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Grid parity...it's what we're all hoping for. That magical moment when solar power (or other renewables for that matter) become available at the cost of current power sources. And, if Sunrgi's claims are to be believed, it could be only 15 months away.
Sunrgi's technology is fairly simple. Basically they use a magnifying glass to concentrate the power of the sun 1600 times onto a tiny square of the most efficient photovoltaic material on the planet. While others are concentrating on bringing the price of the panels down (along with efficiency), Sunrgi actually uses panels from Spectrolab, which are three times more efficient than the cheap panels being produced by NanoSolar.
The photovoltaic cells remain efficient even when collecting these huge amounts of light per square centemeter. However, they don't remain efficient at 3000 degrees F. In fact, if this much light were concentrated on the cells, and the cells were not cooled, they would melt. Sunrgi has developed a proprietary cooling system to keep the ultra-expensive cells at nominal temperatures even at the hottest part of the hottest day. You can see, in the render, that the bottom of the panels actually look like huge CPU heat sinks.
By using such a small amount of photovoltaic material, and such a large amount of cheap magnifying glasses, Sunrgi says that their system should be extremely inexpensive. In fact, they're saying that, in sunny climates, it will be sold for around $0.05 per kilowatt, about the cost of coal. They already have demonstration units running and hope to be selling their first units (to utilities and large businesses) in twelve to fifteen months.
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written by Rob, April 30, 2008
I wonder if there would be a way to harness that heat and generate additional electricity from it? Would the heat sinks get hot enough to be useful?
Perhaps a water or oil-based cooling system would be more effective in recovering that heat energy.
Perhaps a water or oil-based cooling system would be more effective in recovering that heat energy.
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written by Green In Richmond, TX, April 30, 2008
Hey I know!! We could use that extra heat to run a Sterling engine, even more power...
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written by Bob Wallace, April 30, 2008
There's a discussion line about using "goop" (their proprietary cooling system - a nanotech material that wicks away heat) to pull usable heat from computer chips. I'd bet the Sunrgi people are working on the possibilities.
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written by Mark Bartosik, April 30, 2008
If you rely on liquid cooling and the cooling system goes off line for 10 minutes you would fry the entire array of solar cells unless the lens were quickly covered. So liquid cooling is very very risky, one failure zaps the entire array.
That does not mean that you cannot use supplemental liquid cooling to try to extract some useful heat.
That does not mean that you cannot use supplemental liquid cooling to try to extract some useful heat.
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written by Space, April 30, 2008
This thing will only work if it tracks the sun.
That means it will have more technical problems than fixed flat panels or thin film panels,
and you won't be able to install it anywhere.
That means it will have more technical problems than fixed flat panels or thin film panels,
and you won't be able to install it anywhere.
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written by Bob Wallace, April 30, 2008
There's a discussion line about using "goop" (their proprietary cooling system - a nanotech material that wicks away heat) to pull usable heat from computer chips. I'd bet the Sunrgi people are working on the possibilities.
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written by focus, April 30, 2008
Space:
I think the design is such that the device "tracks" the sun without even moving.
Look at:
http://www.sunrgi.com/increase...-area.html
Notice that the sunlight is focused into a pin-point, at a collection ratio of about 1600x. The solar cell they use is only 16x smaller than a full solar cell would be. So this pin-point of ultra-bright light moves across the small cell during the course of the day.
Imagine a wide-angle camera lens pointed up at the sky--it would focus all of the light coming from the sun onto a small part of the film.
This is really quite genius in its simplicity. Much better than a physically-tracked solar array. It will be impressive if they can move heat away from that pin-point fast enough to avoid damaging the cell in all real-world conditions.
I think the design is such that the device "tracks" the sun without even moving.
Look at:
http://www.sunrgi.com/increase...-area.html
Notice that the sunlight is focused into a pin-point, at a collection ratio of about 1600x. The solar cell they use is only 16x smaller than a full solar cell would be. So this pin-point of ultra-bright light moves across the small cell during the course of the day.
Imagine a wide-angle camera lens pointed up at the sky--it would focus all of the light coming from the sun onto a small part of the film.
This is really quite genius in its simplicity. Much better than a physically-tracked solar array. It will be impressive if they can move heat away from that pin-point fast enough to avoid damaging the cell in all real-world conditions.
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written by Joe, May 01, 2008
I concur with focus that it appears to be self tracking such is the design of the lens. Like many great ideas it seems so obvious in retrospect, remeber all those toy soldiers melted in the backyard?
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written by Jacob, May 01, 2008
I think this idea has the potential to be a winner, but what about maintenance, surely those magnifying glasses would get dirty and dusty very easily, reducing their capturing capacity.
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written by Bob Wallace, May 01, 2008
All solar devices require periodic cleaning.
But the labor and water usage is quite moderate.
Nothing like mining coal.
But the labor and water usage is quite moderate.
Nothing like mining coal.
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written by Morgan Mghee, May 01, 2008
Mark Bartosik , April 30, 2008
If you rely on liquid cooling and the cooling system goes off line for 10 minutes you would fry the entire array of solar cells unless the lens were quickly covered. So liquid cooling is very very risky, one failure zaps the entire array.
I'm with you, for residential purposes this system seems quite a fire hazard. I took a peek at their website, and aside from noting that there is a cooling system, they don't give any detail on any backup safety systems.
I'm excited by the prospects however, and even if it is only used commercially it should do very well. 8)
If you rely on liquid cooling and the cooling system goes off line for 10 minutes you would fry the entire array of solar cells unless the lens were quickly covered. So liquid cooling is very very risky, one failure zaps the entire array.
I'm with you, for residential purposes this system seems quite a fire hazard. I took a peek at their website, and aside from noting that there is a cooling system, they don't give any detail on any backup safety systems.
I'm excited by the prospects however, and even if it is only used commercially it should do very well. 8)
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written by Bob Wallace, May 01, 2008
All solar devices require periodic cleaning.
But the labor and water usage is quite moderate.
Nothing like mining coal.
But the labor and water usage is quite moderate.
Nothing like mining coal.
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written by Space, May 01, 2008
Where does it say that the solar cell is 16x smaller? I don't see that anywhere on their website.
There is a slide that says "16x less land", which has nothing to do with it (and I don't even see how they came up with that figure)
There is a slide that says "16x less land", which has nothing to do with it (and I don't even see how they came up with that figure)
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written by RJ, May 01, 2008
Why not cover the reflectors with a coating that only reflects visible, not IR, light so heat is not an issue?
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written by curt, May 01, 2008
Wonderful product, even though, it is going to take a little more time to be widely available to the general public.
Idea of concentrating solar power by lenses is not new and it has been quite well researched and financed by DARPA, yet this product could achieve truly good market placement/positioning.
Existing design is optimized for achieving as lower production costs as possible, but it is going to change in accordance with new scientific research based on their own results.
(I think, that the company lacks enough real product experience - data, as any other new technology.)
We could expect optimally low prices and massive output only, if the production is going to move abroad.
p.s.
I expect delays with first shipments):
Idea of concentrating solar power by lenses is not new and it has been quite well researched and financed by DARPA, yet this product could achieve truly good market placement/positioning.
Existing design is optimized for achieving as lower production costs as possible, but it is going to change in accordance with new scientific research based on their own results.
(I think, that the company lacks enough real product experience - data, as any other new technology.)
We could expect optimally low prices and massive output only, if the production is going to move abroad.
p.s.
I expect delays with first shipments):
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written by Eoin, May 02, 2008
Surely, in the event of cooling system failure, the rise in heat could be instantly detected. This would allow for a simple mechanism to either cover the cell, the lens or both? perhaps just re-aliging the lens upon failure? Perhaps raising/lowering it to change the point of focus so that the temperature on the cell is within the cells limits?
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written by johnny, May 02, 2008
the magnifiers appear to be fresnel lenses. if you play around with some (large 8" x 11" available at office supply stores quite cheaply) you'll see that they must be aimed carefully in the same manner as a standard magnifying lens in order to concentrate light to a point.
thus in order to function i suspect these sunrgi units must involve active sun tracking.
thus in order to function i suspect these sunrgi units must involve active sun tracking.
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written by Nicolás, May 02, 2008
They mention that they are Dual-Axis tracking on their website more than once. Here is one instance.
http://www.sunrgi.com/peak-pow...sson.html
I think that it could be useful to produce warm water, but that depends on how cool they want the cells to be you could not generate warmer water than the nominal cell temperature. Also given the concentration ratio I think cooling system failure would fry the cells I a matter of seconds and not minutes. Realigning the system away from the sun should fix this.
Furthermore you cannot heat up the water so much as to produce electricity from it because then you'd have to heat it up to around 400C and then you'd have to allow the cells to be hotter than this and I don't think they they want that.
About the IR filter you must mean to cover the lenses with and IR reflecting coating that only transmits visible and shorter wave light and REFLECTS IR light. That makes sense and its probably being done. Given that, it would not eliminate the heat issue but would help.
Anyway the idea is not new at all. The real trick is to figure out the details and come up with a cheap and reliable product as fast as possible. Let wait and see which of the many companies working on it which come out with their product first.
http://www.sunrgi.com/peak-pow...sson.html
I think that it could be useful to produce warm water, but that depends on how cool they want the cells to be you could not generate warmer water than the nominal cell temperature. Also given the concentration ratio I think cooling system failure would fry the cells I a matter of seconds and not minutes. Realigning the system away from the sun should fix this.
Furthermore you cannot heat up the water so much as to produce electricity from it because then you'd have to heat it up to around 400C and then you'd have to allow the cells to be hotter than this and I don't think they they want that.
About the IR filter you must mean to cover the lenses with and IR reflecting coating that only transmits visible and shorter wave light and REFLECTS IR light. That makes sense and its probably being done. Given that, it would not eliminate the heat issue but would help.
Anyway the idea is not new at all. The real trick is to figure out the details and come up with a cheap and reliable product as fast as possible. Let wait and see which of the many companies working on it which come out with their product first.
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written by Jon S, May 03, 2008
It would be simple to incorporate a secondary heat exchange unit that would help remove greater heat than the air cooled heat sinks would alone. This would mean that if the liquid cooling system fails the cells are cooled by the existing heat exchange system. Im thinking a copper coil attached to the cooling fins with a heat exchange coil in a water storage tank.
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written by Chris H., May 05, 2008
I'm assuming it's a typo and that the author knows that $.05 /kW really doesn't mean anything, unless they are talking about installed capacity. And in that case it's way cheaper than coal, or anything else we know of. It should read $.05/kWh.
Hard for me to get past errors like that.
I would be thrilled if they can really make solar electricity that cheaply, but it seems like it's usually about 5 years after technology is proven in the lab before it makes it to the market, not 15 months. Here's hoping for an exception.
Hard for me to get past errors like that.
I would be thrilled if they can really make solar electricity that cheaply, but it seems like it's usually about 5 years after technology is proven in the lab before it makes it to the market, not 15 months. Here's hoping for an exception.
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written by Kevin, May 05, 2008
Why wouldn't they capture the excess heat using water for storage? This could be a combo of solar heat and solar energy but they missed the obvious double use in my opinion.
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written by omegaman66, May 05, 2008
There is no excess heat to capture so everyone can stop talking about using the heat. I don't know if it is true are not but according to their website the temperatures of the solar cells never reach high temps. So no heat to capture as it is being wisked away too quickly already to generate a differential worth tapping.
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written by Eddie, June 26, 2008
Would your local home owners association have a problem with you installing these thick looking things on your roof? and it seems like they are only going to make them for businesses at first,but I woulds like to see them for residential use as well,but this looks like a thing to keep our eyes on for the next few years.
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written by bejay, July 30, 2008
I buy the idea of a reliable and cheap energy solar re-usable power source for the sub-shara Africa,I think it's a great idea,you are the expacts,you know what to do to complete the safety appliance to your innovation,by the time it's ready to go on the commercial market,you would have perfected your invention,more grease to your elbow,i would even like to be one of your distributors in west-Africa
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written by David Curl, June 02, 2009
I am an architect of environmentally sustainable and friendly homes and the SUNRGI system excited me so much I contacted them for any additional information they could give me regarding the development of their system. (Where is it, how far away, any successes in trialling etc.) After 3 months I still have not heard anything. Do not hold your breathe.
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Why don't they water cool them? Then we could have free hot water too!!!
I hope it is one of those...why didn't we think of that...