Research facility and manufacturer to halve the cost of solar power

PALO ALTO, California, US, February 22, 2006 (Refocus Weekly)

A leading U.S. research centre for computing sciences will focus its attention on finding and commercializing new energy sources.

The Palo Alto Research Center has signed a partnership with SolFocus, a manufacturer of solar energy systems, to reduce the cost of solar power by half. The venture will use the original SolFocus design for concentrator photovoltaic technology which generates electricity by using precision optical components to concentrate sunlight onto high-efficiency solar cells.

The prototype solar panels from SolFocus are smaller, less expensive and easier to manufacture than the flat-plate PV panels currently on the market. PARC will contribute core patents and long-term technology development support for current and next-generation product lines, in exchange for royalties and equity in the private company.

“The first-generation panels will break price barriers in the market, but the second-generation panels with PARC technology will change the market for solar dramatically,” says Gary Conley of SolFocus. “The current installed cost of the flat-plate photovoltaic systems is about US$7 per watt, but our approach should produce electricity for about half that amount or less.”

The first-generation CPV prototypes were installed at PARC in January, and had received the grand prize at a recent industry forum of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Production planning currently is underway in Shanghai, and the modules are expected to ship later this year.

The second-generation design “dramatically improves cost, durability and scalability,” say officials, with an innovative module design that is based on a solid-state concept featuring small reflective concentrator elements housed in a flat molded glass tile with mirrors on each side. The new module does not use silicon and has no moving parts that could fail, and has minimal components with automated assembly.

The venture is a result of PARC’s clean technologies initiative, in which research teams identify market opportunities relating to energy or the environment, and then apply an interdisciplinary approach to develop market-driven solutions. PARC collaborates with industry partners and has addressed solar energy, clean water, energy efficiency, and improved reliability of the power grid.

“We believe there are big market opportunities in clean technology, and we have a half-dozen additional projects under way that could be equally transformative,” says the head of the initiative, Scott Elrod.

SolFocus says the low cost of its solar panels will “enable a dramatic reduction in the cost of delivering renewable solar energy and, for the first time, enable solar to compete with conventional fuels in several large multi-billion dollar energy markets.”

The Palo Alto Research Center is a subsidiary of Xerox, and claims to be a centre for the world’s top scientists in the physical, computing and social sciences. It developed laser printing, Ethernet and graphical user interface.


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