A project to gather current information on Solar Power Generation

Solar power is attractive because it is plentiful but there are many problems to be overcome before it can power the world. This project is dedicated to reporting progress but

Conservation and efficiency is the answer, at least until an affordable .

photovoltaic cell is developed. If Arizona was covered with 10% efficient solar

panels, it could provide the 100 quadrillion BTUs that the USA uses every year

Bob Maginnis October 2005

The race is not over however! See Pyron Solar Power and a new World Record of 40% efficiency has been established in USA also ENECO Solar who claim 38%. Possibly the cheapness of Nanosolar printed foils may outway the efficiency of other products. The largest project announced to date (2009) is in NW China.

More recently solar thermal systems have gained in popularity as they make use of a larger percentage of the energy reaching the earth.

Systems in which the sun heats water to generate electricity are developing fast by the Spanish company Acciona Energy and they now plan a 200 MW plant in Nevada which will pay for itself in 10 years.

Google are investing in solar thermal research and are approaching their goal of energy as cheap as coal. Google Nears Cheap Energy Goal

One of the major problems is that heavy night demand does not co-incide with day time supply (see Electricity Stored ). This is overcome in George Monbiot's thinking of a direct current supergrid which covers several time zones and blends wind power and solar with some storage capacity. Night time generation is also possible with generation in space. PG&E have linked with Solaren, a start up company, for 200mw Space Solar Planned 2016. Misubishi is involved in a $21 billion project with the Japanese Space Agency.

One of the newest methods is to use algae to capture the energy to fuel a power plant. It is claimed in Venice that a complete plant can be operational in 2 years.

Group members

Malcolm Crocker

Sources

1. DESERTEC Solar North Africa 01/07/09
2. Worlds Largest Solar Station in India 04/10/09
3. Concentrating Solar, the comparison with nuclear 19/08/08
4. Molten Salt Solar Plant 07/06/09
5. Incentives Drive Solar Contracts East 17/11/09
6. Solar Hybrid Local Power 29/06/09
7. 18 percent Conversion Efficiency in early trial of Nano Technology 12/10/09
8. Suncatchers to provide 1000MW solar pa by 2011 14/06/09
9. Big Solar Power NW China planned 11/01/09
10. Venice 40MW from Algae 26/03/09
11. Power from Space $21 billion project 14/09/09
12. Google Nears Cheap Energy Goal 09/06/09
13. 200mw Space Solar Planned 2016 16/04/09
14. Solar Energy Update Spring 08 26/03/08
15. Credit Crunch Solar Difficulties 29/01/09
16. Salt Storing Solar Energy 21/02/09
17. Artificial Trees Produce Solar and Wind Power 07/03/09
18. French Farmer New Sun King 25/02/09
19. Butterfly Wings Enhance Solar Collection 12/02/09
20. Sharp Solar Thin Film in US 2009 16/10/08
21. Sharp Cells in Italy $1.6 billion project 27/11/08
22. New Storage Technology makes solar viable 04/11/08
23. 110 mw Solar for Florida 27/06/08
24. Nanosolar hits the Streets Guardian 29/12/07
25. PV Windows from MIT 21/07/08
26. Big Business Solar Investment increases 21/06/08
27. Nanosolar - Green Power without paying more 23/04/08
28. CIGS progress 2008 REUTERS 03/04/08
29. IBM in the Solar race developing CIGS 17/06/08
30. Big US Solar Plans by Spanish Company 12/11/07
31. Google Renewables 03/12/07
32. MIT Electric Storage for homes 01/08/08
33. California adds more Solar 07/04/08
34. Race for Best Solar 14/06/07
35. Solar Paint on Steel Cladding development promising 10/03/08
36. Nanosolar Cheap Power 17/11/07
37. Google to boost green technologies 09/02/08
38. Nanosolar Ships First Panels 16/12/07
39. Solar Footprint not zero 09/02/08
40. Dye Sensitised Principle
41. Florida Solar Rooftop Plans 16/07/07
42. First Solar PV Factories 02/10/07
43. Inexpensive Solar on the Way 21/07/07
44. Financing Solar
45. Solar Becoming Cost Effective
46. 800MW Solar Cell Production in California 10/08/06
47. ENECO Solar
48. Pyron Solar Power
49. Dyesol Claims Zero Carbon Living with Glass 10/04/08
50. Electricity Stored
51. Tesco Solar Roof
52. Solar Dish Power
53. Quantum Dot Solar
54. World Record for Solar Efficiency
55. Spanish Solar Leadership