An extra layer of efficiency for solar panels
January 21, 2011
In a world where cleantech researchers are racing to produce the
world’s most efficient solar cell, HyperSolar CEO Tim Young is
quietly working to eliminate the bottlenecks around them.
That’s because his company’s technology, a special optical layer
made of an acrylic polymer, can transfer more light to the cell —
thus producing more energy in return.
I spoke with him from his office in Santa Barbara, Calif. about how
his company can impact the solar market.
SmartPlanet: How did HyperSolar get started?
Tim Young: We have one mission, and that’s to dramatically reduce
the cost of solar electricity. We’re doing that by using an
inexpensive optical layer in the place of expensive silicon solar
cells.
They’re still saying that silicon cells are about 90 percent of the
total spend in a module. That [figure] fluctuates, but what goes
into the silicon, ingot, wafer and cell is still about 90 percent.
If you can take silicon cells out, and replace it with something
less expensive, you can reduce the cost of electricity.
Our founder — inventor, really — is a professor at UCSB; that’s why
we’re in Santa Barbara.
SmartPlanet: How does your technology work?
TY: The collection area is the same size. We’re using low
concentration techniques that bring in the light and transfer that
light into the solar cell. We’re able to get more energy into the
cell, thus more energy out. That’s not to be confused with the
efficiency of the solar cell.
It doesn’t matter if your cell is 14 percent efficient or 20 percent
efficient; we can get more energy into it and then out of it.
If you can visualize a solar panel, you’ve got solar cells covering
the entire module, the entire panel. What we’re doing is reducing
those cells — the sun no longer has to hit the cell directly, head
on — and we’re transferring the collected light into the solar cell.
Imagine a “light pipe” — like a fiberoptic line transfers data,
we’re transferring light just a few inches to the solar cell.
By doing that, the sun is no longer hitting the solar cell directly,
but you’re collecting it, and transferring more energy into it, and
thus more energy out.
SmartPlanet: So it’s ideal for less-than-optimal solar conditions?
TY: We can’t increase the amount of light that hits the panel
itself; we’ll just do more with it when it gets there.
Because of the wide angle at which we’re collecting sun, we believe
we’re not going to use a [solar] tracker.
SmartPlanet: Who are your customers?
TY: Our clients will be the solar panel manufacturers. Rather than
being a manufacturer, and manufacture panels from scratch, we hope
to be able to address the conventional solar panel manufacturer
itself. Use our layer on top of your panel.
The reason solar is surviving right now, whether Germany or the
U.S., is the subsidies. But if the economy goes in the direction
it’s going, and the subsidies go away, current manufacturing is
going to die, real fast, unless someone comes up with a disruptive
technology.
We’re not there yet, but we hope to be that company. If we can bring
it down to 30 to 40 percent cost reduction, that’s huge. Even a 10
percent reduction is huge.
SmartPlanet: What are your next steps?
TY: We’re in the finishing touches of the design stage, and we’re
getting ready for our prototype stage. We’re trying to get a thinner
layer out of it before we go there — it’s weight related. Ideally,
if we could have our layer be about half a centimeter, we’d be in
great shape.
SmartPlanet: Given the volatility in the solar market, are you
worried about the viability of your business?
TY: Our goal is to reduce the cost. We’re not trying to build
traditional panels. We’re not a thin-film startup, which is a very
bad place to be right now. If our product works on a conventional
solar panel, it would then work in a thin film as well. Or a solar
farm.
We’re lean and mean. This design phase is not financially intensive.
It’s about manpower; brain power. I have no qualms about being able
to survive.
SmartPlanet: And you can use your technology for crystalline
silicon, thin film or concentrated solar applications.
TY: Crystalline is still 90 percent of it.
Someone has to come up with a way. The sun is our absolute most
abundant source of energy. It’s just a matter of harnessing it. Some
company, or many companies, are going to do a better and better job
of that. We hope to be one of those companies.
Our concept is strong. Our technology is strong. It’s just a matter
of putting some pieces in place.
SmartPlanet: What challenges do you face?
TY: Specific to the product, you’ve got initial challenges of
propagation loss — the materials that you use, how well do they hold
the light. Beyond that, you’ve got manufacturing challenges: does
your layer hold up for 20 years in 150-degree Phoenix weather?
SmartPlanet: And scale?
Scale will be sort of the [responsibility of the] manufacturer.
They’re already producing that layer that sits on top of the panel.
So licensing would be our goal.
By
Andrew Nusca, SmartPlanet.com
Source:
www.smartplanet.com