Africa and Europe – A solar aliance

In 2007 a plan has been laid out to that would benefit both North Africa and Europe. The plan starts in northern Africa in coutries such as Morocco, Algeria and Libya where an immense array of solar cells is to be deployed in the Sahara desert. The electric power produced by the cells will then be conveyed to Europe via undersea cables. Some residual power will be available to the countries hosting the solar cells for desalinization of sea water, thus providing said countries with much needed fresh water.

The plan seems to address and exploit some interesting aspects. Mostly it taps into the endless supply of solar power available in the desert. Lets also consider that the weather in the desert is almost always sunny. The land in the african desert is cheap while very expensive in Europe.

Another more technical aspect of solar cells in the desert is the fact that at night the desert also radiates heat back into the atmosfere, heat that could be absorbed by the newest spray on and converted into electric power providing a steady supply even at night.

 

Spray on Solar Cell

One of the breakthroughs in the field came in late 2005 with the invention of a plastic solar cell that can be sprayed on other materials to form a very versatile source of energy. One can envision the material being sprayed on cell phones, laptops, cars … giving the devices true independence from wires and recharging. Larger scale implementations could be the use of the spray to cover entire buildings or even unused land such as deserts to provide an abundant green source of renewable energy.

Scientists are expecting to improve on the efficiency of the plastic cells by harnessing the infrared part of the sun’s light, which represents about 50% of the total light that reaches the earth and which other solar cells cannot use to produce electricity.  Another benefit of this aspect is the possibility to use the cells in cloudy weather or even at night in warm climates as infrared light is actually heat.

With greater efficiency come lower costs. Solar power is infact 3-5 times more expensive than the average U.S. residential power costs. The spray on power cells may finaly brige this gap and bring solar power to the mainstream.

 

Solar power technology

Many of us might thing that solar cells are something new and cutting edge. Well the truth is that they have been around for decades. The buzz surrounding them now is caused mainly by the soaring gas prices and the green movement in general. The solar cells technology is at its third generation.

The first generation the classic photovoltaic silicon based cells still represents more than 80% of all the installations. They are highly effective but bulky and expensive.

The second generation tries to address the shortcomings of its predecessors. The lightweight and flexible thin-film solar cells are very low cost. They can be arranged in many different ways making their use much more suitable for urban settings. Despite their lower efficiency they are expected to dominate the solar market in a few years.

The third generation of cells are actually a group of technologies that are still being researched. The research is directed towards new materials like polymers and nanotechnology and away from silicon-based materials. The idea is to merge the flexibility and low cost of the thin-film cells and the effectiveness of the classic silicon based cells. I will try to cover the new technologies in a later post.