From the category archives:

New technologies

Solar Choice gets Australia’s first i-MiEV 100% Electric Vehicle

October 18, 2011
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    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 and charging its batteries in the evening in Manly, NSW when it is not being used on official Solar Choice business. Those living in Sydney [...]

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Solyndra Solar Tubes: Installations growing in Australia

August 12, 2011
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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- and poly-crystalline silicon) thin-film CIGS photovoltaics technology in an ingenious configuration that enables higher module efficiencies, and simplifies and reduces the cost of array installation. [...]

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SolarEdge: module-level solar inverters for high-efficiency solar systems

July 22, 2011
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One of the trickiest parts of maximising efficiency in a solar installation is dealing with variations in power output among panels and strings of panels in the same system. SolarEdge is a leading company that has developed a unique solution to the problem of irregularity in solar panel array output. It uses a solar system architecture that utilises [...]

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Suntech Solar Panels: efficiency, dependability, and affordability

July 18, 2011

Suntech is the largest manufacturer of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules and produces some of the most efficient and affordable commercially available solar panels in the world. Suntech’s 350-person strong research and development (R&D) team spans three continents and allows the company to stay at the technological forefront of the solar power industry. Although Suntech’s head office [...]

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First international solar-powered flight

May 5, 2011
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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!) This is the first international flight of its kind: one powered solely by solar power. Blog this! Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on [...]

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Photovoltaic and Solarthermal hybrid technology: MIT and Boston College

May 3, 2011
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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 electricity generation. Blog this! Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Share with Stumblers Tweet about it Print for later Tell a [...]

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Solar 2: New York City’s solar-powered education centre

April 26, 2011
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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 Solar 2. Blog this! Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Share with Stumblers Tweet about it Print for later Tell a friend

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MIT produces glass-like solar photovoltaic cells

April 20, 2011
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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, but which collect infrared radiation for electrical power production. This promising technology could offer savings on construction costs as well as operational costs (i.e. less [...]

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Major commercial solar power project planned for Queensland

April 14, 2011
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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 Creek electricity generation plant in Dalby, south-west Queensland. Blog this! Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Share with Stumblers Tweet about it [...]

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Flexible Thin-film Solar photovoltaics

April 13, 2011

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 of the salient points regarding thin-film technologies, otherwise known as flexible photovoltaics, and discuss their possible future direction. Blog this! Digg this post Recommend on [...]

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How to install a solar panel mounting system on your roof

April 12, 2011
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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 consideration when putting a solar array on your roof. -Read about Solar Panel Tilt and Orientation in Australia- (Get a free comparison of solar quotes of the [...]

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Solar-powered carports

April 7, 2011
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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 way to turn an ordinarily passive, mundane, everyday item into an electricity generation system that works for you. It’s the sort of thing that, when [...]

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BIPV: Building-integrated Photovoltaics, the future of PV

April 1, 2011
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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 a number of ways from the PV arrays that most of us are familiar with: the roof-mounted or rack-mounted PV arrays that are retrofitted onto [...]

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Renewable Energy: Charging Electric Vehicles

March 29, 2011
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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 renewable energies sources, is the difficulty of storage and transport for later use. Storage of PV-generated power is inefficient without good batteries. You can fill [...]

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Stand-alone solar power to be set-up in Japan refugee centres

March 23, 2011
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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 arrays with batteries for refugee shelters throughout the region. Blog this! Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Share with Stumblers Tweet about [...]

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Ever-improving PV technology dilemma: Should I wait to buy my solar array?

March 5, 2011
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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 to save energy, what types of panels are on the market, where to put your array so that it doesn’t suffer from the effects of [...]

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Ground-screws for ground-mounted solar power systems

February 25, 2011
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Ground-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) systems are ideal for those who have space to spare on their property. The are becoming increasingly common. In fact, there is a movement to recruit solar farmers, who, taking advantage of generous feed-in tariffs and solar rebate incentives, would be able to turn a profit from otherwise unproductive land. This [...]

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19-year-old demonstrates true Solar Power: The Solar Death Ray

February 9, 2011
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In Indiana, USA a pioneering teenager has demonstrated the formidable power of the sun with a simple, hand-made device composed of 5800 tiny mirrors and an old satellite dish. The Solar Death Ray R5800, as creator Eric Jacqmain has dubbed it, is capable of melting holes through steel, burning holes through wood, and generally obliterating [...]

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New record for largest rooftop solar array in Australia

January 19, 2011
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Previously we wrote about Australia’s two largest rooftop solar power arrays–The Adelaide Fairgrounds installation and the Sydney Theatre Company, 1MW and 340kW, respectively. This title has once again changed hands, however, and has gone to the University of Queensland’s St. Lucia Campus in Brisbane. This array, spread across eleven rooftops, has an installed capacity of [...]

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World Land Speed Record for Solar Powered Car

January 14, 2011
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An Australian Solar Powered Car, Sunswift IV, or “IVy”, designed, built and driven solely by University of New South Wales students, has broken the land speed record for the world’s fastest solar powered vehicle at a speed of 88km/h on a cloudy day! Blog this! Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Share [...]

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State Government Approval Granted to NSW’s First Solar Farm

January 13, 2011
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Infigen Energy has been granted the Keneally government’s approval for NSW’s first commercial solar farm. The farm, to be located about 2km south of Nyngan, a small town in the dry about 600km west of Sydney. The farm would feed directly into a pre-existing power substation. The Nyngan farm is part of Infigen’s aims to [...]

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