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Australia Engineers Set New Solar Energy World Record With 34.5% Sunlight To Energy Efficiency (unsw.edu.au)
An anonymous reader writes: Australian engineers have edged closer to the theoretical limits of sunlight-to-electricity conversion by photovoltaic cells with a device that sets a new world efficiency record. A new solar cell configuration developed by engineers at the University of New South Wales has pushed sunlight-to-electricity conversion efficiency to 34.5% -- establishing a new world record for unfocused sunlight and nudging closer to the theoretical limits for such a device. The record was set using a 28-cm2 four-junction mini-module -- embedded in a prism -- that extracts the maximum energy from sunlight. It does this by splitting the incoming rays into four bands, using a hybrid four-junction receiver to squeeze even more electricity from each beam of sunlight.
While progress on efficiency is nice, the important criteria is watts/$, not watts/m^2. We have plenty of space on rooftops, over parking lots, and in deserts. But we need to continue to bring down the cost.
This does make for a nice press release...but there are SINGLE junction panels, commercially available, that can do 20% efficient. 3 more junctions is a much more expensive device to manufacture - cheaper to just make the panels bigger.
Another problem is that right now, the wholesale prices for panels are below 50 cents a watt. The inverters are generally more expensive now. Effectively, quad junction panels just mean more watts per panel, which might mean less cost per watt but probably won't, but the major drivers of cost are unaffected.
It's cool, it's just solving the wrong problem. The problem is there's too much sunlight at midday, producing more electricity than people need, and no sunlight when the weather is bad.
,,, why if harnessing wind-power can affect the local climate, why harnessing solar power doesn't affect how long the sun is going to continue to burn?
Anyone who seriously asks this won't even understand layman terms, they'll need neanderthal terms. And that's probably denigrating neanderthals. Ook. Grunt.
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