The Solar Watt Blog

Californian company, Optisolar, plans to build 2 solar power plants to capture the solar watt in San Luis Obispo County that will cover an area of 12.5 square miles and generate around 800 megawatts of electricity. The 250 megawatt plant at its High Plains Ranch II will use crystalline silicon photovoltaic technology to achieve a solar watt efficiency of 30% and use mechanical tracking to follow the sun in the sky.

The two plants’ output will be sold to Pacific Gas & Electric and marks the arrival of using the solar watt on a utility-level scale. The solar watt is now beginning to achieve a scale that could move towards being a viable source of renewable energy on a mass scale.

Source – slashdot.org

Technorati Tags: solar cost, solar price, solar watt

This isn’t new but I thought it’s an interesting use of the solar watt:

A US firm, Konarka, has developed a flexible thin-film photovoltaic tape that uses a layer of dye-activated titanium dioxide (TiO₂) particles and can be mass produced on a roll-to-roll process. Light passes through a clear layer to reach a conductive electrode layer. The photons react with the dye, releasing electrons into the semiconducting titanium dioxide network, which then connects to a counter electrode.

Konarka claims that its solar watt tape works well in low-light conditions and under artificial light. Whilst the initial product has a 5% photon to electron conversion efficiency, they are nearing 12% efficiency in the lab. The tape can also be coloured or patterned to resemble normal roofing material or military camouflage.

This could be to solar power watt OLED (organic light emitting diode) is to flat screen panels!

For more information, go here:

http://optics.org/cws/article/articles/20104

Technorati Tags: solar cost, solar power, solar price, solar watt