REAL NEWS FACTS   2005

*Conversion Efficiencies of Photovoltaic Materials

The conversion efficiency of a PV cell is the proportion of sunlight
energy that the cell converts to electrical energy. The earliest PV
devices converted about 1%-2% of sunlight energy into electric
energy, but today's solar cells convert 7%-15% of light energy
into electricity, depending on what they are made from.

The short story about all of this is that the more efficient your
system is the less space you'll need to generate the same amount
of power. A good rule of thumb for space is:

100 sq. feet of space = 1000 Watts (1 kW)

That means that for a 100 kilowatt system you would need about
10,000 sq. ft. The table below list the conversion efficiency for the
most common types of solar modules.

 REAL NEWS FACTS  December 5, 2006

2New World Record Achieved in Solar Cell Technology
New Solar Cell Breaks the “40 Percent Efficient” Sunlight-to-Electricity Barrier

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Alexander Karsner today announced that with DOE funding, a concentrator solar cell produced by Boeing-Spectrolab has recently achieved a world-record conversion efficiency of 40.7 percent, establishing a new milestone in sunlight-to-electricity performance.  This breakthrough may lead to systems with an installation cost of only $3 per watt, producing electricity at a cost of 8-10 cents per kilowatt/hour, making solar electricity a more cost-competitive and integral part of our nation’s energy mix.

“Reaching this milestone heralds a great achievement for the Department of Energy and for solar energy engineering worldwide,” Assistant Secretary Karsner said.  “We are eager to see this accomplishment translate into the marketplace as soon as possible, which has the potential to help reduce our nation’s reliance on imported oil and increase our energy security.”

Attaining a 40 percent efficient concentrating solar cell means having another technology pathway for producing cost-effective solar electricity.  Almost all of today’s solar cell modules do not concentrate sunlight but use only what the sun produces naturally, what researchers call “one sun insolation,”  which achieves an efficiency of 12 to 18 percent.  However, by using an optical concentrator, sunlight intensity can be increased, squeezing more electricity out of a single solar cell.

The 40.7 percent cell was developed using a unique structure called a multi-junction solar cell.  This type of cell achieves a higher efficiency by capturing more of the solar spectrum. In a multi-junction cell, individual cells are made of layers, where each layer captures part of the sunlight passing through the cell.  This allows the cell to get more energy from the sun’s light.

For the past two decades researchers have tried to break the “40 percent efficient” barrier on solar cell devices.  In the early 1980s, DOE began researching what are known as “multi-junction gallium arsenide-based solar cell devices,” multi-layered solar cells which converted about 16 percent of the sun’s available energy into electricity.  In 1994, DOE’s National Renewable Energy laboratory broke the 30 percent barrier, which attracted interest from the space industry.  Most satellites today use these multi-junction cells.

Reaching 40 percent efficiency helps further President Bush’s Solar America Initiative (SAI) goals, which aims to win nationwide acceptance of clean solar energy technologies by 2015.  By then, it is intended that America will have enough solar energy systems installed to provide power to one to two million homes, at a cost of 5 to 10 cents per kilowatt/hour.  The SAI is also key component of President Bush’s Advanced Energy Initiative, which provides a 22 percent increase in research and development funding at DOE and seeks to reduce our dependence on foreign sources of oil by changing the way we power our cars, homes and businesses.

For more information, visit the Solar America Initiative website at: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/solar_america/.

Media contact(s):
Chris Kielich, (202) 586-5806

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\DBK CLAIM:  "DBK's new technologically advanced (MEL) solar panels are using 70 percent of the sun wavelengths instead of 17 percent."

CITATION: http://www.dbksolar.com/index.htm

DBK CLAIM: DBK’s technologically advanced solar electric power products (solar cell systems, solar based fuel cells, and solar based fuel cell generators) offer high quality and customer value. They are all based on crystalline silicon, the material of choice for efficiency and reliability for more than 25 years.

In March of 2006, DBK unveiled the world must efficient and powerful solar panel 3,000 watts. We are going to be offering a full line of photovoltaic (PV) cells, solar modules, fuel cells and complete packages for residential, commercial and industrial systems.

DBK CLAIM: Goal one million megawatts generated by Solar Energy by the end of 2007
NOTE: (1,000,000 MW  A Megawatt is 1,000,000 Watts; a Gigawatt is 1000 Megawatts.)

Corporate Announcement!

DBK CLAIM: DBK will be donating over 10,000 of its solar panels to remote areas around the world to build new hospitals, schools and to power new wells for clean, pure water for families and children. Approximately one out every ten panels will be donated to improve the life of a child somewhere in the world.

DBK CLAIM:

Spec JIL-3000  Size: 62" x 32" x 2.5" (L x W x D) Weight 50 lbs 

Question: How do you get so much power from a solar panel?

Answer: We have overcome three major obstacles of typical solar panel on the market: 1) photons which have too short a wavelength bounce off and are not absorbed; 2) those with too long a wavelength go thru the panel and end up as heat; 3) and lastly electrons that sit on the skin and fail to go thru the junction.

A typical solar cell acts more like a diode having one PN junction. DBK technologically advanced solar panel performs more like an integrated circuit (IC).  

Question: Multi-junctions PV cells have been around for years. What make your multi-junction cell different?

DBK CLAIM: Answer: Most multi-junction cells use two or three junctions. DBK's panels use a minimum of five junctions each designed to serve different functions. Actually our panels are configured from cells that have a band gap that is considered unacceptable by other manufactures (including embedded chips as shown on the prototype).  This is multiple energy layer technology (MEL)

DBK CLAIM:
DBK's Multiple Energy Level (MEL) Patent Pending Solar Panels! 

JIL-1500 and 3000 solar panels are IEC 61215 certified. 

DBK's new technologically advanced (MEL) solar panels are using 70 percent of the sun wavelengths instead of 17 percent. This is link to DC to DC conversion process that gets the 1500 or the 3000 watts needed to supply your home or business.  One or two JIL panels are all that is needed for most homes, 5-6 panels for most small businesses.

Note: Grammatical errors (This is link to DC…….)

DBK CLAIM: The JIL's panels are IEC 61215 approved. 
 

REAL NEWS FACTS   Note:   DBK IS NOT ON THE FOLLOWING LIST

 IEC 61215 PROVIDES ASSURANCE THAT THE PRODUCT IS RELIABLE AND DURABLE.
• a test standard, not a certification program
• an international test standard for crystalline silicon modules
• nearly the same requirements as IEEE 1262

The following manufacturers have obtained module types approved to the CEC Spec. 503 and/or CEI/IEC 61215 Standards :

• Africa Solar
• ASE Americas( Mobil Solar)
• ASE / Wedel (Telefunken)
• ASE / Alzenau
• Atlantis Solar Systeme
• Bharat Heavy Electricals
• BIC
• bmc Solar Industrie
• BP Solar
• Tata BP Solar
  CEL - Central Electronics Limited
• Creaglas
• EniTecnologie (Eurosolare)
• GE Energy
• Helios Technology
• Hoxan Corporation
• Kyocera Fineceramics
• Microsol Power PVT Ltd.
• Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Multi-Contact
• NEWTEC, Plaston
• Pentafour Solec Technology Ltd.
• Photowatt International
• Pilkington Solar International (Flachglas Solartechnik)
• SE Project
• Sharp Corporation
• Shell Solar Energy BV (R & S Renewable Energy System)
• Siemens Solar
• Solarcomm
• Solar Fabrik
• Solec International
• Solution
• Titan Energy Systems Ltd
• Total Energie
• United Solar Systems
• Webel-SL Energy Systems

Crystalline silicon solar cells Market Share: 93%

Historically, crystalline silicon (c-Si) has been used as the light-absorbing semiconductor in most solar cells, even though it is a relatively poor absorber of light and requires a considerable thickness (several hundred microns) of material. Nevertheless, it has proved convenient because it yields stable solar cells with good efficiencies (11-16%, half to two-thirds of the theoretical maximum) and uses process technology developed from the huge knowledge base of the microelectronics industry.

Thin film solar cells  Market Share: 7%

 The high cost of crystalline silicon wafers (they make up 40-50% of the cost of a finished module) has led the industry to look at cheaper materials to make solar

 cells.

The selected materials are all strong light absorbers and only need to be about 1micron thick, so materials costs are significantly reduced. The most common materials are amorphous silicon (a-Si, still silicon, but in a different form), or the polycrystalline materials: cadmium telluride (CdTe) and copper indium (gallium) diselenide (CIS or CIGS).

Many thin film technologies have demonstrated best cell efficiencies at research scale above 13%, and best prototype module efficiencies above 10%. The technology that is most successful in achieving low manufacturing costs in the long run is likely to be the one that can deliver the highest stable efficiencies (probably at least 10%) with the highest process yields.

The emerging thin film technologies have yet to make significant in-roads into the dominant position held by the relatively mature c-Si technology. However, they do hold a niche position in low power (<50W) and consumer electronics applications, and may offer particular design options for building integrated applications.

http://www.solarbuzz.com/Technologies.htm