SOLAR ENERGY LIKE PRINTING MONEY

New solar cells you can bank on
Conrad Walters, February 24, 2009 (Sydney Morning Herald)

"…Prototypes of a new generation of flexible solar cell have been produced using equipment built to print Australia's polymer banknotes.

"The breakthrough, conceived by the [Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO)], has the potential to enable mass production of solar sheeting at a far lower cost than traditional silicon-based cells.

"A trial of the technology was conducted successfully…at the facilities of Securency International, north of Melbourne, where the nation's currency is printed…"

Schematic of a DuPont version of the thin film "printing" process. (click to enlarge)

"The new generation of solar cells is still relatively inefficient at converting the sun's rays into usable power. A CSIRO project leader, Dr Gerry Wilson, put the figure at 3 per cent. Normal photovoltaic solar cells are typically 25 per cent efficient…

"Dr Wilson was confident this would improve [to]…7 per cent efficiency by next year and double digits after that. But he said the main benefit of the flexible sheets of solar cells was the ability to mass-produce them…[for] the roof of a house or…walls of a commercial building…

"'Ultimately we want to print these at 200 metres a minute," said Dr Wilson, the speed used to print banknotes. 'If you could produce a 10 per cent efficient solar cell … in about five months you would have enough solar cells to produce one gigawatt of power. That's about the size of a nuclear power station. But in this case, we're using that big, free nuclear power station in the sky.'"

"Dr. Wilson…[hopes the] solar cells would be in production for general use in about five years."