Solar Energy

kach22i · Feb 21, 2007

Cheap solar power poised to undercut oil and gas by half
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/02/19/ccview19.xml
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Last Updated: 11:31pm GMT 18/02/2007

Within five years, solar power will be cheap enough to compete with carbon-generated electricity, even in Britain, Scandinavia or upper Siberia. In a decade, the cost may have fallen so dramatically that solar cells could undercut oil, gas, coal and nuclear power by up to half. Technology is leaping ahead of a stale political debate about fossil fuels.

Anil Sethi, the chief executive of the Swiss start-up company Flisom, says he looks forward to the day - not so far off - when entire cities in America and Europe generate their heating, lighting and air-conditioning needs from solar films on buildings with enough left over to feed a surplus back into the grid.

The secret? Mr Sethi lovingly cradles a piece of dark polymer foil, as thin a sheet of paper. It is 200 times lighter than the normal glass-based solar materials, which require expensive substrates and roof support. Indeed, it is so light it can be stuck to the sides of buildings.

Rather than being manufactured laboriously piece by piece, it can be mass-produced in cheap rolls like packaging - in any colour.

The "tipping point" will arrive when the capital cost of solar power falls below $1 (51p) per watt, roughly the cost of carbon power. We are not there yet. The best options today vary from $3 to $4 per watt - down from $100 in the late 1970s.

Mr Sethi believes his product will cut the cost to 80 cents per watt within five years, and 50 cents in a decade.

It is based on a CIGS (CuInGaSe2) semiconductor compound that absorbs light by freeing electrons. This is then embedded on the polymer base. It will be ready commercially in late 2009.

"It'll even work on a cold, grey, cloudy day in England, which still produces 25pc to 30pc of the optimal light level. That is enough, if you cover half the roof," he said.

"We don't need subsidies, we just need governments to get out of the way and do no harm. They've spent $170bn subsidising nuclear power over the last thirty years," he said.

His ultra-light technology, based on a copper indium compound, can power mobile phones and laptop computers with a sliver of foil.

"You won't have to get down on your knees ever again to hunt for plug socket," he said

Michael Rogol, a solar expert at Credit Lyonnais, expects the solar industry to grow from $7bn in 2004 to nearer $40bn by 2010, with operating earnings of $3bn.

The sector is poised to outstrip wind power. It is a remarkable boom for a technology long dismissed by experts as hopelessly unviable.

Mr Rogol said he was struck by the way solar use had increased dramatically in Japan and above all Germany, where Berlin's green energy law passed in 2004 forces the grid to buy surplus electricity from households at a fat premium. (In Britain, utilities may refuse to buy the surplus. They typically pay half the customer price of electricity.)

The change in Germany's law catapulted the share price of the German flagship company SolarWorld from €1.38 (67p) in February 2004 to over €60 by early 2006.

The tipping point in Germany and Japan came once households twigged that they could undercut their unloved utilities. Credit Lyonnais believes the rest of the world will soon join the stampede.

Mike Splinter, chief executive of the US semiconductor group Applied Materials, told me his company is two years away from a solar product that reaches the magic level of $1 a watt.

Cell conversion efficiency and economies of scale are galloping ahead so fast that the cost will be down to 70 US cents by 2010, with a target of 30 or 40 cents in a decade.

"We think solar power can provide 20pc of all the incremental energy needed worldwide by 2040," he said.

"This is a very powerful technology and we're seeing dramatic improvements all the time. It can be used across the entire range from small houses to big buildings and power plants," he said.

"The beauty of this is that you can use it in rural areas of India without having to lay down power lines or truck in fuel."

Villages across Asia and Africa that have never seen electricity may soon leapfrog directly into the solar age, replicating the jump to mobile phones seen in countries that never had a network of fixed lines. As a by-product, India's rural poor will stop blanketing the subcontinent with soot from tens of millions of open stoves.

Applied Materials is betting on both of the two rival solar technologies: thin film panels best used where there is plenty of room and the traditional crystalline (c-Si) wafer-based cells, which are not as cheap but produce a higher yield - better for tight spaces.

Needless to say, electricity utilities are watching the solar revolution with horror. Companies in Japan and Germany have already seen an erosion of profits because of an effect known "peak shaving". In essence, the peak wattage of solar cells overlaps with hours of peak demand and peak prices for electricity in the middle of the day, crunching margins.

As for the oil companies, they are still treating solar power as a fringe curiosity. "There is no silver bullet," said Jeroen Van der Veer, Shell's chief executive.

"We have invested a bit in all forms of renewable energy ourselves and maybe we'll find a winner one day. But the reality is that in twenty years time we'll still be using more oil than now," he said.

Might he be wrong?
Click to expand...

SamSam · Feb 23, 2007

I saw that film stuff on tv. They had a roll a few feet wide and 6" in diameter, I guess you just cut off what you need and hook up to it somehow. Rapidly mass produced. A few years ago I read that the trend for solar power was going to be towards less effecient materials that cost so much less that they were a much better value.
I can see the oil industry buying in or buying up the patents, technology and production and keeping prices comparable to oil. They're just not too happy with the masses having cheap energy. Sam

kach22i · Feb 23, 2007

SamSam said: ↑

I saw that film stuff on tv. They had a roll a few feet wide and 6" in diameter, I guess you just cut off what you need and hook up to it somehow. Rapidly mass produced. A few years ago I read that the trend for solar power was going to be towards less effecient materials that cost so much less that they were a much better value.
I can see the oil industry buying in or buying up the patents, technology and production and keeping prices comparable to oil. They're just not too happy with the masses having cheap energy. Sam
Click to expand...

The place in Troy, Michigan featured in the movie (Sony Films) "Who killed the electric car?" also makes a roof film. They were first bought out by GM to make the EV-1 "Impact" electric car batteries, they then sold their interest to Mobil/Exxon........................so your theory is actual FACT!

Antisthenes · Feb 24, 2007

i have grown up on sollar power since the early 80's i think it has been a reality since then for me.

and still is now as those same panels work still and are able to provide my need.

SamSam · Feb 24, 2007

Antisthenes said: ↑

i have grown up on sollar power since the early 80's i think it has been a reality since then for me.

and still is now as those same panels work still and are able to provide my need.
Click to expand...

Me too, since the late 40's! Just kidding. Nuclear power is the only one I can think of that doesn't have it's origins in solar energy. Well, I guess geothermal also.
I read recently where a gallon of gasoline is the equivilent 'energy' of 2000 man hours or something absurd like that. It's going to suck once it's been wasted to scarcity as fuel and we have no cheap substitute to get plastics, resins, etc. from. Sam

safewalrus · Feb 24, 2007

Cab't wait for it to happen (actually get most of my hot water at home from solar cells - not cheap to start but you gotta start somewhere!) and the more we buy the more we help the people who are designing and utilising this stuff - sorts out the world's pollution if nothing else! I believe we have got to go for it - and soon. Unfortunately as stated the oil companies will do everything they can to prevent it and keep their profits up and their control of the world - which despite politicians etc is what's it all about!

bring it on!!

Antisthenes · Feb 24, 2007

The word gas scares me I only ever burn BioFuels in my cars, a TDI atm.

it's far cheaper to free. it was what the first engine was made to run on, peanut oil.
& I'm not making carbon monoxide hydrocarbon and I have more power and 55mpg(sometimes 43, I am undefeated cept by one elec. car but my e-bike would beat that guy if i ever got a rematch at least thru a intersection) city

OT PS Rhinoceros 4 with Tsplines RULES!

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Solar Energy

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