Solar Power

Space Based Solar Power Wins Big in D3 Competition

Space Based Solar Power Wins Big in D3 Competition

Space based solar power has long been one of the key concepts that advocates and visionaries have hung their hats on as a possible leveraging industry which could catapult a global space economy. For reasons which are hard to fathom considering how much the United States spends on certain space endeavors, it has never gained […]

Transparent Solar Panels

Transparent Solar Panels

Two news stories concerning solar power. The first, from Extreme Tech details efforts to make a completely transparent solar panel which could be placed nearly anywhere, from your phone screen to windows in a building.  The main challenge is the fact that a solar cannot actually be clear or it can’t do its job very […]

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Demonstrating Concentrated Solar Power

Demonstrating Concentrated Solar Power

The Motley Fool has an informative piece out today entitled “Solving Solar Power’s Biggest Problem.” The article focuses on the issue of energy generation at night, or in inclement weather and two different projects by the same company using mirrors to concentrate the sunlight, which is called CSP technology.  The company, Torresol Energy out of […]

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Solar City’s Push Towards Vertical Integration

Solar City’s Push Towards Vertical Integration

    Last week, what many think of as Elon Musk’d third company, Solar City, announced that it was purchasing Silevo, a comparatively small manufacturer of solar panels.  For Solar City, whose business is built on installing and often leasing solar power systems, not manufacturing them, the decision marks a change in strategy. The reason […]

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Boosting Solar Power by Splitting Light

Boosting Solar Power by Splitting Light

Innerspace.net routinely tracks developments in the solar power industry due to its extreme significance for life off-Earth. Every increase in solar cell efficiency means a reduction either increased power in space, or on other worlds, or a reduction in the amount of mass required to supply a given amount of power. Physics.org has an interesting […]

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Capturing Infrared Radiation With Silicone Solar Cells

Capturing Infrared Radiation With Silicone Solar Cells

Researchers in Spain with the Spanish National Resource Council have discovered a means of harvesting infrared radiation and concerting it into electricity using silicone solar cells. Abstract from Nature Communications: “Silicone is the material of choice for visible light photodetection and solar cell fabrication. However, due to the intrinsic band gap properties of silicon, most […]

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New Approaches for Capturing, Storing Solar Power

New Approaches for Capturing, Storing Solar Power

Several items regarding solar power.  First a press release from Chinese solar company Trina Solar, which working with the Australian National University has developed solar cells with conversion efficiencies above 24%.  The current average global average is around 15%. Next the Guardian takes a look at a promising crystal structure called perovskites, and how they […]

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