Canada's largest solar park producing 20MW even when cloudy

Amherstburg Solar Park in Ontario has installed 57,906 high-efficiency solar panels designed and built by SunPower which will still work even on cloudy day. The solar array system which equipped with tracker system and each panel connected to the computer programmer will serve power for about 4,000 homes.


The project in the area of 220-acre is owned by Capstone Infrastructure Corporation which has got leased land from Loris Collavino, a businessman from Amherstburg. The construction of solar power generation system which has spent $130million is expected to generate 20 Megawatts power even on a cloudy day. The Capstone Infrastructure previously was well-known as a publicly listed company which engaged in hydropower generation in Canada.


The solar park has started its operating at the end of last month and its expected to reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 27,003(1) tonnes. The project which has worked for 3 years by SunPower was the biggest one developed by the company. The advantages of its high efficiency photovoltaic technology and its single-axis tracker system will increase up to 50 percent of electricity compared to the conventional solar panels or four times as much power as thin-film solar technology.


According to the solar park owner, a program which guaranteed price for the next 20 years will be given to the Ontario Power Authority which will become the customer of its largest solar power plant in Canada. The program will run under the Province of Ontario's Renewable Energy Standard Offer.

Solar powered catamaran made by Electro Solar can speeding up to 8 knots

ElectroSolar Catamaran is good team work between Electro Solar Ltd and Padua company as a form of cooperation between the manufacturer of solar panels and water sports to create a water-friendly vehicle with no emissions using solar energy.

The solar powered catamaran presented at Lake Maggiore in Lesa Lakes Schooner in the framework of Legambiente meeting. The catamaran equipped with high-efficiency solar modules covering 10 square feet,a m.ti 5.50 electric motor, and a 40 Ah battery. The boat can achieve 8 knots of speed due to low weight and low wetted surface which hulls of a Formula 18. The two lead acid storage batteries gel will be able to give solar catamaran the good cruising range.

The ElectroSolar catamaran planned to shows its performance in the 2011 Solar Challenge international solar boat at Avigliana lakes,end of this month. The catamaran photovoltaic modules supplied by Padua company can generate 2 KW of electricity.

UQ's solar array is the largest flat-solar panel system in Australia

The University of Queensland has installed its large solar power system consisted of 5400 solar panels on the rooftop of their four biggest buildings. The solar photovoltaic system is expected to produce about 1.22 MW energy that predicted would be enough to serve about 5 to 6 percent of St Lucia campus energy needs.

The UQ's significant expertise of academics and engineers also worked with industry leaders to design and install PV solar power system. They also installed a ground-mounted, 7 meter by 6 meter 8.4 kilowatt concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) array which able to follows the sun movement. The system has an area about 25 percent larger compared to others flat-panel PV system that already exist in Australia today.

The ease of access for the public via the Internet is also provided by the campus to find out the latest and historical data on energy generated by solar power system. The solar panel supplied by Trina Solar and installed by Brisbane firm Ingenero. The UQ also plans to continues its solar research projects working with Brisbane firm Ingenero.

Solar panels can reduce building’s roof heat by 38 percent

A recent study shows that solar panel installed on the rooftops of the building can helps to keep cooling the building under the solar panels. Not only to cooling, the solar panels on the rooftops of the building can also add a little heat in the building during the winter.

The green energy and roof shades provided by the solar panels has been studied by UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering researchers. They used thermal imaging data to find out the ratio of heat between the building with solar panel installations and buildings without solar panels on the rooftops.

The difference of about 5 degrees F cooler due to solar panels can withstand the heat of the sun does not penetrate into buildings. It also benefited by the circulation of air through the space between solar panels and the roof of the building. While at night, solar panels can store heat in its thermal insulation, which it can help warm the building during the winter.

The development of solar panel use as renewable energy harvester from solar energy sometimes hampered by the installation costs which are still expensive.
The new findings allows us to calculate the cost that can be saved from the building's cooling system and the heating system. The double function of solar panels on the rooftops of the building can help cover the solar panel installation cost.

Suntech launch 15.5 percent efficiency multicrystalline solar module for Israeli customers

Suntech will soon launched its new 300W Vd high-efficiency solar modules in Israel. The new solar panel claimed can reach 15.5% conversion efficiency of multicrystalline wafers which has some advantages than polycrystalline or monocrystalline solar modules.

The company has developed a new technology to make higher-quality of multicrystalline wafers using SuperPoly processing technology. In addition to more power generated,the new solar panel will more cost effective than conventional polycrystalline.

Based on hybrid wafer manufacturing, the new module is environmentally friendly and allows the energy payback time much faster than conventional monocrystalline modules. The 6-inch square cells anti-reflective surface is suitable for rooftop installations.

According to the company, Suntech new solar panel technology is suitable for the country like Israel which has good solar resource in order to get its energy independent.

Butte College's solar panel installation produce power more than annually needs

An effort to make a green campus has been done by Butte College in California, by installed solar panels to harness solar energy for its annually electricity needs. About 25,000 solar panels has been installed to produce approximately 6.5 million KW hours each year.

The electricity produced by the solar system is more than the campus annually power needs, so its will be connected to the grid. Thus, its expected could save up to $75 million dollars of institution during the period of 15 years. Cost savings will be used to cover the installation cost and operational of the system, besides the possibility to provide scholarships for the students at Butte College.

The campus green step has become a model for other campuses in the United States to be able to take advantage of renewable energy from solar energy to meet the campus energy needs which environmentally friendly and cost-effective. Forward, the ability of students to be able to operate its own system would be more saving the operational and maintenance cost of the system itself. In addition, the students will also be able to learn or to get training about the solar system installation.

World's largest hybrid solar panels power plant built in Italy

The reliability of a HIT (Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin layer) as a hybrid solar panels with high conversion efficiency has been dominated by Sanyo as a subsidiary of Panasonic. Sanyo has recently installed its HIT solar modules for a solar power plant at Torre Santa Susanna, Southeast Italy, which its claimed as the world's largest solar power plants that use HIT solar modules.

The solar farm is one of the largest tracking solar power plant in Europe which installed with 32.202 Sanyo HIT solar modules in an area of 19 hectare. Its able to produce power up to 7.567 Megawatts, enough to provide power for 3.300 homes. Actually, power plant construction has been completed by the end of last year, but the newly installed Sanyo HIT solar modules on last April.

The project AUD $ 54,170,000 worth is an initiative of the Deutsche Bank's finance that collaborated with Energie & Solar Technik GmbH, dean Solar GmbH, and the Sanyo company. Sanyo HIT solar panels has reach 21.2% efficiency and its has good ability in high temperatures with smaller footprint, suitable for less roof space area.

Researchers at MIT showed solar panels can be printed on plain paper and other materials

Actually, technology to printing solar panels on paper has been developed by MIT researchers last year. But now, MIT researchers assure the development of technology for real applications by demo its flexible solar panels printed on regular printer paper, tissue, newsprint, and other cheap or unused materials.

Researchers precipitate oxidative chemical vapor using a temperature below 120 degrees C to produce a paper photovoltaic arrays. In addition to plain paper, solar panels can also be printed on other materials such as plastics and fabrics using the same way in inkjet printers, cheap and simple.

Although the efficiency is still low, but solar cells printed on paper can produce power even when using light in the room. Its only generated power less than 50 Volts, but it still can be used to power small devices.

But researchers at MIT believe that technology has the decency to be developed for the commercial possibilities by improving solar panel output in each kilogram. They will perform various experiments with other materials to improve its solar cell efficiency.

Going forward, the technology opens the possibility to print solar panels for application in homes like on window curtains, wallpaper, and all others media which solar cells can be printed on it.

PowerFilm, a flexible solar panels manufacturer showed rollable display

Making solar panels to be flexible can be advantageous in terms of ease application of solar power technology for various purposes utilizing renewable energy from solar energy. A roll to roll flexible electronics technology made ​​by PowerFilm has been demonstrated on the backplane array technology for a flexible full working display which integrated with a front plane driver.

PowerFilm Inc. is a publicly owned company based in Iowa, and is also listed on the London Alternative Investment Market (AIM). The company is specially engaged in the development and manufacturer of thin flexible solar panels and flexible electronics. The backplane array technology is the first in the world that have been demonstrated to U.S. government officials.

The transistors array of backplane driver will turns individual pixels on a display on and off by computer instructions. The roll-to-roll technology is originally developed for PowerFilm photovoltaic products and then developed again by a majority owned subsidiary Phicot, Hewlett-Packard, and the Army Research Laboratory .

The flexible display technology has the advantage that its backplane drivers which are thin, lightweight, conformable, durable because made ​​of plastic, and a low cost manufacturing process at scale. Thin film semiconductor technology may also be applied on RFID tag or electronic paper.

Harness infrared or near infrared rays to increase solar cells efficiency

One of the current obstacles to get better solar panel efficiency is that not all wavelengths of light or solar spectrum can be fully utilized by solar cells. But the researchers have developed a new way to use certain materials coated on solar cells to harness infrared or near infrared rays to increase solar cell efficiency .

The Researchers from Stanford University, in collaboration with the Bosch Research and Technology Center, to develop this technique into a working system to be demonstrated for the next four years. They seek to maximize the use of sunlight energy contents which its still minimal at this point, its only about 30 percent energy contents used.

According to a researcher at the Stanford group, the upconversion process allows increased efficiency of solar cells around 11 to 15 percent. The process relies on a pair of dyes absorbing the photons of a certain wavelength and re-emitting them as usable short wavelength light.

The upconversion process is first demonstrated by Stanford University Researchers. Researcher also will develop nano particles to support the upconversion process and produce material sheets. Attempt to create a more efficient solar cells may be seen the commercial about next 7 years.

Solar powered microgrid as a US soldiers green step in Afghanistan

As difficulty of diesel fuel delivery for diesel generators because of the risk of robbery by the enemy , the US troops in Afghanistan will begin to test its solar powered microgrids for their electricity needs. In addition to cutting operating costs, the installation is a green step to harness renewable energy.

Solar powered microgrid installation will connect each microgrid to the four diesel generators which collectively will able to produce 1 megawatt. As the pilot phase, the installation will serve the soldiers daily electricity needs , such as kitchens and washing machines. The green step is considered highly beneficial in terms of cost and safety. Microgrid also will supply power only when needed, so that no electricity is wasted. Its will also cut maintenance costs of small units.

Solar powered microgrid installation will consists of a controls that will be able to integrate renewable energy generation in the form of solar power and wind power. Looking ahead, the U.S. Army will make modular systems for generating electricity from wind energy, solar energy and other renewable energy.

Scientists develop technology to convert solar energy directly into fuel

In line with the development of technology utilizing solar energy to electricity using solar panels, the scientists also tried to look at more efficient ways to harness the sunlight into fuel for cars directly. The scientists first step is to create solar nano-cell than utilizes electric current generated to electrolyze water molecules into hydrogen or oxygen.


The Germany-based, Solar GmbH Fuel technology group, then process the hydrogen generated to produce methane through the reaction with CO2 emissions from power plants or cement kilns. Meanwhile Joule Bio-Technologies, Massachusetts based, also developing this technology to converts sunlight into biofuel using cyanobacteria, which is a genetically engineered micro-organisms. They also use CO2 to be digested by the cyanobacteria to produce biofuels.


This technological development will further add to the benefits of solar power, in addition to directly generate electricity through the installation of solar panels. Solar fuels will likely be closer to be realized for our car tanks.

Scientists developed new cheap polymer solar panels technique

The scientists at Universities of Sheffield and Cambridge, have successfully developed a new technique using a material other than silicon is cheaper to make a solar panel modules. The researchers used a layer of cling film deposited on a plastic surface.

The study, published in the Journal of Advanced Energy Materials, explained that cling film materials are flexible photovoltaic materials that are cheaper than conventional silicon solar modules. According to the researchers, the films are also lightweight making it easy for shipping. They also expect for a very cheap solar energy can be used in a large scale for domestic and industrial.

The technique is just like varnishing a tabletop, a very thin film was spread over the surface, semiconducting molecules contained within the mixtures separate to the top and bottom of the layer. It Will be able to maximize the efficiency of solar panels.

The researchers will encourage further research to allow make polymer solar panels are cheaper with a bit of material used in the manufacture of conventional solar cells. They hope the next fifty years of clean solar energy could replace fossil fuel use for electricity.

Double-layer solar cells absorb more sunlight

The absorption of sunlight by conventional solar cells from silicon materials not fully absorb all elements of the sunlight itself but only absorbs the visible spectrum of sunlight. Dual-layer quantum dot solar cell developed by researchers from the University of Toronto, can absorb both visible spectrum of sunlight and infrared or near-infrared part.

The researchers used two colloidal quantum dots (CQS) which have different specifications to improve the efficiency of theoretical junction upto 42 percent. The research team also used a combination of four metal oxide in the transition layer flow to eliminate some losses due to resistance at the junction. The use of transparent oxides will allow sunlight can through the lower of layer.

Technology has been tried in layers on a Tin Oxide coated glass plate in the ambient air and temperature conditions. The research team will also attempt to increasing the efficiency of two layers solar cells up to 10 percent in the next few years.