Xtreme Energetics’ ultra-efficient, pretty solar systems catch HP’s eye
Hewlett-Packard, tapping into its IP back catalog, recently announced that it would license its thin film transparent transistor technology to Livermore, Calif.-based Xtreme Energetics (XE) to develop advanced concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) solar arrays for rooftops and utilities.
HP’s thin, flat transistors, which are made of cheap, plentiful zinc and tin, will create a tracking system that directly focuses sunlight on XE’s proprietary solar concentrators. These will allow XE’s concentrators to achieve double the conversion efficiency of… Continue Reading
Small municipal plants could be the future for solar power
Writing on Nanosolar’s blog, CEO Martin Roscheisen has unveiled the next prong in his firm’s business plan — a focus on municipal solar power plants of 2 – 10 megawatts in size. The idea is to build 10 acre lots on the outskirts of small cities that could feed into the municipal power grid directly.
Each lot, consisting of several rows of solar panels mounted on rails above ground, could provide up to 2 megawatts, enough… Continue Reading
Cool Earth Solar funded for oddball concentrated solar design
If solar power is expensive in part because the materials come dearly, then use cheaper materials. That’s the design principle behind thin film solar cells, and now also behind a form of concentrated solar using plastic balloons, designed by a firm called Cool Earth Solar.
Concentrated solar uses mirrors to shine more light onto regular solar photovoltaic cells, in order to get more energy, and thus more profit, out of a single cell. However, the mirrors… Continue Reading
Cool Earth Solar raises $750,000 for solar power concentration technology
Cool Earth Solar, a Livermore, Calif. company that says it has developed a new solar concentration technology, has raised $750,000 in a seed round of financing, VentureWire reports (sub required).
The company has a good presentation of its technology here.
Cool Earth Solar was founded by Eric Cummings, a former researcher at the Sandia National Laboratories and founder of Livermore-based laboratory equipment manufacturer LabSmith Inc., in December 2006. The round consisted of undisclosed angel investors, with Cummings… Continue Reading