SolarSummary: November 26 – December 2, 2002

by Kirsten Elder Companies in the news BP Solar: www.bpsolar.com First Solar Corp: (under construction) Solar Century: www.solarcentury.co.uk Solar Energy Systems Ltd: www.sesltd.com.au Solartech: www.solartech.com.myEmerging Technologies A joint venture between the Australian National University and Origin Energy has developed a new type of solar cell. The Silver Cell uses just one tenth of the costly silicon used in conventional solar panels while matching power, performance and efficiency. According to the ANU Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems, a solar panel using the Silver Cell technology needs the equivalent of two silicon wafers to convert sunlight to 140 watts of power. By comparison, a conventional solar panel needs about 60 silicon wafers to achieve this performance. (Solarbuzz.com, 28/11/02) After last weeks announcement by BP Solar regarding its decision to stop manufacturing thin film solar cells, the National Center for Photovoltaics (NCPV) in Colorado has released a statement reaffirming that the development of thin-film photovoltaic technologies is one of the highest priority research activities of the United States Department of Energy. The released statement said that neither BP Solar nor the NCPV view this decision as diminishing the potential of thin-film PV, specifically amorphous silicon and cadmium telluride. Rather, the situation underscores the […]

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