IBMhas announced a research
breakthrough inphotovoltaics
technology, which could significantly reduce
the cost of harnessing the sun's power for
electricity.
IBM scientists are using a large lens to capture the sun's
power, generating a record 230 watts onto a centimetre square solar
cell, in a technology known as concentrator photovoltaics, or
CPV.
That energy is then converted into 70 watts of usable electrical
power, about five times the electrical power density generated by
typical cells using CPV technology in solar farms.
If it can overcome additional challenges to move this project
from the lab, IBM believes it can significantly reduce the cost of
a typical CPV-based system.
By using a much lower number of photovoltaic cells in a solar
farm and concentrating more light onto each cell using larger
lenses, IBM's system enables a significant cost advantage in terms
of a lesser number of total components.
The trick lies in IBM's ability to cool the tiny solar cell.
Concentrating so much power on a small area generates enough heat
to melt stainless steel, something the researchers experienced
first-hand in their experiments.
But by borrowing innovations from its own R&D in cooling
computer chips, the IBM team was able to cool the solar cell from
more than 1,600ºC to just 85ºC.
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