As most solar gurus understand, solar panels are only as effective as the amount of light they’re angled to catch. Often times, entire sites can be written off as candidates because of their ineffective ability to catch the sun’s rays. To truly maximize efficiency, some panels can be mounted on arms that track the sun throughout the day — however, this can add considerable cost.
A new company called Solyndra — which literally shot onto the public scene two weeks ago (though they’ve been around in secret for three years) — has announced a sales deal with German solar integrator GeckoLogic GmbH valued at $250 million. This deal is part of the $1.2 billion in contracts Solyndra unveiled in its coming out announcement.
What’s so special about their technology? Well, as you can tell from the title, Solyndra’s panels are a bit different from the ones we’re used to seeing. From the NY Times,
A photovoltaic copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) compound is wrapped around a series of tubes until they resemble a row of black, fluorescent lights. Each module is curved to catch the maximum amount of light from any direction, so the panels don’t need to be carefully angled and laboriously secured like traditional PV panels.
Great idea — and a lot of investors seem to think so as well, to the tune of $600 million in funding. You can check out this great video of their automated fabrication process below or visit their official site for more info here.
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Now that OPEC has shown its true greed, by jacking oil prices at our time of disaster, we can move ahead with plans to get off of oil or be blackmailed by these gangsters for another century. We have sent too many of our children to fight and die in the dirty, pointless Middle Eastern wars. Energy independence will require considerable life-style changes for the average American citizen and we must make these changes to survive in the new age thrust upon us by our own greedy bankers and crooked politicians. Houses blanketed with solar roofs in the suburbs and careful management of power use in each home, combined with huge, government organized (Capitalists you failed us here!) solar installations will displace oil imports and balance our trade books! Battery/plug in cars will ballast solar power and lessen demand for oil. Super insulation products will come of age, making solar energy practical way to power a very different modern dwelling. Our coal reserves will be mined and exported to “pay off” Chinese debts, incurred by the ridiculous notions of the neo-con morons in power now. A new age is dawning, a Solar age, a good time to be alive!
Here in italy the only way to get an economic valuable solar implant is through state funds. A fotovoltaic plant is not competitive towards a normal plant, but it’s surely the most clean. Only with the intervention of the national states the fotovoltaic and other renewable sources will expand. These new panels look promising, but as usual in italy bureocracy is too slow and those panels cannot be used. Let’s hope the rules change soon..