Making Solar Cheaper Than Coal

1366 technologies is working to try do what some believe is not possible. Make solar technology cheaper than coal. Not only are they trying to make the technology cheaper they are trying to make it more efficient. The trick, though, is to get that increased efficiency while making the technology cheap. 1366's first idea on how to accomplish this is called a light capturing ribbon is to produce interconnect wires with V-shaped grooves. With older solar technology, light hits those interconnect wires, which are under the solar cell, and bounce back out. with light ribbons, the grooved wires reflect light at an angle so that it can bounce onto a solar panel's glass covering and back down onto the cell. This internal reflection allows a bit more electricity to be squeezed from the incoming light without having to reinvent the production process. With this technology the efficiency of solar panels is increased about 5%. This is small but when you consider that the production process doesn't have to be reinvented the new panels are cheaper and more efficient (even if the increase is small).

I366 Technologies isn't the only company trying to implement cheaper solar technology. Nanosolar Inc. is also attempting to curb the nations appetite for coal. The Nanosolar cells work on a metal foil substrate, or semiconductor, instead of the stainless steel or glass substrate. The electrodes used are cheaper substitutes which lowers the price of the technology. As opposed to the I366 panels the Nanosolar metal foil semiconductors create an increase in efficiency of 20%. Also as opposed to the I366 technology Nanosolar's technology is available, and with a 25 year warranty!

And as if having these two companies working on cheaper solar technology isn't exciting enough there is a third company HelioVolt which is coming up with just as promising versions of the technology. HelioVolt's version uses a technology called thin-film. Thin-film solar technologies use little or no silicon. This is an advantage in today's worldwide market where there is a shortage of solar-grade silicon. Instead of cutting wafers of silicon crystals to make solar cells, thin-film companies like HelioVolt coat plastics, glass, or other substrates with thin films of material that convert sunlight into electricity. This process greatly lowers the cost of producing solar panels.

These new improvements on an old technology appear to be very promising. Solar technology has long been an appealing renewable energy resource. Low efficiency and high costs though have kept it playing second fiddle to fossil fuels when it comes to energy. Hank Green writes that he thinks it is no longer a matter of whether we will get solar technology cheaper than coal but when. I would have to agree with him. The greenhouse gases that fossil fuels such as coal release into the air are causing huge problems that can only be fixed with renewable energy resources like solar power.