SolarBridge Technologies is a US-based company whose mission is to facilitate uptake of rooftop solar photovoltaics (PV) by reducing its complexity and improving its cost-efficiency, developing and manufacturing reliable, high-quality […]
Category: New technologies
Solar Choice blog articles about new developments in solar power and solar photovoltaic technology.
Solmetric’s Suneye 210: An on-site tool for estimating solar PV system performance
Solmetric’s Suneye 210 is a comprehensive site evaluation tool for solar PV system design and installation. The Suneye 210 allows installers and designers to accurately predict a solar PV system’s […]
Kyocera’s Energy Management System: An integrated battery storage solution
Kyocera has introduced an integrated Energy Management System (EMS) and battery storage solution onto the Japanese market for the summer of 2012. The Kyocera EMS combines Kyocera solar panels with […]
ET Solar launches AC micro-inverter solar panels in North America
China’s ET Solar has launched the industry’s highest efficiency AC solar panel. The UL 1741 and UL 1703 certified solar panels will contain SolarBridge Pantheon II micro-inverters and produce grid-compatible […]
Solar power storage solutions: Beyond batteries
The development of affordable storage solutions for solar power or other renewable energy sources such as wind will change the nature of electricity generation and distribution as we know it. Most people […]
SolAmitec: Holistic solar system management software
SolAmitec (formerly SolGuard) is a comprehensive solar PV system performance monitoring and management solution that is compatible with a wide range of components that are already widely available and used […]
90kW solar catamaran completes journey around the world
An ambitious project showcasing the potential of solar PV has just come to a close. Pulling into Monaco on 4 May 2012, MS Turanor PlanetSolar catamaran has become the first […]
The dark side of solar power: Super-black solar cell absorbs 99.7% of light
A collaboration between Natcore Tech and the US Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) has birthed the darkest silicon solar cells in the world. The cells absorb 99.7% of all light that […]
Solar Power and Electric Vehicles: Solar Power to Horesepower
Clearly the global solar panel industry has grown at a rapid rate over the last few years with Germany leading the way. However, the next step of this rapidly evolving […]
Quasi-mono Silicon Solar PV Panels?
A new type of crystalline silicon solar cell has been developed which may change the nature of the solar PV market: quasi-mono silicon. The two most popular types for solar […]
Largest wind turbine in the world installed off coast of Belgium
A wind turbine with a rated capacity of 6.15 megawatts (MW)–the largest in the world–has been installed off the Belgian coast. Altogether, 48 wind turbines of this size […]
Enecsys microinverters in Australia
Enecsys microinverters are an innovative technology that offer a revolutionary approach to solar PV system design and installation. Instead of having a conventional, centralised solar inverter, Enecsys microinverters are attached directly […]
Desertec: Solar Power from the Sahara to Germany
A recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald analyses German’s plans to pipe solar power from the Sahara Desert across the Mediterranean, and into its electricity grid. The project, known […]
Construction on Silex Solar Systems concentrating PV demo plant underway, PV production resumes
Australia’s Silex Systems has announced both that construction on its Mildura, Victoria concentrating photovoltaics (CPV) demonstration plant, and also that subsidiary SilexSolar will resume production of solar panels at its […]
Dyesol Solar: Dye-and-nanotech Solar Photovoltaics
Dyesol is positioning itself to revolutionise the solar photovoltaics (PV) industry by making available an innovative but still largely uncommercialised PV technology: the Dye Solar Cell (DSC). DSC is a […]
Solar Choice gets Australia’s first i-MiEV 100% Electric Vehicle
Solar Choice now has its own electric vehicle–the first of its kind ordered and purchased in Australia. The Mitsubishi i MiEV (“Mitsubishi Innovative Electric Vehicle”), will be parked […]
Ford and SunPower: Solar Power and Electric Vehicles made affordable
Automobile manufacturer Ford and the US solar panel producer SunPower have teamed up in a strategic partnership to encourage both renewable energy and electric vehicles (EVs). The program, given the […]
Solyndra Solar Tubes: Installations growing in Australia
Solyndra solar tube technology has been widely praised as one of the most innovative approaches to solar electricity generation in the world. Solyndra modules utilise ordinarily lower-efficiency (compared to mono- […]
Suntech Solar Panels in Australia
Suntech is the largest manufacturer of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules in the world. Suntech’s 350-person strong research and development (R&D) team spans three continents. Although Suntech’s head office and manufacturing operations […]
First international solar-powered flight
The Swiss-engineered Solar Impulse is set to make its first international flight on 2 May 2011 (yesterday in Australia as of the time of this writing, but today in Switzerland!) […]
Photovoltaic and Solarthermal hybrid technology: MIT and Boston College
Researchers at Boston College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have produced a single technology that accomplishes what is currently only accomplished with two separate units: thermoelectric and photovoltaic […]
Solar 2: New York City’s solar-powered education centre
New York city will soon have its first-ever net-zero energy, carbon-neutral building, to replace its current environmental education centre, Solar 1. The new building is to be rather cleverly named […]
MIT produces glass-like solar photovoltaic cells
A potentially major breakthrough for the future of solar photovoltaic power has been achieved at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT): organic solar cells that are transparent for visible light, […]
Major commercial solar power project planned for Queensland
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced plans for a massive commercial-scale solar power for Australia’s Sunshine State. 44MW of supplementary solar power will be added on to a preexisting coal-fired Kogan […]
Flexible Thin-film Solar photovoltaics
In a previous Solar Choice blog entry, Prateek Chourdia wrote about some emerging trends in the future of photovoltaic solar technology, including thin-film solar power. This entry will summarise some […]
How to install a solar panel mounting system on your roof
For most people who decide to mount solar panels on their roof, a mounting system is necessary. This short entry explains the basics of what needs to be taken into […]
Solar-powered carports
The number of small, simple ways to put solar power to use in daily life seems virtually endless, and opportunities present themselves at every corner. Solar carports are one innovative […]
BIPV: Building-integrated Photovoltaics, the future of PV
Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) is exactly what the name indicates: solar power generation modules that are integrated directly into a building in the place of ordinary building materials. BIPV differs in […]
Renewable Energy: Charging Electric Vehicles
How will the transportation of the future reduce its reliance on fossil fuels? Despite all its advantages, one of the biggest disadvantages of photovoltaics (PV or solar power), and most […]
Stand-alone solar power to be set-up in Japan refugee centres
As part of the relief effort for the 11 March 2011 Northeastern Japan earthquake and tsunami, Sharp and Shin-Kobe Electric Machinery are planning to assemble and provide 250 solar power […]
Ever-improving PV technology dilemma: Should I wait to buy my solar array?
You are thinking about getting a solar PV system for your home, and in your research have come to understand what the major considerations are: your electricity demand and how […]
