Cylindrical Solar Cells Give a Whole New Meaning to Sunroof
- added October 08, 2008
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"There are approximately 30 billion square feet (2.8 billion square meters) of expansive, flat roofs in the U.S., an area large enough to collect the sunlight needed to power 16 million American homes, or replace 38 conventional coal-fired power plants. By covering these roofs with large, flat arrays of cylindrical thin-film solar cells (think massive installations of fluorescent tubes, only absorbing light rather than emitting it), Fremont, Calif.–based Solyndra, Inc., hopes to harness that energy.
'With a cylinder, we are collecting light from all angles, even collecting diffuse light,' says CEO Chris Gronet, who founded the solar cylinder company in 2005 based on an idea he had late one night while pondering less expensive ways to install photovoltaic panels. Because the arrays do not have to be angled or anchored into the roof, he adds, 'we have half the installation cost and can install in one third the time.'
Solyndra is now churning out copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS) thin-film solar cells, wrapped into a cylindrical shape and encased in glass. This design not only seals out moisture but allows the glass to act as a sunlight concentrator, funneling photons onto the thin film, according to Gronet. He says the Fremont plant, which opened in the spring, will ultimately be capable of producing 110 megawatts worth of solar cylinders annually, but he declined to specify how many cylinders that is.
The company says that the solar cylinders—paired with a roof painted white to better reflect sunlight—can collect 20 percent more sunshine than their conventional flat counterparts. The estimate is based on 50 kilowatts worth of the tubular cells that the company installed on its own roof.
As it stands, Solyndra's CIGS solar cells convert as much as 14 percent of the sunlight that hits them to electricity and, all told, Gronet expects that a Solyndra system will deliver twice as many kilowatt-hours of electricity from a given rooftop."
More at link...
'With a cylinder, we are collecting light from all angles, even collecting diffuse light,' says CEO Chris Gronet, who founded the solar cylinder company in 2005 based on an idea he had late one night while pondering less expensive ways to install photovoltaic panels. Because the arrays do not have to be angled or anchored into the roof, he adds, 'we have half the installation cost and can install in one third the time.'
Solyndra is now churning out copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS) thin-film solar cells, wrapped into a cylindrical shape and encased in glass. This design not only seals out moisture but allows the glass to act as a sunlight concentrator, funneling photons onto the thin film, according to Gronet. He says the Fremont plant, which opened in the spring, will ultimately be capable of producing 110 megawatts worth of solar cylinders annually, but he declined to specify how many cylinders that is.
The company says that the solar cylinders—paired with a roof painted white to better reflect sunlight—can collect 20 percent more sunshine than their conventional flat counterparts. The estimate is based on 50 kilowatts worth of the tubular cells that the company installed on its own roof.
As it stands, Solyndra's CIGS solar cells convert as much as 14 percent of the sunlight that hits them to electricity and, all told, Gronet expects that a Solyndra system will deliver twice as many kilowatt-hours of electricity from a given rooftop."
More at link...
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