Solar Power First

  We’ve covered a few different innovative and creative forms of solar panel designs here on the blog over the past few months, but it’s fair to say that today’s may be the most interesting one to date! Carvey Ehren Maigue, a student at Mapua University, has created a solar panel that involved retrieving the luminescent particles found in certain types of food waste and storing them in a resin substrate.This was done in the attempt to solve a key efficiency issue facing solar panels. Namely, their dependence on direct sunlight for peak performance.  It is claimed that Maigue’s design, known as the AuREUS system, is designed to continue harvesting light for solar energy generation almost half of the time, with many current panels only producing for 20-25% of the time. Maigue envisions his system working in the same way as the Northern Lights, hence the name AuREUS , derived from “aurora borealis.  A single AuREUS solar panel is roughly three feet tall and two feet wide, a ...

As we move further and further with the renewable energy revolution, the hope is that not only will we see individual homes or offices drawing the majority of their energy from solar generation, but also entire infrastructure. That’s why this latest piece of news we have to share is so exciting. It was recently announced that solar rail specialist Riding Sunbeams had been awarded over £2.5m as part of the South East Local Enterprise Partnership’s £85 million portion of the UK Government’s new ‘Getting Building Fund’. The grant will be utilised to build a solar farm which will in turn power the rail network between Eastbourne and London. It’s a hugely significant step to see such a prominent rail line rely on solar. The overall scheme is a £900 million UK-wide purse that is focused on funding local infrastructure projects, particularly those which drive economic growth and support green energy after the Covid-19 pandemic. The 3.75MW solar farm, known as Cuckmere Community Solar Farm, ha...

  We’re always interested to hear about new innovations with regards to solar, so when we heard about the idea of generating solar power in space, it’s fair to say we were intrigued! Millions of British homes could be powered by a giant solar power station 24,000 miles up in space within three decades, under proposals being considered by the government. Under the plan, a system of five huge satellites – each more than a mile wide, covered in solar panels and weighing several thousand tonnes – would deliver laser beams of energy down to Earth. These would provide up to 15% of the country’s electricity supply by 2050, enough to power 4 million households – with the first space energy expected to be delivered as soon as 2040. Each satellite would be made from tens of thousands of small modules, propelled into space through 200 separate rocket launches, and then steadily assembled by robots once they are in orbit!   The satellites would use thousands of mirrors to concentrate the ...

  Yes, you read that right, Australia is set to build the world’s biggest solar facility, then transport the solar power over to Singapore. How is that possible, you may ask. Well, part of the whopping AUD$20bn being pumped into the project, which is spread across a space the size of 20,000 football fields, will go on constructing the planet’s longest submarine power cable, with the equipment able to export the electricity from the Australian outback all the way to Singapore via a 4,500km high-voltage direct current (HVDC) network. David Griffin, CEO of Sun Cable, spoke on the impact of this ambitious project, saying; “It is extraordinary technology that is going to change the flow of energy between countries. It is going to have profound implications and the extent of those implications hasn't been widely identified. If you have the transmission of electricity over very large distances between countries, then the flow of energy changes from liquid fuels – oil and LNG – to electron...

We’re always up for hearing new ideas of how to raise the efficiency even further, and with available land at a premium in many places, finding efficient ways in which to create space for solar facilities is almost as important as making sure the solar generation itself is efficient.  With the shortage of land, could there have been an alternative staring us in the face the whole time? Could we put them on water?  This is what is starting to happen across Asia with floating solar panels popping up on lakes, ponds, and reservoirs. The benefits of this could actually extend much further than we realised, with a new study published in Renewable Energy suggesting that floating solar farms at current hydropower reservoirs could not only reduce solar costs, but meet anywhere up to 40% of the planet’s energy needs. Reservoirs are being put forward by many as the top option, over using lakes or ponds, for a couple of key reasons. First, the solar power equipment could make use of the...

Today we bring you news of a promising new design opportunity that could revolutionise the future of solar panel production. We hope you’re as excited as we are! At present, figures show that around 90% of all solar panels across the world are manufactured using crystalline silicon, a material which has been established for decades. Research suggests that they tend to convert between 15% and 25% of the sunlight they receive into electricity. The current options, while offering many benefits, tend to weigh anywhere from 20 to 30kgs per square metre, making them a significant undertaking to install safely onto their usual placement on building roofs.   While these silicon-based solar panels are pretty much standard across the world at present, recent supports suggest that a new form of ‘organic plastic’ solar panels could soon offer a much lighter and more flexible option that could be effectively ‘printed’ onto buildings, or even placed in windows or on vehicles. This would offer a...

Once again, we’re excited to bring you news of a positive solar innovation, this time from down under! Aggreko have recently announced that they will be offering a new solar rental scheme to residents across Australia, a programme which will provide consumers with a 1MW option that doesn’t include any long-term financial or technical tie-ins.  Aggreko are suggesting that deployment time for the project is three to four months, with contract duration starting at five years, allowing homeowners to get a good long look at the benefits of solar without making a full commitment in terms of their own complete purchase.   The system that is being offered will have low operations and maintenance needs, integrating with Aggreko’s battery storage and thermal generators. The entire process will be managed by intelligent software, all utilising one central control system. This hybrid system is highly efficient, lowering carbon footprint, something that Aggreko are not just offering to oth...

  Any time a new solar innovation is unveiled, or even hinted at, it is likely to catch our attention! Given this fact, we had to put pen to paper - or should that be fingers to keys? - when it came to sharing the news of potential solar panel trucks making their way across Sweden, and in time, possibly the world! The news came out recently that Swedish commercial vehicle manufactures Scania AB is going to be taking part in a joint research venture that will see them get to work on developing a solar panel-covered trailer that is designed to power a plug-in hybrid truck. This upcoming project, which will involve the team at Scania joining forces with trucking company Ernst Express AB, is a definite step forward for solar development. The project will also receive input from thin-film solar tech developer Midsummer AB, electric utility Dalakraft AB and the Uppsala University. Additionally the Swedish government’s innovation agency Vinnova will be putting its support towards the pro...

One area we are particularly interested in is with regards to new innovations within the solar industry. Usually these come from the major solar companies, other times they come from research labs at major universities, and then occasionally, they come from random Reddit users. Today is a day for the latter, and lesser-spotted, occurrence. The Reddit user in question is named BeepBoopWhat and his intriguing idea caught our eye. Planning the monthly bills is a key task for any individual or family, with our energy bills liable to be one of the most significant of those bills, particularly as we approach winter here in the UK. Having a handle on exactly what we are likely to spend is a useful insight for solar energy users, which is why we were so excited to hear that this individual’s idea proposed making use of a Raspberry Pi in order to monitor solar panels and calculate a detailed projection on their expected monthly impact on our energy bills. How would it work? In terms of exactly...

When it comes to solar panels, as far as we’re concerned, the more efficient the better! There’s no doubt that solar generation has become far more efficient in recent years, not least because of the widespread adoption of solar battery storage allowing users to utilise their solar energy exactly when they need it. But what about the efficiency of the solar panels themselves? There have certainly been advances in solar panel technology, both in terms of offering high-performance panels for cheaper, and employing new designs to elevate the potential of panels in terms of generation. Along these lines, one recent study from academics at the University of York found that one key design change could actually improve solar panel efficiency by up to 125% The design change in question? Checkerboard! The research team at the University of York had the aim of investigating exactly how different surface designs would impact on the ability of solar cells in terms of their absorption of sunlight. ...