The US military is not where you'd expect to find America's greatest climate warriors wanting to save the planet. But it's where you will find the country's staunchest allies when it comes to support for renewable energy - because it saves lives. US Department of Defense is the highest consumer of energy in the world with a thirst for 300,000 barrels of oil a day. But reducing the DoD's carbon boot print from the barracks to the battlefield has become mission critical.
Konica Minolta Sensing Americas has introduced the AK-300 PV Reference Cell, which is claimed to be the world's first for dye-sensitized solar cells. The AK-300 was developed in conjunction with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and utilized Konica Minolta Sensing’s advanced optical filter technology. The reference cell has been designed using an optical filter mounted on a stable crystalline silicon solar cell rather than using traditional dye materials.
Teamtechnik is to debut its new stringer system at SNEC PV 2012. The ‘STRINGER TT1200 HS’ is claimed to solder crystalline solar cell strings in a 2.5 second cycle on just one track. Compared to its previous model throughput, it has been boosted by 200 cycles and is claimed to currently be the fastest single-track stringer system on the market.
Eyelit has made available its ‘Intelligence Mobile Web Portal,’ which provides operational information in real-time through tablet devices and smart phones using iPhone, Android, or BlackBerry technologies, enabling ‘anywhere access’ to key manufacturing and quality data from the manufacturing floor.
AlsoEnergy has developed several new reporting and collaboration enhancements to its cloud-based ‘PowerTrack’ Energy Management Services software. The newest features allow developers and investors in solar energy systems to create performance models and compare operation between sites and models to quickly detect underperforming components and generate better system returns.
DuPont Microcircuit Materials (MCM) has introduced ‘DuPont Solamet PV416’ photovoltaic metallization paste used to raise the efficiency of thin film photovoltaic cells. The front-side silver paste material has the capability to be processed at temperatures below 140°C, and is designed to provide improved contact resistance, conductivity, adhesion and fine line resolution when printed on Transparent Conductive Oxides (TCOs). The new paste has been claimed to have boosted CIGS thin-film manufacturer, Midsummer AB’s cell efficiencies by as much as 0.5%.
centrotherm photovoltaics is offering an upgrade package for its centaurus technology, which combines a selective emitter with a dielectric passivated backside. The technology implementation is said to already be combined with fine line printing, reducing paste consumption of the front side silver paste by more than 20%. The achieved conversion efficiencies on 156x156mm² monocrystalline (cz) wafers have already reached the 20% level. Currently, centrotherm said it has more than 50MW of centaurus technology being ramped into volume production.
Venture capital investors love to use baseball as a metaphor for their wins and losses. The technique to score a home run puts the hitter at risk of being caught out or missing the ball: swinging for the fences is an all-or-nothing strategy.
In 1854, Matthew C. Perry - the Commander of the US Navy - compelled Japan to openup to its economy to foreign trade, after more than 200 years of a self-imposed isolation policy enforced by the ruling Tokugawa Shogun. The Commander arrived in Japan with four black-coloured US Navy warships, billowing black smoke. Later the term ‘Black Ships’ would be coined in Japan to symbolize any threat imposed by Western technology.
Net metering is becoming an increasingly divisive issue in the US, with a dividing line as distinct as night and day. Solar companies and their customers count their sunshine dollars earned or saved – utilities count their revenue losses.
