Solar Energy projects & Energy Efficiency

Quelle est la molécule la plus simple capable de transformer l'énergie solaire en électricité ? Telle est la question que s'est posée une équipe de l'Institut des sciences et technologies moléculaires d'Angers**

Les chercheurs ont montré que des molécules extrêmement simples, produites en peu d'étapes avec de très bons rendements de synthèse, peuvent devenir des alternatives crédibles aux molécules plus complexes et aux polymères utilisés pour la fabrication de cellules solaires organiques. Leurs travaux* ont permis d'obtenir des molécules de faible poids moléculaire ayant un rendement électrique supérieur à 4 %. Ils montrent ainsi que grâce à l'optimisation de molécules simples on pourra passer de la recherche fondamentale à la production industrielle de dispositifs solaires fabriqués à partir de molécules organiques.

Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an "explosion."

The boom was sparked by a little-noted government policy, implemented nearly a year ago, that guaranteed generous payments to anybody selling renewable energy, including solar power. Because of that policy, known as a feed-in tariff, investors and analysts say Japan has become one of the world's fastest-growing users of solar energy. This year alone, Japan is forecasted to install solar panels with the capacity of five to seven modern nuclear reactors.

Production costs for Chinese crystalline-silicon (c-Si) photovoltaic module manufacturers — such as Jinko Solar, Renesola, Trina Solar and Yingli Green Energy — will fall from 50 cents per watt in the fourth quarter of 2012 to 36 cents per watt by the end of 2017

The global solar industry may have hit the doldrums, but it could double again to a $155 billion business by 2018, according to Lux Research. The reason?

The success of federal incentives and aggressive renewable portfolio standards that were intended to stimulate domestic solar PV installations in the US is now coming under increased scrutiny at the state level, added Sunsong.

Demand for solar photovoltaic (PV) panels in the US is forecast to grow significantly during 2013 and post another record high of 4.3 gigawatts (GW), an increase of almost 20% compared to 2012, according to the latest NPD Solarbuzz North America PV Markets Quarterly. Solar PV demand from the US market now contributes over 12% of annual global demand, compared to just 5% three years ago.

What more can you say about solar photovoltaics (PV)? They basically tick all the boxes – completely clean, cheap, limitless, there’s enough to power the world and, most importantly, they’re bendy – and we are now so close to seeing it do its thing in a big way. In some ways, you could compare it to a promising young athlete (Gareth Bale, perhaps, for the football-minded) – you’re not sure just how good they can become, but they’re already exciting to watch.

Marigot, St. Martin -- Switzerland's MS Tûranor PlanetSolar, the world's largest solar boat, sailed 2,867miles (5,310 kilometers) across the Atlantic Ocean at the average speed of 5.3 knots before reaching Marigot, St. Martin, in the French West Indies; the first-of-its-kind catamaran completed this year's passage across the Atlantic in 22 of days, setting the new world record for the fastest transatlantic crossing made completely under solar power, according to the World

The very efficient solar-electric propulsion thruster for spaceships shown in this image is currently under development at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. It uses xenon ions for propulsion, just like an earlier version of this solar-electric propulsion engine that has already been flying on NASA's Dawn mission to the asteroid belt.

New dye-sensitized photovoltaic cell developed by scientists at the UW-Madison doubles as solar energy storage system.

For solar energy to be really practical, it is important to find a way to store it effectively. Energy from large solar plants can be stored through pumped hydropower systems, in batteries or even in porous rocks. For small-scale applications, however, batteries seem like the only viable option. Or maybe it is possible to combine a solar cell and a batteryin a single device. A UW-Madison electrical engineer has proposed a design for dye-sensitized solar cells that can at the same time generate power and work as a solar energy storage system.

Apple Inc. now uses only renewable energy sources to power its data centers, the iPhone maker said in an updated report on its environmental policies.

The company’s data centers now run on energy sources such as solar, wind and geothermal, instead of coal or other fossil fuels, Apple said on its website. The centers house server computers that store and distribute songs, applications and other content from services such as iTunes, iMessage and iCloud.

(Reuters) - China took aim on Wednesday at exports of the European wines favored by its growing middle class, responding to an EU move to impose anti-dumping duties of Chinese solar panels as tensions rise between two of the world's biggest trade partners.

In a step targeting southern European states such as France and Italy that back duties but largely sparing northern countries such as Germany that oppose them, Beijing launched an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy inquiry into sales of European wine.

Japan overtakes Germany as the world's largest solar market by revenue. 

This is all basically the result of Fukushima, after which Japanese authorities aggressively moved to promote solar. They adopted a feed-in tariff that rewarded utilities for transitioning power supplies toward solar.

Japan’s solar installations surged by a stunning 270 percent (in gigawatts (GW)) in the first quarter of 2013, positioning the country to surpass Germany to become the world’s largest photovoltaics (PV) market in terms of revenue this year.

A Low-cost high-concentration photovoltaic thermal (HCPVT) system developed by IBM and partners. The system uses mirrors to concentrate the sun 2000 times.

The system is built on trackers that are made from low-cost molded concrete for the ‘lowest base cost possible’. A parabolic dish made from mirrors is mounted on the tracking system, which reflects the sun’s rays onto several microchannel liquid-cooled receivers that contain hundreds of triple-junction PV cells, which amount to 25 kW of capacity.

Beneath the cells, a liquid composed of antifreeze and corrosion deterrent is piped mere centimetres behind the cells to absorb heat, which is enough to also drive a water desalination process.

The coolant maintains the cells at almost the same temperature for a solar concentration of 2000 times, and can keep them at safe temperatures up.

Los Angeles is moving forward with two major new projects that will offer California’s sprawling metropolis a combined 350 MW of solar power utilizing a combination of feed-in-tariff (FiT) and request for proposal (RFP) pricing systems as it transitions from coal power to green energy.