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January 23, 2008
Thin-film Solar
For many years, the German and Japanese governments offered generous subsidies for the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems for generating electricity without greenhouse gas emissions. This has helped to spur the solar industry around the world and there have been massive investments in recent years. In the US, California is offering incentives over the next decade to create 3,000 MW of solar power for existing and new commercial, residential, and industrial sites.
High profile initiatives like these have spurred investment into solar PV technologies. The dominant technology is polysilicon based cells, which are in 94% of all solar modules. Although made from sand, refining the silicon is still expensive and is one of the bottlenecks to creating more affordable cells.
In the past couple decades, there have been growing interest and investment in thin-film alternatives that would cost the fraction of the price of silicon cells. These include cadmium-telluride (CdTe), copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS), and amorphous silicon. All the major VCs in California are now investing or taking a hard look at these technologies.
Among the numerous startups that are exploring thin-film materials, FirstSolar, Inc., which uses the CdTe platform, is regarded as the darling of the industry and has seen its stock price (FSLR) jump from $100 per share in July 2007 to over $250 per share today. Analysts at American Technology rate the stock as a “buy.” Many others believe FirstSolar also has the price advantage when it comes to thin-films.
In November 2007, First Solar announced it would make a major expansion. They will build four production lines in Malaysia with a capacity of 557 MW of output per year, allowing for an additional $1 billion in sales.
Notes:
www.cleantech.org plans to list a solar indice
Great source of info (proprietary): www.solarbuzz.com
BP and ASU in Biological Carbon Capture Research
It has known for quite some time that algae can rapidly absorb CO2 through photosynthesis. Some scientist believe they can be engineered into a crop that is ideal for capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and using it to produce animal feed and produce biofuel in a sustainable way.
Now, BP and Arizona State University have entered into a partnership to develop photosynthetic bacteria that can produce oil by taking CO2 emissions from power generating stations.
The team will be looking at optimizing a microbe that would take energy from the sun and convert CO2 into oil like substances. Ideally, the process can be scaled up anywhere, even on dry land.
Unlike biofuels produced from corn, the process would not be energy intensive and the overall reductions in greenhouse gas emissions would be significantly less.
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/news_third.cfm?NewsID=36199
Links
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/03/us/03suit.html?hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1199386818-jamrJOPJ3ybsquz8N70sJQ
http://www.gosolarcalifornia.ca.gov/
投稿者 econetworks : January 23, 2008 06:38 PM
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