Nanosolars' printing press technology seems better, and it's backed by some German as well as Sylicon Valley big shot (think google's founders, etc.).
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cheap solar power is here....
It's nice to have Stanford, Berkely and other UCs in your backyard:
The economist on a recent article:
"The flood of money into clean energy is better news for society than it is for investors
COMPUTER chips and solar panels are made of the same basic stuff: thinly sliced silicon. Until recently, however, Silicon Valley did not take much interest in the alternative use of its principal raw material.
That has changed. California's entrepreneurs are piling into clean-energy technology. In June a group of Silicon Valley luminaries invested $100m in Nanosolar, a firm which hopes to cut the cost of producing solar panels dramatically. The investors include some of the founders of eBay, the world's biggest online auctioneer, and Germany's SAP, a giant software firm. Nanosolar's seed money came from Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who started Google. Last month their "do no evil" search-engine company announced plans to build the largest corporate solar-power installation at its Silicon Valley campus. The panels will supply about 30% of its electricity. "
Check this out:
Makers of a new kind of solar power cell have chosen San Jose as the site of their first large-scale factory in America.
Nanosolar Inc. will occupy a former Cisco Systems facility in south San Jose, converting it into a manufacturing plant for "thin-film" solar cells, which are produced in narrow flexible sheets. The company, based in Palo Alto, also will open a factory in Germany, the world's largest market for solar technology. The $102 million plant on San Jose's Hellyer Avenue will make enough solar cells each year to generate 400 megawatts of electricity, roughly enough to light 300,000 homes. The facility will be ready for commercial production next year.
San Jose will have innovative solar plant / 'Thin-film' cells don't use silicon
The economist on a recent article:
"The flood of money into clean energy is better news for society than it is for investors
COMPUTER chips and solar panels are made of the same basic stuff: thinly sliced silicon. Until recently, however, Silicon Valley did not take much interest in the alternative use of its principal raw material.
That has changed. California's entrepreneurs are piling into clean-energy technology. In June a group of Silicon Valley luminaries invested $100m in Nanosolar, a firm which hopes to cut the cost of producing solar panels dramatically. The investors include some of the founders of eBay, the world's biggest online auctioneer, and Germany's SAP, a giant software firm. Nanosolar's seed money came from Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who started Google. Last month their "do no evil" search-engine company announced plans to build the largest corporate solar-power installation at its Silicon Valley campus. The panels will supply about 30% of its electricity. "
Check this out:
Makers of a new kind of solar power cell have chosen San Jose as the site of their first large-scale factory in America.
Nanosolar Inc. will occupy a former Cisco Systems facility in south San Jose, converting it into a manufacturing plant for "thin-film" solar cells, which are produced in narrow flexible sheets. The company, based in Palo Alto, also will open a factory in Germany, the world's largest market for solar technology. The $102 million plant on San Jose's Hellyer Avenue will make enough solar cells each year to generate 400 megawatts of electricity, roughly enough to light 300,000 homes. The facility will be ready for commercial production next year.
San Jose will have innovative solar plant / 'Thin-film' cells don't use silicon
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How did the internet came to be?
..with Sylicon Valley, and when the U.S. Army got heavily involved!
_______
Here Comes the Sun
Silicon Valley has changed the world once. Now, thanks to a wave of investment and innovation in solar power, it's on to the next revolution: A massive disruption of the U.S. electricity market.
Perhaps no startup has benefited more from the solar gold rush than Nanosolar. The Palo Alto company, co-founded in 2002 by Internet entrepreneur Martin Roscheisen, got its start with an investment from Paul and Google's Page and Sergey Brin; all told, it has racked up more than $100 million in funding so far.
Nanosolar is pursuing a technology that produces solar cells on a film that's a 100th the thickness of conventional silicon wafers. The cells are made from copper, indium, gallium, and diselenide, elements that, while more expensive than silicon, are used in such small amounts that the overall cost is low.
Nanosolar's thin-film cells are produced by a process that in many ways resembles printing. Light-sensitive semiconductor particles are mixed into a kind of ink, which is printed onto a thin substrate of metal foil that's continuously pulled off a series of rolls. This highly efficient "roll-to-roll" technology makes it possible to produce a large volume of solar cells in a relatively small manufacturing space, further reducing costs.
...
The possibility of such a breakthrough has many investors salivating. Nanosolar's backers include Valley heavyweights Mohr Davidow Ventures and Benchmark Capital, as well as OnPoint Technologies, the venture vehicle of the U.S. Army. Nanosolar plans to build a manufacturing facility next year - along with a smaller plant in Germany - that will eventually produce 430 megawatts' worth of solar cells per year. That would nearly triple the nation's manufacturing capacity and make Nanosolar one of the world's largest solar producers.
Silicon Valley's*solar power play - November 1, 2006
I'm a hip-geek for enovative business like this.
..with Sylicon Valley, and when the U.S. Army got heavily involved!
_______
Here Comes the Sun
Silicon Valley has changed the world once. Now, thanks to a wave of investment and innovation in solar power, it's on to the next revolution: A massive disruption of the U.S. electricity market.
Perhaps no startup has benefited more from the solar gold rush than Nanosolar. The Palo Alto company, co-founded in 2002 by Internet entrepreneur Martin Roscheisen, got its start with an investment from Paul and Google's Page and Sergey Brin; all told, it has racked up more than $100 million in funding so far.
Nanosolar is pursuing a technology that produces solar cells on a film that's a 100th the thickness of conventional silicon wafers. The cells are made from copper, indium, gallium, and diselenide, elements that, while more expensive than silicon, are used in such small amounts that the overall cost is low.
Nanosolar's thin-film cells are produced by a process that in many ways resembles printing. Light-sensitive semiconductor particles are mixed into a kind of ink, which is printed onto a thin substrate of metal foil that's continuously pulled off a series of rolls. This highly efficient "roll-to-roll" technology makes it possible to produce a large volume of solar cells in a relatively small manufacturing space, further reducing costs.
...
The possibility of such a breakthrough has many investors salivating. Nanosolar's backers include Valley heavyweights Mohr Davidow Ventures and Benchmark Capital, as well as OnPoint Technologies, the venture vehicle of the U.S. Army. Nanosolar plans to build a manufacturing facility next year - along with a smaller plant in Germany - that will eventually produce 430 megawatts' worth of solar cells per year. That would nearly triple the nation's manufacturing capacity and make Nanosolar one of the world's largest solar producers.
Silicon Valley's*solar power play - November 1, 2006
I'm a hip-geek for enovative business like this.
About two years ago a Spanish NGO installed in communities of the DR deep soutwest, in rural homes outside the power grid, systems consisting of a solar cell panel, inverter, battery, and accompanying accesories. In most cases it is obvious that the systems cost more than the homes themselves. Now, after two years, most of the batteries have failed, and the systems are being used only to drive music or small TV only during daylight hours, because the homeowners cannot afford to buy new batteries.
Note to aegap: thanks for the info about the wind power project. I decided to move it to the wind power thread already in progress: http://www.dr1.com/forums/environment/58869-wind-power.html
Let's keep this thread focussed on solar power.
Regards,
Keith
Let's keep this thread focussed on solar power.
Regards,
Keith