Using Nanotechnology to Make Sun Power Affordable
By James Donahue
About 13 years ago the use of silicon chips to build costly solar panels that capture solar energy appeared to be over. That was because Nanosolar, a rising new star from California's Silicon Valley was emerging in 2007 with a new technology called PowerSheet solar cells.
Backed by a $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy and Google's founders, Nanosolar began production of its new product that cut the cost of purchasing and installing solar panels on homes, office buildings for heating and producing electric power.
It looked like a sure thing as America began shifting to renewable energy sources in the world effort to combat global warming. But big business interests had other plans and Nanosolar was out of business after only about six years of production. Technically that should never have happened.
Nanosolar, based in San Jose, was using discoveries in nanotechnology to produce cells that capture the energy of the sun that are so small, they can be applied in a wafer-thin coating, just like paint. You can slap it on roof shingles, on window frames and exterior walls. As a writer for Popular Science Magazine put it, the stuff "seems to suck power from the air." It converts light into energy and makes the concept of solar power so inexpensive and easy to consider anybody could have it.
The material wasn’t really applied with a paint brush, but rather, via a machine that behav
es like a printing press. The PowerSheet solar cells are set on a layer of solar-absorbing nano-ink onto metal sheets that are as thin as aluminum foil, thus keeping the cost of production low.
The system of manufacturing solar cells with silicon required laying the cells on glass, making the panels heavy, dangerous, and expensive to not only ship but to install because the panels had to be especially mounted. Up to 70 percent of the silicon gets wasted in the manufacturing process.
The Nanosolar cells do not contain silicon but the company claimed its cells are as efficient as most commercial silicon cells and at a cost as low as 30 cents a watt, compared to an estimated $3 a watt from conventional cells.
Company CEO Martin Roscheisen announced that once full production began early in 2008, the company expected to produce 430 megawatts' worth of solar cells a year, more than the combined total of every other solar plant in the U.S. But competition to purchase these cells will be steep. The first 100,000 cells were committed to a European consortium that was building a 1.4-megawatt power plant.
In 2008 the biggest problem for Nanosolar was if it could produce enough solar cells to meet the public demand.
Peter Harrop, chairman of IDTechEx, an electronic consulting firm involved in Nanosolar, said the company was already planning a factory in Germany to meet a potential rush for orders.
Believe it or not, Nanosolar was forced out after China began producing and marketing crystalline silicon panels at such a cheap price it took over the market. By 2013 Nanosolar was out of business.
Roscheisen stated on his personal blog that Nanosolar "ultimately failed commercially." and that he would not enter this industry again because of slow-development cycle, complex production problems and the impact of cheap Chinese solar power production.
By James Donahue
About 13 years ago the use of silicon chips to build costly solar panels that capture solar energy appeared to be over. That was because Nanosolar, a rising new star from California's Silicon Valley was emerging in 2007 with a new technology called PowerSheet solar cells.
Backed by a $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy and Google's founders, Nanosolar began production of its new product that cut the cost of purchasing and installing solar panels on homes, office buildings for heating and producing electric power.
It looked like a sure thing as America began shifting to renewable energy sources in the world effort to combat global warming. But big business interests had other plans and Nanosolar was out of business after only about six years of production. Technically that should never have happened.
Nanosolar, based in San Jose, was using discoveries in nanotechnology to produce cells that capture the energy of the sun that are so small, they can be applied in a wafer-thin coating, just like paint. You can slap it on roof shingles, on window frames and exterior walls. As a writer for Popular Science Magazine put it, the stuff "seems to suck power from the air." It converts light into energy and makes the concept of solar power so inexpensive and easy to consider anybody could have it.
The material wasn’t really applied with a paint brush, but rather, via a machine that behav
es like a printing press. The PowerSheet solar cells are set on a layer of solar-absorbing nano-ink onto metal sheets that are as thin as aluminum foil, thus keeping the cost of production low.
The system of manufacturing solar cells with silicon required laying the cells on glass, making the panels heavy, dangerous, and expensive to not only ship but to install because the panels had to be especially mounted. Up to 70 percent of the silicon gets wasted in the manufacturing process.
The Nanosolar cells do not contain silicon but the company claimed its cells are as efficient as most commercial silicon cells and at a cost as low as 30 cents a watt, compared to an estimated $3 a watt from conventional cells.
Company CEO Martin Roscheisen announced that once full production began early in 2008, the company expected to produce 430 megawatts' worth of solar cells a year, more than the combined total of every other solar plant in the U.S. But competition to purchase these cells will be steep. The first 100,000 cells were committed to a European consortium that was building a 1.4-megawatt power plant.
In 2008 the biggest problem for Nanosolar was if it could produce enough solar cells to meet the public demand.
Peter Harrop, chairman of IDTechEx, an electronic consulting firm involved in Nanosolar, said the company was already planning a factory in Germany to meet a potential rush for orders.
Believe it or not, Nanosolar was forced out after China began producing and marketing crystalline silicon panels at such a cheap price it took over the market. By 2013 Nanosolar was out of business.
Roscheisen stated on his personal blog that Nanosolar "ultimately failed commercially." and that he would not enter this industry again because of slow-development cycle, complex production problems and the impact of cheap Chinese solar power production.