The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he's a-getting
Yesterday we heard from Solar Century, Whitfield Solar and the Cavendish Optoelectronics Group about the rapidly expanding solar power sector and the disruptive technologies that are being launched into it. Abundant solar power is already cheaper than grid electricity power in many warm regions of the world including areas of Italy and Spain, and this will be true for all of Europe by 2030 due to rising energy costs. European targets for renewable energy by 2020 are driving 30% annual growth in the solar industry, and this creates opportunities for new technologies to take their place alongside the ever cheaper and more efficient mature polycrystalline silicon. We heard about concentrator lenses and mirrors whose lower area costs complement high efficiency solar cells and flexible plastic solar sheets whose low reel-to-reel PVC production cost and robustness will capture solar power on bus shelters and other places where fragile costly polysilicon will not go.
There was lively Q&A from 42 Technology, AlertMe, ARM, Cambridge Consultants, Innomech, Marshalls, Microsoft Research, Moixa, PA, Plarion, Plextek, Polysolar, Renewables East, Sentec, TTP, Unilever and Xaar among 70 local participants. Questions include believable benchmarks of solar cell efficiency; Smart Grid management of a grid with increasing proportions of energy generated at a different time that it is consumed; honest architectural design ethics for solar power that will be acceptable as the current green fad fades; and how European businesses will retain any share of value as China and India enter this market.
We have a lot of experience locally in delivering ideas that have been incorporated in devices around the world - it is good to see it addressing the rising opportunity of renewable solar power.
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