SOLAR PATENTS

Shine-On Solar Patents 2010 Results
June 9, 2011 (Cleantech Group at Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C.)

"…In 2010 Solar patents were second only to Fuel Cell patents in the Clean Energy area [according to the Shine On Solar edition of the Clean Energy Patent Growth Index (CEPGI)]…Solar Photovoltaic patents spiked in 2010 to a record level of 339 (up 232 %) with third generation solar PV patents topping the other generations of PV technology…

"Applied Materials led the other Solar PV patent owners in 2010 over Sunpower and leaving behind overall PV leader Canon. Fu Zhun Precision Industry and Foxconn Technology Co., Ltd. led solar thermal patent owners. Solar thermal patents were granted to 23 other separate entities with only inventor Pitaya Yangpichit even receiving two and Wal-mart Stores being one of the 22 with one patent…[S]olar technology patents in 2010 built on big gains of the previous year to reach levels over twice that of 2009 and vastly out performed the other non-fuel cell sectors after hitting a record low in the third quarter of 2008…"

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"Solar PV includes the following subsectors…first generation (e.g.,silicon based) PV…second generation (e.g., thin film) PV…third generation (dye-sensitized, quantum dots, nano-modified, organic) PV…PV enhancement (e.g., multi-junction, CPV, anti-reflective coatings)…Enabling technologies (e.g., racking systems, power conversion, heat sinks, bypass diodes, sun tracking)…PV applications (e.g., use of PV technology in a product)…Solar hybrid systems may use both solar thermal and photovoltaic technologies, or one of these solar technologies combined with another type of generation process (wind, hydro, etc.).

"…[G]ranted patents in photovoltaic technology increased dramatically to 339 from 146 in 2009 over the prior year after an increase of 90 in 2009 over 2008. Solar thermal patents were also up 14 patents after only a five patent increase the year before…Solar PV patents jumped to 60 in the first quarter of 2010 and each quarter after that posted an even larger increase. The fourth quarter of 2010 at 10 patents was the biggest result for solar thermal since 11 in the first quarter of 2004…[T]he entire solar technology field closely follows the photovoltaic trends without much pull from the thermal technology trends."

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"…2010 brought a record year for solar thermal direct technology patents with 14 patents, up 10 over 2009. In fact, the direct patents tied indirect patents in the fourth quarter and approached the number of indirect patents for the year which were at 16. Generally speaking, indirect solar technology (e.g., the conversion of thermal energy into mechanical or electrical energy) has consistently seen more patents and thus innovation than its direct counterpart.

"The solar thermal race in 2010 was won by Fu Zhun Precision Industry and Foxconn Technology of China with five solar thermal direct patents in solar air conditioning, vaulting to fourth place overall. Each of the remaining nine solar thermal direct patent grantees in 2010 had one patent each. Foreign entities outnumbered US entities 6 to 4. United Technologies and Walmart (for an air heating system) were the only household names…"