Solar panels set new efficiency record

Solar panels reach 114% efficiency

Researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have created a cell with external quantum efficiency greater than 100 percent. This does not mean that the photovoltaic cell is able to produce more energy than it absorbs; not even the guys at NREL can break the laws of energy conservancy.

Instead, the quantum efficiency of the solar panel cells has been improved beyond 100%. The quantum efficiency refers to the number of electrons that are flowing out of the panel divided by the rate of photons flowing into the panel from the upper region of the solar spectrum. Translation; solar cells just became a whole lot more efficient. The technology is still in the experimental phase, but it does bolster the solar industry which already boasts impressive technological improvements in the last decade. Not only is technology racing ahead, prices are dropping dramatically too, making solar a more logical choice for many home and business owners.

This newest development strengthens solar’s bid to be a viable alternative to fossil fuels. An article by PhysOrg detailed the discovery saying; “The newly reported work marks a promising step toward developing Next Generation Solar Cells for both solar electricity and solar fuels that will be competitive with, or perhaps less costly than, energy from fossil or nuclear fuels. Solar cells based on quantum dots could increase the theoretical thermodynamic power conversion efficiency of solar cells by about 35 percent relative to today’s conventional solar cells.”

The breakthrough technology, known as Multiple Exciton Generation (MEG) utilizes a layer of coated glass, a transparent conductor, a layer of lead selenide, a zinc oxide layer and (of course) a layer of gold to achieve its record breaking solar efficiency. MEG technology works by producing more than one electron-hole pair for every proton of light absorbed by the panel. The MEG panels represent a revolution in solar technology called the Third (or Next) Generation cells.

Photons used in the experiment are only from the near ultraviolet spectrums through to the visible light spectrum (from 350 to 700). The 114% efficiency is optimum rather than sustained. Still, the MEG technology does display a phenomenal breakthrough in the industry. The technology should make solar energy one of the cheapest fuel sources to date.

Just as the renewable energy world celebrates the breakthrough, a brewing price war between the US and China threatens the affordability of solar cells. Allegations of unfairly low trading prices from subsidized Chinese solar distributors have resulted in the US government calling for trade tariffs to be imposed on imported Chinese solar technology. The Chinese have countered with allegations that the US solar industry has also been heavily subsidized, imposing import tariffs of their own in response.

A trade price war could seriously impede the solar industry’s ability to become an economically viable alternative to fossil fuels. Concerns over impending climate change and should take precedence. Countries must continue to cooperate and collaborate to make solar energy as efficient and cheap as possible. The sun and our planet belong to everyone, so should solar energy.

Is Your Home or Business Solar Panel Ready?

A question we encounter quite frequently in talking to home and business owners is: Does solar work for my roof? While solar systems work on most roofs the answer sometimes is not that simple. This is why I am going to shed some light on this issue to give you some tools for your own roof assessment.

1) Roof Pitch

The roof pitch is one of the factors that influences how much energy your solar modules will absorb. Keep in mind that we are trying to find a good balance between summer/winter. While some people are leaning towards your location’s Latitude as the optimum angle, there are others that deduct a number from your Latitude so the modules perform better in summer, when the bulk of the harvested energy is available. The reason why the optimum pitch is often below the Latitude for a location is the fact that a typical solar system in the northern hemisphere will harvest the majority of energy from April to October. Thus the modules need to be angled a bit less to hit the optimum for when the sun declination (the angle of the sun rays in relation to the equator) is quite high. Most industrial units have flat roofs and are ideal for a solar installation as the angle of the panels can be adjusted. At the end one should not put too much emphasis on this topic since most residential installations are roof-parallel. This means the pitch is given by the existing roof slope and can not be altered.

2) Orientation

The best orientation of a solar module is facing towards True South. This is ideal as you can see in the diagram, the sun’s path changes from season to season. But with the cost of solar modules coming down, roofs that are facing towards the East or West, and even in some cases North-East/North-West exposures are still producing good return rates. Businesses with flat roofs are ideal as the solar power system can be positioned to suit the sun’s path irrespective of the buildings direction. How important this maximum efficiency of a solar system is, depends on the feed-in-tariff program and the overall system cost.

3) Shading

Shade on a solar module is not a good thing and must be avoided. Modules should only be mounted on roof spaces that are not affected by partial or full shading during the core hours (10am to 4pm) of a day. Even the shadow of a telephone wire can significantly reduce your energy production. It also needs to be noted that there is no inverter technology available that can generate energy from a shaded module, contrary to what micro-inverter supporters sometimes claim.

4) Temperature

Solar modules can operate even at very cold temperatures. In fact the electric efficiency of a module increases the lower the temperature is. Most modules are rated for as low as -40 degrees C. Due to this effect you can expect very high power generation on crisp cold but clear days. Great for northern climates like ours in Ontario.

5) Dust and Dirt

Modules have a self cleaning effect when it rains. The tempered glass surface does not allow dirt and dust to stick to it once rain water runs over it. There may be exceptions when additional cleaning is required, i.e. farm operations or locations near major highways. Ensure that demineralized or rain water is used for the cleaning. Otherwise you may get calcium build up, negatively effecting the amount of light that gets through to the solar cell under the glass.

If you think your roof is solar ready or are still unsure then seek the advice of a reputable solar installer. Most companies provide you with free solar assessments and advice.

Durban Climate Change Conference

Withdrawal from Kyoto Protocol not Canada’s finest hour

The immanent end of the Kyoto protocol necessitated the drafting of a new agreement that many hoped would promote more immediate action on climate change. Last year’s UN summit in Cancun had bred hopes of a new era of international collaboration on climate change as world powers agreed that keeping global warming below 2°C was imperative and, with time running out (a reduction by 2020 is necessary to avert a 2°C increase), it finally seemed as though the world was intent on meaningful action. In Cancun, the powers that be architectured a global emissions monitoring system and forged a commitment to help developing countries with climate change. The Durban climate change summit was meant to bolster the terms agreed upon in Cancun and forge a legally binding agreement. In a dramatic conclusion to the Durban meeting, world leaders from 194 countries hammered out an agreement a full 36 hours after the summit was scheduled to end.

Spearheaded by the EU, the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action will see major world powers collaborating in a legally binding agreement that will extend the mandate of the Kyoto protocol. The agreement reinforces their commitment to the prevention of climate change through emissions reduction initiatives. The signatories also agreed to draft a legally binding protocol by 2015 which will be enacted by 2020; a move seen as too little too late by some, and hailed as a breakthrough by others. The platform also committed to raising $100 billion by 2020 to help developing countries with their bids to prevent climate change. The platform extended the current Kyoto protocol to 2017.

Rhian Kelly, CBI director of business, echoed most big business sentiments when she extolled the agreement as a success. “Tangible progress towards a global deal in the form of a roadmap and the continuation of the Kyoto Protocol is a great result and shows that the UN process is not dead in the water,” she said. “However, this isn’t a deal itself and must be used as the base camp for the mountain we’re still to climb. We need to keep the momentum going and ensure this roadmap results in something concrete. Businesses have not slowed their pace in managing their emissions, developing new low-carbon products, and investing in new sources of low-carbon energy – we need the same level of ambition from our politicians.” The perceived success of the summit by big business is mostly due to the fact that business leaders do not expect the platform to result in any concrete change to their operations.

Others cite the platform’s lack of resolve and firm action as proof that it did not go far enough. Many environmental groups declared that the summit fell short of actions that will result in meaningful change. The continued reticence of India and China to commit to legally binding protocols is the major hurdle in the bid to prevent climate change. The US and EU suggested that China and India be removed from the list of developing countries, given their volume of GHG emissions and the size of their economies. These suggestions were resisted with the officials of both countries urging the west to fully implement existing agreements in their own countries before any new legally binding protocols were created.

Many environmental groups and those in the scientific community counter that the glacial pace of reform renders climate change inevitable: “This empty shell of a plan leaves the planet hurtling towards catastrophic climate change. If Durban is to be a historic stepping stone towards success, the world must urgently agree to ambitious targets to slash emissions,” said Andy Atkins, executive director of Friends of the Earth.

The Durban summit was not Canada’s finest hour

The government’s continued support of the lucrative oil sands initiative in Alberta makes the restrictions of the Kyoto protocol too expensive to comply with. As a result, Canada withdrew from the Kyoto protocol in a bid to save $14 billion in penalties for failing to meet emissions targets.

Climate Change. Fact or fiction?

Why being a sceptic is passe

When it comes to climate change, 98% of climate researchers, 97.4% of climatologists and about 90% of earth scientists agree that global warming exists and is causing irreparable changes to the earth’s weather. Then there are the sceptics. Perhaps the fact that they stand out from the majority and that many are trusted scientists in their fields gives them a louder voice. If what they say is true, then global warming is a farce and we can put down the granola and step away from the tree.

Their explanations for the change in the weather are legion, but the most popular are that it’s a natural phenomenon that would occur anyway (after all, the CO₂ emitted by volcanoes and rotting vegetation is certainly voluminous) or that the facts and figures are false and the majority of scientists are alarmists. Often politicians and industrialists cling to these assertions like barnacles, refusing to change their evil, greenhouse gas producing ways until more scientific evidence is brought to bare. Now a leading voice in the sceptics corner is about to jump ship.

The stakes are really high. If what the sceptics claim is true, then our efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are fatuous. Instead of developing renewable energy and spending money on making industry greener, we should feel free to spew forth, using the cheapest forms of energy available. We could all go the way of China and India; it would really help our economies and create much needed jobs.

Meet Richard Muller. Some of you may know him as a leading Berkley University physicist and outspoken critic of global warming. So adamant was Muller that global warming was an alarmist stunt, that he formed the Berkley Earth Surface Temperature (BEST) study to refute it. His basic tenant was that the scientific methodology used during the measurements of global warming phenomenon was flawed. He blamed errors in measurement for the results that various institutes (including NASA) had obtained. The BEST team decided to sift through 200 years of global temperature data, rigorously checking for accuracy and throwing out measurements that were suspect. This meant that a staggering 1.6 billion figures from 39, 000 stations across the world would need to be checked over a two-year period.

The results were not what Muller expected; instead of refuting global warming theorists, Muller’s study only confirmed that studies conducted by NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other groups were, in fact, accurate. The BEST team confirmed that global warming had caused a 1 degree increase in temperature since the 1950′s. The sceptic has been reformed. In a statement on his website he says: “Global warming is real. Perhaps our results will help cool this portion of the climate debate. How much of the warming is due to humans and what will be the likely effects? We made no independent assessment of that.”

Solar System Remote Monitoring

This data is from a microFIT install in Whitby

SolarLine installs the Solaredge single phase inverter solution on all of our microFIT projects. Along with one of the safest inverter and optimizer solutions in the market, comes the ability to monitor your systems performance from the comfort of your chair, car, cottage, office, or even France – anywhere that you can access the Internet.

We especially like the Solaredge iPhone App which enables our customers to monitor their PV systems from the palm of their hand. As a bonus, SolarLine can also use the App to monitor every one of our installations through one handy interface. Pretty cool eh?