After a competitive bidding process, REC Solar was awarded the new project as part of the Veterans Affairs’ commitment to utilizing renewable energy at their facilities. The combined PV systems will significantly offset energy demand from the local utility grid for the more than 900,000 square foot medical center – generating over 5,200,000 kWh annually, the equivalent of the carbon dioxide emissions from consuming over 420,000 gallons of gasoline.

“As a top national solar integrator, we have time and again demonstrated our capacity to accurately design and install custom systems for a wide range of customers,” said Kam Mofid, president of REC Solar. “REC Solar is one of the few solar companies that can meet and exceed the rigorous standards required by our customers. We're pleased to support our customers in their efforts to advance solar integration across the nation."

Both projects by REC Solar represent the application of cutting edge system design and engineering. The existing 302 kW single-axis tracker system increases overall production by changing its orientation to directly face sun throughout the day, a first for the VA facilities nationwide. The 2.9 MW carport will cover seven separate parking areas to become, in aggregate, the largest carport solar system in the country.

“solar power is a natural fit for our home state. This installation offers a tremendous opportunity for Arizona, and acts as a model for the rest of America. It is becoming more and more evident that solar addresses some of the largest challenges we currently face, and SAVAHCS is proactively addressing these issues,” said Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords regarding Southern Arizona VA and REC Solar’s project.

Source: REC Solar Announces Largest U.S. Carport Solar Installation for Arizona VA

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In three easy steps, homeowners can log onto Sungevity.com, receive a firm “iQuote,” see what the solar panels will look like on their roof using a mash-up of satellite and aerial imagery, sign a contract using electronic signatures and schedule an installation – all paid for with a no-money-down lease.

By using solar energy, Sungevity estimates that most homeowners can save 15 percent off their electricity bills from day one and have a new residential solar panel system on their roofs, giving owners the satisfaction of using clean energy. Sungevity pioneered the ability to accurately engineer and design a solar system for the home without making a site visit. The Sungevity approach uses satellite and aerial photos to size and design the solar system within 24 hours. Solar consultants from Sungevity are available to speak to potential customers from 9 a.m. - 9 p.m., seven days a week, toll-free at 866.SUN4ALL. Finally, local contractors that Sungevity has partnered with then perform the installation.

“We believe that homeowners in Colorado will enjoy the benefits of ‘going solar’ at home,” said Neal Lurie, Director of the Colorado solar energy Industries Association. “Coloradans are savvy when it comes to solar, and through the trend of democratizing solar energy, we welcome this helpful service that will make it easy for homeowners to take that next step.”

“The time is right to bring the simple, pain-free approach to getting a solar solution for your home to the Denver and Boulder areas,” said Sungevity Founder, Danny Kennedy. “The online approach is an ideal way for people who are thinking about – but never wanted to be hassled with – the planning of a solar home solution. Sungevity makes it as easy as a click-of-the-mouse to secure the best lease for solar energy in the market.”

Sungevity processes all the paperwork and takes all the hassle out of going solar, with an operating lease that includes a performance guarantee for the system plus complete maintenance including cleaning and insurance. Moreover, Sungevity will soon be offering it’s hassle-free iQuote service online in a Spanish-language format designed to meet the needs of Hispanic homeowners in the Denver and Boulder communities.

Source: Residential Solar Power Now Available With the Click of a Mouse in Colorado

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There is a new entrant to the realm of solar panel accessories that are said to increase panel performance while decreasing costs. Joining solar trackers and microinverters is a new polymer film called FUSION by Genie Lens Technologies. The film, embossed with microstructures that bend sunlight, may be installed like a sticker on panels already in use, improving by up to 10 percent the amount of sunlight that solar panels convert into electricity.

Furthermore, the technology is cheap and could lower the cost per watt of solar power. Genie Lens says it will increase costs of a solar panel between 1 and 10 percent, but that increase in power output more than makes up for the added costs. Installing the film on panels in the factory is optimal for ensuring the most output at the most reasonable price, but adding the lens aftermarket still has a significant benefit.

Tests at the National renewable Energy Laboratory show that the film increases panel output on average between 4 and 12.5 percent. Interestingly, the best results came under cloudy conditions when incident light is diffuse, a testament to how the film works.

According to Genie Lens CEO and co-founder Seth Weiss, the polymer film does three things to improve solar panel performance:

• Prevents sunlight from reflecting off the panel's surface.
• Traps light inside the semiconductor materials within each solar cell that absorb light and convert it to electric current.
• Redirects incoming light so that it travels along the surface of the panel rather than passing through, increasing the chances that it will be absorbed.

In addition to lowering costs per watt by improving panel output, the film could also lower shipping and installation costs by reducing the amount of solar panels needed for a given installation. Also, this film, as opposed to similar products being developed by the likes of Innovalight, can be used on any solar panel, be it the traditional crystalline silicon model or new thin-film technologies.

However, one very important unanswered question about the film is durability. If the cover starts to break down, it could actually inhibit solar electricity generation and hurt rather than help panel performance. Genie Lens Technologies says their product will last 20 years — a time frame comparable to most solar panel warranties — but that assertion has yet to be independently validated.

The film is being developed by Genie Lens subsidiary, SolOptics.

Source: MIT Technology Review

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Researchers at Stanford University have developed a process to simultaneously convert solar heat and light directly into usable electricity. Recent tests proved that the concept, known as photon enhanced thermionic emission, or PETE, was in fact, reality. The effect of PETE on the efficiency of solar power generating systems is unprecedented.

Conventional photovoltaic (PV) systems use a semiconductor, typically silicon, to convert incident light directly into electric current. Today's market-ready PV systems peak at about 20 percent conversion efficiency (the percentage of sunlight striking a solar cell that is converted to usable electricity), with the remaining energy lost as waste heat. Moreover, the efficiency of these systems decreases as temperature increases.

Meanwhile, heat-based solar energy systems, or solar thermal electric generators, rely on very high temperatures to create steam to run an electricity-generating turbine. This opposition has prevented anyone from successfully marrying the two technologies… until now.

With PETE, Stanford researchers have found a way to redefine the relationship between solar thermal and photovoltaic processes. By converting both heat and light into electricity, the PETE process actually increases in efficiency as temperature rises, and researchers believe that PETE could reach up to 60-percent conversion efficiency– more than triple the average solar electric product on the market today.

PETE is different from other solar innovations in that it is not an incremental improvement on an existing technology. It is an entirely new process. The Stanford research team, led by Nick Melosh, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, found that when they coated a semiconductor material (gallium nitride for the initial tests), with the metal cesium, the material developed the ability to generate electricity from both heat and light.

“This is really a conceptual breakthrough, a new energy conversion process, not just a new material or a slightly different tweak,” said Melosh. “It is actually something fundamentally different about how you can harvest energy.”

The materials needed to build the device are cheap, readily available and sufficient in small amounts for each PETE system. Furthermore, Stanford scientists are initially aiming for the device to be easily integrated into existing solar thermal power plants, where farms of parabolic dishes focus sunlight onto black tubes full of fluid. These farms already utilize a thermal conversion process to create electricity. PETE, researchers say, would integrate nicely into that scenario.

“The light would come in and hit our PETE device first, where we would take advantage of both the incident light and the heat that it produces,” Melosh said. “And then we would dump the waste heat to their existing thermal conversion systems. So the PETE process has two really big benefits in energy production over normal technology.”

He added that a PETE device could reach up to 50 percent efficiency under solar concentration but could get even higher (up to 60 percent) when used in tandem with a thermal process.

The initial testing proved their technology worked, but efficiency was well below that stated goal of 50 to 60 percent, which researchers have calculated should be PETE's high end. Much of that has to do with the semiconductor material. They used gallium nitride in the tests because it was the only material that appeared able to handle the high temperature. With the right material, possibly gallium arsenide, efficiency should spike.

The Stanford team's findings were published on August 1st in Nature Materials.

Via PhysOrg

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Source: Stanford's “PETE” Technology Could Triple Solar Power Efficiency

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