Solar power from nanotechnology
Norwegian EnSol AS has patented a new kind of photovaltic solar cells. It seems that in the future, anything could harness power from the sun.
Giant solar power plants could become a thing of the past. This is a small part of Nevada Solar One. Notice the car park to the left (Photo: Google Maps)
A traditional solar power plant requires a lot of space. Take the Nevada Solar One power plant outside of Boulder City, USA for example. This plant covers an incredible 400 acres (approximately 1, 6 million square meters)! In the deserts of Nevada one could argue that space is not an issue. After all this is where they not only tested nuclear war heads fifty years ago, but also managed to keep it a secret. In other parts of the world however, space matters; making priorities concerning land use tougher. Should land be allotted to housing, agriculture, energy production, or commerce? Or maybe it should be left alone as a nature reserve?
Solar power from windows
The Norwegian company EnSol AS have come up with a solution that could make questions concerning land use easier. With their patented, prototype thin film photovaltic cell design, you simply don’t have to choose between building a solar power plant or a commercial district or a residential area. You can do both.
Together with the universities of Bergen, Leceister and Manchester, EnSol is working on a solar cell design based on nano technology that can be sprayed on to anything. This way literally anything can be converted into a power generating surface.
- One of the key advantages is that it is a transparent thin film that can be coated onto window glass so that windows in buildings can also become power generators, says Professor of Nanotechnology at University of Leicester Chris Binns.
But that is not all, even entire walls or roof tiles could be covered in this film. Also,due to the light weight of the material it could also be useful in the transport industry.
- It can be sprayed on the wings of airplanes, sys Professor Binns.
- The films we are producing are incredibly thin, just a few nanometers thick. Much thinner than the width of a human hair.
Office buildings have large surfaces that could be covered in photovaltic film. This is the skyline of London. The characteristic "Gherkin" to the right is covered with 24 000 square meters of windows. (Photo: Will Fox / Wikipedia )
Huge potential
According to EnSol this photovaltic cell technology has tremendous industrial potential, with low environmental impact and cost effective production. It is also theoretically more efficient than standard photovaltic cells. The objective of the research and development project is however to achieve a cell efficiency of 20 % or greater. The amount of raw solar energy that reaches the ground in the UK averages at 500 watts per square meter per day, so what they are aiming at is to harness about 100 watts per square meter. So what is the size of your roof? Though replacing your old roof tiles with energy-producing ones sound like a great idea, you can leave the ladder in the garage for now. It will still be a few years before this technology is available we are told by Geir Wallevik, project leader at EnSol AS.
- We will step up the research work this winter, but we are not expecting this product to reach commercialization anytime before 2016, he says.
Further reading
Thin Film Solar Cell Technology - explained (Youtube)
