2014
Ann Claycombe

One of the great problems in physics is the detection of electromagnetic radiation – that is, light – which lies outside the small range of wavelengths that the human eye can see. Think X-rays, for example, or radio waves.

Now, researchers have discovered a way to use existing semiconductors to detect a far wider range of light than is now possible, well into the infrared range. The team hopes to use the technology in detectors, but also in improved solar cells that could absorb infrared light as well as the sun’s visible rays.

“This technology will also allow dual or multiband detectors to be developed, which could be used to reduce false positives in identifying, for example, toxic gases,” said Unil Perera, a Regents’ Professor of Physics at Georgia State University. Perera leads the Optoelectronics Research Laboratory, where fellow author and postdoctoral fellow Yan-Feng Lao is also a member. The research team also included scientists from the University of Leeds in England and Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China.

To understand the team’s breakthrough, it’s important to understand how semiconductors work. Basically, a semiconductor is exactly what its name implies – a material that will conduct an electromagnetic current, but not always. An external energy source must be used to get those electrons moving.

But infrared light doesn’t carry a lot of energy, and won’t cause many semiconductors to react. And without a reaction, there’s nothing to detect.

Until now, the only solution would have been to find a semiconductor material that would respond to long-wavelength, low-energy light like the infrared spectrum.

But instead, the researchers worked around the problem by adding another light source to their device. The extra light source primes the semiconductor with energy, like running hot water over a jar lid to loosen it. When a low-energy, long-wavelength beam comes along, it pushes the material over the top, causing a detectable reaction.

http://news.gsu.edu/2014/04/13/new-t...s-solar-cells/
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releas...u-ns041314.php

Novel technique developed by NUS scientists opens door to better solar cells, superconductors and hard drives
14 April 2014 National University of Singapore

Invention solves long-standing mystery in the physics of condensed matter; enhances understanding about interfaces between materials

A team of scientists, led by Assistant Professor Andrivo Rusydi from the Department of Physics at the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Faculty of Science, has successfully developed a technique to study the interface between materials, shedding light on the new properties that arise when two materials are put together.

With a better understanding of how materials interface, scientists can tweak the properties of different materials more easily, and this opens doors to the development of better solar cells, novel superconductors and smaller hard drives.

The team’s research findings were first published in scientific journal Nature Communication on 14 April 2014.

Solving mysteries in condensed matter physics

Some of the most exciting condensed matter physics problems are found at the interfaces of dissimilar materials.

“If you put two materials together, you can create completely new properties. For instance, two non-conducting, non-magnetic insulators can become conducting and in some cases ferromagnetic and superconducting at their interface,” explained Asst Prof Rusydi. "The problem is that we do not fully understand what is happening at the interface yet."

To resolve this long-standing mystery in the physics of condensed matter, the NUS scientists investigated the interface between strontium titanate and lanthanum aluminate, two insulators that become conductors at their interface. In doing this, the team uncovered another mystery.

“For this interface, a theory predicts that the conductivity should be tenfold higher than what is observed. So, 90 per cent of the charge carriers - the electrons - are missing. It is a complete mystery to us why this happened,” said Asst Prof Rusydi.

http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem...CultureCode=en
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0414091958.htm

Australian community imagines inclusive solar project
14. April 2014 | Markets & Trends, Global PV markets | By: Ian Clover

Members of the public in the New South Wales town of Tathra have been invited to purchase solar panels on a 50 kW array, which will be arranged to spell out the word "Imagine."

Imagine all the people… reaching into their pockets to help their community adopt a solar future. Well, imagine no more because that is exactly what is happening in Tathra, a small town in New South Wales, Australia, where a 50 kW solar installation has been agreed between the Bega Valley Shire Council and local renewable energy association, Clean Energy for Eternity (CEFE).

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed at the weekend for the solar array to be installed at the Tathra Sewage Treatment Plant, where it will provide half of the plant’s energy needs. And in an effort to elicit heightened public interest in the project, the array will be arranged so that it spells out the word "Imagine" that will be visible to air passengers arriving and departing on flights from nearby Merimbula airport.

http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/deta...ect_100014817/

Solarex: Turkish solar sector sees increased activity
14. April 2014 | Global PV markets, Industry & Suppliers, Markets & Trends, Trade show | By: Hans-Christoph Neidlein

The Solarex confab in Istanbul came to a close on Saturday with an optimistic outlook for the Turkish PV market. Numerous companies reported increased activity and qualified interest.

Some 250 exhibitors and around 10,000 visitors joined the 7th International Solar Energy and Technologies Exhibition (Solarex) in Istanbul -- a 20% increase compared to 2013, according to organizers. International exhibitors accounted for a 50 percent share. Despite the high bureaucracy and relatively few installations so far, most companies pv magazine spoke to expressed optimism about the further development of the Turkish PV market and contentment with the trade fair.

"Qualified interest increased considerably compared to last year,” said Wang Runchuan, senior manager at JA Solar. Many booths in the two exhibition halls at the Istanbul Expo Center remained surrounded by flocks of visitors up until the closing of the show late Saturday afternoon.

http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/deta...ity_100014816/

Shiny quantum dots brighten future of solar cells
The project demonstrates that superior light-emitting properties of quantum dots can be applied in solar energy by helping more efficiently harvest sunlight.
April 14, 2014
Nancy Ambrosiano

Photovoltaic solar-panel windows could be next for your house

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., April 14, 2014—A house window that doubles as a solar panel could be on the horizon, thanks to recent quantum-dot work by Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers in collaboration with scientists from University of Milano-Bicocca (UNIMIB), Italy. Their project demonstrates that superior light-emitting properties of quantum dots can be applied in solar energy by helping more efficiently harvest sunlight.

“The key accomplishment is the demonstration of large-area luminescent solar concentrators that use a new generation of specially engineered quantum dots,” said lead researcher Victor Klimov of the Center for Advanced Solar Photophysics (CASP) at Los Alamos.

Quantum dots are ultra-small bits of semiconductor matter that can be synthesized with nearly atomic precision via modern methods of colloidal chemistry. Their emission color can be tuned by simply varying their dimensions. Color tunability is combined with high emission efficiencies approaching 100 percent. These properties have recently become the basis of a new technology – quantum dot displays – employed, for example, in the newest generation of the Kindle Fire ™ e-reader.

Light-harvesting antennas

A luminescent solar concentrator (LSC) is a photon management device, representing a slab of transparent material that contains highly efficient emitters such as dye molecules or quantum dots. Sunlight absorbed in the slab is re-radiated at longer wavelengths and guided towards the slab edge equipped with a solar cell.

Klimov explained, “The LSC serves as a light-harvesting antenna which concentrates solar radiation collected from a large area onto a much smaller solar cell, and this increases its power output.”

“LSCs are especially attractive because in addition to gains in efficiency, they can enable new interesting concepts such as photovoltaic windows that can transform house facades into large-area energy generation units,” said Sergio Brovelli, who worked at Los Alamos until 2012 and is now a faculty member at UNIMIB.

Because of highly efficient, color-tunable emission and solution processability, quantum dots are attractive materials for use in inexpensive, large-area LSCs. One challenge, however, is an overlap between emission and absorption bands in the dots, which leads to significant light losses due to the dots re-absorbing some of the light they produce.

https://www.lanl.gov/newsroom/news-r...antum-dots.php
http://www.rdmag.com/news/2014/04/sh...re-solar-cells

A molecular approach to solar power
Switchable material could harness the power of the sun — even when it’s not shining.
David L. Chandler | MIT News Office
April 13, 2014

It’s an obvious truism, but one that may soon be outdated: The problem with solar power is that sometimes the sun doesn’t shine.

Now a team at MIT and Harvard University has come up with an ingenious workaround — a material that can absorb the sun’s heat and store that energy in chemical form, ready to be released again on demand.

This solution is no solar-energy panacea: While it could produce electricity, it would be inefficient at doing so. But for applications where heat is the desired output — whether for heating buildings, cooking, or powering heat-based industrial processes — this could provide an opportunity for the expansion of solar power into new realms.

“It could change the game, since it makes the sun’s energy, in the form of heat, storable and distributable,” says Jeffrey Grossman, the Carl Richard Soderberg Associate Professor of Power Engineering at MIT, who is a co-author of a paper describing the new process in the journal Nature Chemistry. Timothy Kucharski, a postdoc at MIT and Harvard, is the paper’s lead author.

The principle is simple: Some molecules, known as photoswitches, can assume either of two different shapes, as if they had a hinge in the middle. Exposing them to sunlight causes them to absorb energy and jump from one configuration to the other, which is then stable for long periods of time.

But these photoswitches can be triggered to return to the other configuration by applying a small jolt of heat, light, or electricity — and when they relax, they give off heat. In effect, they behave as rechargeable thermal batteries: taking in energy from the sun, storing it indefinitely, and then releasing it on demand.

The new work is a follow-up to research by Grossman and his team three years ago, based on computer analysis. But translating that theoretical work into a practical material proved daunting: In order to reach the desired energy density — the amount of energy that can be stored in a given weight or volume of material — it is necessary to pack the molecules very close together, which proved to be more difficult than anticipated.

*snip*

This realization, Grossman says, opens up a wide range of possible materials for optimizing heat storage. Instead of searching for specific photoswitching molecules, the researchers can now explore various combinations of molecules and substrates. “Now we’re looking at whole new classes of solar thermal materials where you can enhance this interactivity,” he says.

Grossman says there are many applications where heat, not electricity, might be the desired outcome of solar power. For example, in large parts of the world the primary cooking fuel is wood or dung — which produces unhealthy indoor air pollution, and can contribute to deforestation. Solar cooking could alleviate that — and since people often cook while the sun isn’t out, being able to store heat for later use could be a big benefit.

Unlike fuels that are burned, this system uses material that can be continually reused. It produces no emissions and nothing gets consumed, Grossman says.

http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/molec...to-solar-power
http://www.rdmag.com/news/2014/04/mo...ch-solar-power

Solar industry launches Solar Facts site to counter renewable myths
By Emma Fitzpatrick on 14 April 2014

A new source of information has been launched by the REC Agents Association (RAA), rooftop-solar7-150x150which aims to highlight the facts surrounding solar – as the renewable energy industry ramps up its campaign to stop the Abbott government cutting back on renewable energy targets.

Ric Brazzale, the president of RAA, which is a national industry body for companies that create and trade in renewable energy certificates, said “a number of spurious claims have been made about the solar industry, the Renewable Energy Target and the cost and contribution of solar, and it’s time to correct the record”.

He said the Solar Facts information portal would be a valuable source of information for policy makers, journalists, solar industry professionals and “anyone passionate about solar wanting access to facts”.

“RAA’s one-stop-shop for solar data will be regularly updated and expanded to bust solar myths and keep interested parties factually updated about solar in Australia.”

“Solar is an important part of mainstream Australian life,” said Fiona O’Hehir, Vice-President of RAA.

“More than 2 million solar installations have been supported by the Renewable Energy Target. Almost 25 per cent of the 8.4 million occupied private dwellings in Australia have a solar system.”

The new site has highlighted some interesting statistics about solar in Australia – including the fact that we invested more than $1.7 billion in solar PV in 2013 and currently more than 17,700 Australians are employed by the industry.

http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/sola...enewable-myths

IPVEA to study solar PV industry supply chain bottlenecks

Stating its goal of driving down costs in the industry, the International Photovoltaic Equipment Association (IPVEA) has launched the “IPVEA study on optimizing the worldwide solar PV supply chain” with the support of business facilitator Solar PV Consulting.

IPVEA estimates that the global PV industry is currently losing USD 400–500 million annually due to lack of optimization in the supply chain, and estimates that this could reach more than USD 1 billion by 2018.

“Solar PV industry is projected to grow significantly in the next few years – in terms of volumes and diversity of new markets,” notes PV Analyst Fatima Toor of Lux Research, who serves as co-chair of the IPVEA committee launching the study.

“Coinciding with this growth new supply chain challenges are certain to emerge for solar companies, rightfully concerned about unnecessary spending and potential loss of credibility with stakeholders such as investors, EPCs (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) and end customers, all of whom strive to avoid delays in delivery.”

IPVEA to reveal results in at SNEC 2014 in Shanghai

IPVEA says that it will conduct the study with the support of leading experts in the field. Solar PV Consulting will collect the data on behalf of IPVEA, and following tabulation of the data will make recommendations along with IPVEA to remove bottlenecks.

Results of the survey will be revealed at the Solar Business Leaders Lunch on May 19th, 2014 in Shanghai during the 8th Annual SNEC International Photovoltaic Power Generation Conference & Exhibition.

http://www.solarserver.com/solar-mag...ttlenecks.html

EnergyTrend: Fall in solar PV costs expected in Q2 2014

TrendForce's (Taipei) EnergyTrend division expects lower prices for solar photovoltaic (PV) products in the second quarter of 2014, based on falling price quotes.

The company notes that polysilicon contract prices fell to USD 21–22 per kilogram (kg) after reaching USD 23 per kg in March 2014. EnergyTrend found that falling contract prices also led to a reduction in polysilicon spot prices.

“Due to growing mono-si wafer demands, manufacturers have started to focus on high-quality polysilicon in April, which led to decreased demands for normal-grade polysilicon that was previously in high demands,” said EnergyTrend Research Manager Arthur Hsu.

“Meanwhile, auxiliary material demand has declined leading to improved supply and demands situation since manufacturers now focus on high-efficiency products and mono-si products. Based on current prices, the price difference between auxiliary material and normal products is about 15%.”

The company reports 0.3–0.6% decreases in prices along the PV value chain during the second week of 2014, with module prices falling 0.64% to USD 0.619 per watt.

http://www.solarserver.com/solar-mag...n-q2-2014.html