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Sun Volt Solar

earth, the final frontier

Clean Energy, Clean Environment

We are at a cross roads in human history, we can choose to continue on as we have been, or we can make a change to improve our future and quite possibly the future for several generations to come. We are here to promote energy independence, a better environment, a secure future and a higher return on investment for your hard earned dollar. It is what I believe in, it is why I am in the solar business.

Solar Hub

26 Jan 10 | Solar Electric

Solar Hub, any technical information you need about PV panels or inverters.

This makes panel and inverter selection much easier.  Downloading then reading .pdf files from manufacture’s web sites takes time and clogs up a hard drive.  This way, you can find out all of the critical information ahead of time.  Of course, any installation will need to have spec sheets on hand for the electrical inspector, the utility company, etc.

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26 Jan 10 | Solar Electric | Comments (2)

Prism Solar Technologies

28 Dec 09 | Solar Electric, Technology

Prism Solar Technologies is continuing to grow their manufacturing facility located in Highland, NY. They took over the PLASMACO plant last March, which coincidentally, had much of the equipment and clean rooms needed to manufacture their product. PLASMACO was a subsidiary of Panasonic corporation, they manufactured Plasma screens for TV’s and computers.

What Prism Solar makes is a proprietary holographic planar concentrator™ (HPC) film that, when used in conjunction with conventional silicon photovoltaic cells, increases the cell efficiency by about 40%. According to their website, the increased efficiency allows for use of 30-50% less silicon during the manufacture process, making the the cost around $1/watt.

Here are the advantages of HPC technology:

  • Less silicon reduces cost per watt
  • Passive tracking from holographic effect produces more energy from diffuse and reflected light.
  • Cooler operation than conventional PV module, most unusable light passes through module without being turned into heat.
  • Bifacial PV cells can increase module performance when mounted over a reflective surface.
  • Lower embodied energy, the energy required to manufacture the HPC film is much less than that required to mine and process silicon.

They have four prototype modules on line in Tucson, AZ connected to Enphase inverters. One can look at the module performance on the Enlighten website. There is also a specification sheet for a 160 watt module.

According to their latest press release, they are about to create 175 new jobs in the Hudson Valley (although there is nothing on the careers page yet). All of that is good news for the solar industry and I look foward to seeing their product out in the field. I must say, it certainly looks cool.

holographic optical photovoltaic panel

I previously wrote about them here.

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28 Dec 09 | Solar Electric, Technology | Comments (0)

DIY photovoltaics

14 Dec 09 | Solar Electric

I saw this article on MSNBC:

Solar technology is going where it has never gone before: onto the shelves at retail stores where do-it-yourselfers can now plunk a panel into a shopping cart and bring it home to install.

I suppose this was inevitable.  However, before a homeowner simply plugs a solar panel into a house, a agreement is needed with the servicing utility company.  Not doing the proper paper work can result in having the electric service disconnected.  Something the article touches on briefly.

Installing one solar panel will generate about 160-175 watts of power, depending on the temperature.  This is enough to run a desktop computer, a few lights and a flat panel TV.  Obviously, if the homeowner is serious about solar electric, a larger system is needed.

One other thing the article noted:

If you want more solar power, you can snap another panel to the first, kind of like Legos.

However, each time you snap another panel on the system, the entire system needs to be re-permitted by the utility, at least in New York State.

It will be interesting to see how this idea develops.

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14 Dec 09 | Solar Electric | Comments (0)

Sun Slates

20 Mar 08 | Solar Electric

atlantis solar sun slateAtlantis Energy Systems, headquartered in the Town Of Lagrange (Dutchess County, NY), is a key manufacturer of “Building-Integrated Photovoltaic” or BIPV systems. The advantage to BIPV is that in the integrated approach, the solar-power cells are built right into the glass, laminated like a sandwich. The finished piece becomes part of the building, serving a second function, such as roofing, shading, window glass or whatever an architect can devise.

One of their latest products is called the Sun Slate. These look like ordinary asphalt roofing shingles and attach to the roof sheathing in much the same manner. The difference is that they connect to an AC inverter via two wires. They can be used for both on grid and off grid applications. They are made to specification and therefore are more expensive than conventional PV panels.

They are another example of locally made renewable energy products that are available.

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20 Mar 08 | Solar Electric | Comments (0)

Photovoltaic manufacturing starts in Kingston, NY

26 Feb 08 | General

More good news on the local renewable energy manufacturing front. From Mid Hudson News Network:

A projected 400 jobs could be coming to Ulster County within five years with the signing of Prism Solar Technologies to the Solar Energy Consortium.

For everyone who believes that the way forward is to build better renewable energy systems, this is a very good thing. From their web site:

Prism Solar manufactures a new type of photovoltaic module that uses transparent holographic optical elements in its design. This innovative, patented holographic technology, collects and spectrally selects useful wavelengths from the sun and focuses them onto the cell to create electricity.

They look like this:

holographic optical photovoltaic panel

Damn, now you have to admit, that is cool. I’d put a big array of those on a couple of tracking mounts in my front yard and call it “Performance Art.” The basic explanation of how they work and why they are better than plain old ordinary PV panels is:

(By) increasing the optical efficiency increases the structures ability to trap more of the light by better controlling the angles that the light is diffracted within the laminate. Through this process, Prism Solar can tap the sunlight at its most advantageous point in the spectrum.

This allows for several innovations:

  1. Lower cost – uses fewer cells per watt of power.
  2. Reduces the amount of silicon required up to 85%.
  3. Transparent properties, can be used as skin on large skyscrapers without completely blocking light into building.
  4. Intelligent Passive Solar Concentrator (IPSC), uses both sides of PV cell.

More information is available on Prism Solar Technology Page.

When will this start happening? Soon. Soon…

They will start production soon at their current location at the Center for Innovation on Grant Avenue in the Town of Ulster. Plans are to eventually move to Tech City. Prism Solar CEO Rick Lewandoski said production will begin as soon as machinery is installed, and that could be within just a few weeks.

Lewandowski said positions from secretaries to engineers and scientists are already in the application process, and that employment figures in the county have already been affected by the joint venture.

Courtesy of Mid Hudson News Network.

Yes, I’ll take more technology, please.

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26 Feb 08 | General | Comments (3)