Suntech Pluto Solar Panels To Power Sydney Theatre Company

 

Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE: STP), one of the world's largest solar panel manufacturers, announced yesterday that the company's new Suntech Pluto solar panels will help power Sydney Theatre Company (STC) as part of the STC's "Greening the Wharf" project.
 
The 500kW Suntech Pluto solar power system will be one of the biggest rooftop solar projects in Australia and should reduce Sydney Theatre Company's mains grid power draw by up to 70%. 
 
The founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Suntech Power, Dr. Zhengrong and Vivienne Shi have donated $2 million through their family foundation to help fund the "Greening the Wharf" project and the Australian Government will provide $1.2 million of funding.
 
Over the next 25 years, it is estimated that the Greening the Wharf project will deliver 10,350 megawatt hours of power generated via the solar panel array, 5,000 megawatt hours in energy savings and water savings of 37.5 million litres. 
 
According to Environment Minister Peter Garrett, through the project the STC will reduce its carbon emissions by about 555 tonnes a year – the equivalent of taking more than 150 passenger cars off the road annually.
 
Suntech Pluto solar panels have another strong Australian connection as their enhanced conversion efficiences are based in part on PERL technology, developed locally at the University of NSW in Australia. 
 
Pluto technology for crystalline silicon solar cells improves power output by up to 12% compared to conventional production methods. Lower reflectivity allows increased sunlight to be absorbed and thinner metal lines on the top surface reduces shading loss. Suntech believes the Pluto technology will achieve up to 20% conversion efficiency on monocrystalline solar cells and 18% on polycrystalline solar cells within the next couple of years.
 

Solar Panel Coating Boosts Module Efficiency

 

XeroCoat, founded in Australia and with headquarters in California, is a company that's been busy developing a special coating for solar panels to improve their efficiency. 
   
According to Xerocoat, their single-layer optical coating enables superior solar energy transmission over the full solar spectrum and at broad angles to maximize the solar energy available for conversion into electricity. The coating reduces the reflective tendencies of glass covers; particularly when the sun is at low angles in relation to a panel.
  
The company says solar panels using their anti-reflective coating experience a conversion efficiency increase of as much as 3% at noon and up to 6% at early morning and evening hours. 
  
While on a small scale, this increase may not seem like much, but when it comes to solar farms, the annual output could be substantially increased or fewer panels could be used to achieve the same production.
 
The coating is an environmentally friendly product - non-toxic, recyclable and the low energy manufacturing requires no vacuum or high temperature processes. XeroCoat's coating meets IEC 61215 module test standards and exceeds current industry standards for durability, meaning it will last a minimum of 25 years.
 
The company announced last week that the United States Department of Energy (US DOE) has awarded Xerocoat a grant for US $2.96 million project to develop a method for applying its patented anti-reflective coating technology directly onto assembled solar panels. XeroCoat was one of two dozen companies to share in the $24 million awarded by the US DOE for PV Supply Chain and Cross Cutting Technologies, under its Solar Energy Technologies Program.
 
While anti-reflective coatings are becoming more widely used for the cover glass of monocrystalline and polycrystalline solar panels, up to this point there has been no viable solution for thin film solar modules. XeroCoat’s anti-reflective coating technology is applied at room temperature and pressure, therefore allowing it to be used on thin film solar modules that have been through the processing and lamination steps, without damage to the thin film coating.
 

News for Friday 10 July, 2009

 

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