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All I want for Christmas is a 90% efficient solar panel
The idea of collecting energy from the sky – and using it in our homes to nurture, our schools to educate, our industry to build – is really the stuff of science fiction. As Arthur C Clarke once said, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
NovaSolix proposes a carbon nanotube based solar module which has the theoretical potential to reach 90% efficiency. The technology is based on a 1960s invention – the rectifying antenna (rectenna) – which is today used in radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. RFID tags capture the radio waves put out by scanners and power themselves. NovaSolix aims to take that ability of converting a different portion (non-visible) of the electromagnetic spectrum, and – using carbon nanotubes tuned to the sun’s full spectrum output – collect a much broader portion of the energy in our environment.
NovaSolix isn’t first to come up with this idea. Dr. Brian Willis, of the University of Connecticut, was pushing toward this technique in 2013 when he was proclaimed for a fabrication process called selective area atomic layer deposition that could allow for the manufacturing of the carbon nanotubes. At the time, commenting on solar rectennas in general, Willis was quoted as saying, "I compare it to the days when televisions relied on rabbit ear antennas for reception. Everything was a static blur until you moved the antenna around and saw the ghost of an image. Then you kept moving it around until the image was clearer. That's what we're looking for, that ghost of an image."
When asked by pv magazine how NovaSolix was growing its carbon nanotubes (still a future idea in this author’s mind), Dr. Jyotsna Iyer first let me know that carbon nanotubes aren’t a future idea anymore They’ve been grown since the 1990s in a ‘serious fashion’. Paraphrasing a thought of hers, was that science fiction had long moved to science speculation, and under her supervision in the NovaSolix labs, into science manufacturing.
The company says they’ve demonstrated a proof of concept, in front of third parties, that has touched 43% efficiency. That’d suggest a 72 cell solar module near 860 watts, with a 90% solar cell pushing 1700 watts.
[...] NovaSolix’s path to market is much like many of the new solar technologies – start in industries that need a high efficiency product and can deal with the higher price while the company scales. Satellites and drones are two regulars on this list, and more recently cars have joined it.
Sono Motors suggests its car charge up just over 18 miles on a 24% efficient solar cell. If NovaSolix can get to that 90% number, that’s 67 miles of sunlight driving. The average daily miles driven in the USA is about 40 miles per person. Elon Musk – are you reading?
(Score: 2) by NewNic on Tuesday November 27 2018, @11:59PM (1 child)
What can I say except to give you real numbers? I paid about $18k (pre-tax credit pricing) for a 5.25kW system (maximum allowed based on my usage) and that included a free EVSE installation (supplied and fitted), which would have cost at least $1000 had I paid for it separately.
My neighbor is getting quotes of about $15k for a 4kW system. If you are being quoted nearly $20k for a 3kW system, you need to get more quotes.
Residential systems are a lot more expensive than large commercial systems on a cost per kW basis. That has always been true and always will be. If your system is too small it will never be cost-effective. But cost should not be the primary concern: time to pay back the cost is the real issue. I estimate 6 years for mine.
CA imposes a maximum permit fee of $500 plus $15/kW, so you are claiming that there are "licensed installer fees" of about $9.5k. What are these "licensed installer fees"? Are you talking about the labor costs to design and install a system?
Some quick googling suggests that a 300W panel currently costs about $300 - $400, and inverters are about $2000-$3000 so your proposed 3kW system would cost about $5000 to $7000 in retail hardware costs. So the installer who quoted you is charging somewhere around $13k for labor. Did you expect this to be free? Do you think it is artificially high (probably, yes).
You started at $20k and when challenged dropped it to $10k. That's quite a difference. Where did any of those numbers come from?
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday November 28 2018, @12:29AM
> Do you think it is artificially high (probably, yes).
Your own math points to 60% of the cost being installation, and the less you install, the higher the percentage gets.
That was my point. Cheap panels are not the problem here, where the "certified/licensed/bonded installer" is the majority of the cost.
The same Chinese panels get installed on European houses for half the US out-the-door price.