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Solar panel concentrators: Sunny

Posted Nov 10, 2006 at 07:02AM by Tim Y. Listed in: Engineering, Alternative Energy Tags: Mars, California, Australia, Solar Energy, solar panels, Sharp Corporation
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SunlightWhile a lot of us like the idea of solar panels finally becoming a cheap, viable energy source, there's a lot of serious hurdles the project needs to face, such as its massive surface area requirements, inefficiency, and astronomical costs.


One way around this problem is the implementation of a concentrator system, or in layman's terms, a lens system built to focus sunlight into a smaller, and hence more intense, surface area - like how we used a magnifying glass to fry ants when we were curious little toddlers.

"I'd much rather make a few square miles of plastic lenses--it would cost me less--than a few square miles of silicon solar cells," Jerry Olson had to say about this particular piece of technology for solar energy collection.

A research scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Josh says that the advent of concentrator systems would reduce the amount of silicon collectors needed per square foot to gather the same energy as a concentrator-equipped solar panel.


Case and point? A traditional solar collector would need four-square-miles of land to be able to collect one gigawatt of electricity, whereas one using concentrators would only use up somewhere between two to two-and-a-half-square-miles. Aside from reduced surface areas, the less dependence on silicon panels also cuts down on costs, making this technology more accessible by the public.

In connection with this, some high-profile companies have already started taking notice of this new trend, and are now planning their own ventures into this alternative power source:
  • Japan's Sharp Corporation just showcased their venture into this collector technology last year, introducing a Fresnel-style focusing lens for gathering solar energy - similar to the lens design we see in lighthouses.
  • SolFocus and Energy Innovations, tow companies based in sunny California, are also making ventures into concentrators, though there are no details as to what they're planning.
  • Spectrolab, a Boeing subsidiary, is also delving into this concentrator project, and is currently supporting a concentrator project in Australia that aims to power 3,500 homes. We'll remember Spectrolab that built the hard solar panels for the mars probe.
For anybody who remembers Die Another Day, sorry, there has yet to be word on an Icarus project, though you'll be the first to be illuminated with news on this topic. For now, feel free to take a look at this smaller, but far more lethal light-based death ray.

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   by roid (Unregistered) - 2006-11-25
 » concentrator systems are easy to do
These guys won awards for their cheap-as-chips "SunBall" product that uses solar concentrators. You shove it on your roof.
http://www.greenandgoldenergy.com.au/

strangely their website is now more orientated towards a new cheaper to build (but less awesome) version called the "Suncube" that they are targetting more towards power generation farms. But the SunBALL looks way cooler, google has images.



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