Photovoltaïc

West-facing panels help solve solar energy’s main problem

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There is mounting evidence than West-facing solar panels produce more electricity during peak demand, and thus solve solar’s main problem.

Cumulative capacity of solar PV to reach 500 GW by 2018

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Yes, you read that right, according to the latest NPD Solarbuzz Marketbuzz report, there could be up to 500 gigawatts of cumulative solar photovoltaic installed capacity by 2018. Still to Solarbuzz, 300 gigawatts of new solar PV are to be installed in the next five years, as solar increases to three percent of total global … Read more

Solar costs drop by a hundred

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To pursue my quest for the best information about cleantech and sustainability, I have recently added one social media to my collection. I am now gathering – and sharing information – via Tumblr. This allowed me last week to find great graph on how solar costs have been decreased, cut and slashed by a factor … Read more

Indian cleantech sector is growing the fastest

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To Cleantechies : ” Renewable energy investments in India increased by more than 52 percent in 2011, the fastest growth among major global economies, according to a new report.”

“More than $10.3 billion was invested in renewable energy projects in India last year, with about $4.6 billion targeting wind energy projects and another $4.2 billion going toward solar projects. “

This could be just the beginning as the New Scientist gives many reasons why renewable energy sources – and especially solar – are due to keep growing and growing.

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Germany is still adding a lot of solar PV capacity

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To GreenTech Media : ” Germany installed more than 2 gigawatts of solar in the month of December alone. (…) Installations for the full year will be nearly 7 gigawatts according to the German Solar Industry Association (BSW).”

The article goes further : ” According to the BSW, solar power contributes approximately three percent of the German electricity supply, with a goal of 10 percent by 2020. “

The European leader in renewables installed in a single month more solar photovoltaic capacity than the whole United States of America installed in a whole year !

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Europe keeps dominating in solar PV installations

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According to Smart Planet : ” Almost three-quarters of all new solar systems worldwide were installed in Europe in 2009. ” Indeed out of the 7.4 GW installed last year, 5.8 GW were located in the European Union.

Out of this, a whopping 3.8 GW were installed in Germany. That’s right, Deutschland alone is behind more than half of the global added solar PV installations. The cumulative capacity of photovoltaïc there is 9.8 GW.

This seems large figures, but the article notes that this energy source supplied only 0.4 percent of the total electricity in Europe last year. This is less, much less than tiny.

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Towards sustainability: going solar

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Towards sustainabilityFor the seventh part of this series – and after having tackled heating, electricity, water, transport, food and waste – I guess it is time for us to see how solar energies can benefit our lives.

I mention solar energies as there are three possibilities : passive solar applications, which are the most basic, solar thermal – which heats water – and finally solar photovoltaïc (PV), which generates electricity.

Even if most of us already use passive solar there are possibilities to increase our usage and go progressively to solar thermal and finish with solar PV

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Latest news on solar photovoltaïc energies

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Solar photovoltaïc (also known as PV or solar cells) is the subject of numerous researches around the world. Indeed, Earth receives so much energy from its star that the potential is simply tremendous.

Accounting for less than a percent of our energy consumption, scientists around the world want to make solar an affordable energy source that will bring cleaner electricity to the masses.

Today’s article will present with you a selection of the best and most promising technologies that may well end up one day on your own house’s roof.

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A real boom for solar PV in the United States

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solar_pv.jpgInvestment within Venture Capital in solar photovoltaïc in the United States reached one billion Dollars in 2007. This almost represents a ten-fold increase compared to 2005.

Greentech Media proposes for $600 a full report on the importance this energy source has in venture capital (VC) today and will have in 2009.

The least I can say after reading the executive summary is that solar might be the next big thing in business as the market is growing by 35 percent a year.

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Third generation of PV panels on the way

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solar_pv.jpgMy Belgian friend Qat recently wrote on his blog an interesting article on the forthcoming generation of photovoltaïc captors.

These new solar technology is due to have a yield of 40 percent, a huge improvement as the current ones have a yield of “only” 17 percent.

This news was originally reported by the magazine of a Norwegian university. I will go here more in depth as this will certainly make solar PV more interesting as it is nowadays.

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