In reply to Michael Foster's message of Wed, 11 Apr 2007 11:39:26 -0400 (EDT): Hi, [snip] > >Jed wrote: > >> In December 2006, Boeing-Spectrolab announced a 40.7% efficient cell >> that costs $3,000 per kW of capacity. That's remarkable. I did not >> know these things were so advanced. See: > >> http://www.energy.gov/news/4503.htm > >Yes, but these are not just the flat panel type photovoltaics >we are familiar with. They are little chips a couple of millimeters >square, requiring concentration of up to 500 suns, and, of course, >solar tracking. This is not an insurmountable problem, but it won't >be just some flat panels slapped out in the desert. > >Naturally, I have tried to interest the people at Spectrolab in my >ultra cheap fresnel lens arrays which would be perfect for this >application. Frankly, I can't get arrested with this capability. [snip] As has previously been reported on this list, there is a solar power plant being built here in Oz. They plan to use mirrors to concentrate the light 400-500 times. I checked out the efficiency curve of the cells they use. It turns out that at their peak they are 35% efficient, at 400-500 suns, however that only drops off to 33% at about 80 suns. I suspect that if cylindrical Fresnel lenses could achieve 80 suns, then the total plant cost (and consequently the cost of power) could be considerably reduced.
Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://users.bigpond.net.au/rvanspaa/ Competition (capitalism) provides the motivation, Cooperation (communism) provides the means.
