Solar breakthrough?

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
https://techxplore.com/news/2023-09...j0i-IjfHD6NZEnh53m5dhwlAXRIGROWI-jbMXJXOm7Xk8

 

[SteveK]

All righty then, looking forward to more watts per dollar.

 

[Don L]

tell me why I should follow this link

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. SK. I've seen several promising technologies stalled because, while they look amazing "on the bench", can't be upscaled to an industrial level.

One only has to look at mileage claims for cars. Yep, 30mpg on the test track, under ideal conditions, but disappointingly less on the road.


Not holding my breath on this or any other "breakthroughs". Just interesting, is all...

 

[socalrider]

The story of solar progress has been of steady decrease in $/Watt over ~70 years driven by tens of thousands of person-hours of work, hundreds of small incremental improvements, and a pretty traditional manufacturing learning curve, where costs come down by X% with every cumulative doubling of production. Because production has been doubling *fast*, costs have come down fast.

That'll likely continue, perhaps fueled by more "breakthrough" tech gains like Perovskites. Thin film solar (used by FirstSolar) is a breakthrough and very different from traditional wafer/cell tech, but because the market is so large it's had the effect of just continuing to drive down prices slowly, while making the company founders very very rich. Same would happen if this tech breaks through - its costs may be significantly lower but they'd sell at a slight discount, but with a higher margin. That's capitalism working! I wish them the best.

 

[Jeff F]

It's not just about cost/watt. Many of us are constrained by size as much as $$.

I look forward to more power from the space I have available.

 

[socalrider]

It's not just about cost/watt. Many of us are constrained by size as much as $$.

I look forward to more power from the space I have available.

Yeah - they all move in parallel though. A big part of the $/W improvements are driven by efficiency improvements (more Watts from the same material cost) which is great when space is limited.

 

[Action]

Interesting and the article uses words like:

one step closer
potential
researchers are switching to examining perovskite

With one of the last statements of: The levelized cost of solar electricity is now cheaper than most other power-generating sources.

I know jack about solar, except I have about 20 panels on my house.
My questions would be are ......
What is levelized cost?
How does a perovskite solar cell differ from other cells?
Will this really save the consumer money?

Action

 

[KnotYet]

https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2015/08/f25/LCOE.pdf
https://www.wordstream.com/internet-search

 

[Action]

https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2015/08/f25/LCOE.pdf

If I understand the graph on page 6, solar is one of the most costliest forms of power generation and natural gas is the least. Hmmmm

 

[socalrider]

If I understand the graph on page 6, solar is one of the most costliest forms of power generation and natural gas is the least. Hmmmm

That document is from 2015. The above was true in 2015. It's not anymore.

 

[sunchaser]

The presented data does not have enough detail to allow a DCF and NPV analysis. But with government funds a major source of renewables’ capital, traditional financial analysis is skewed as repayment of all sources of funds does not apply.

In a simplistic fashion, today’s interest rates do not favor roof top solar as compared to five years ago. But with utilities able to cover increased borrowing costs by raising rates for end users only the taxpayers suffer. Yes, roof top solar is a profit center for many, except the unlucky homeowners.

Elon, Solar City and Tesla Engineering have proven masters at playing the “free money” game especially for those who bought Tesla stock a decade ago. What a genius Elon is.

Kudos to the renewables’ business models using government money worldwide for corporate liquidity. A major beneficiary is China Inc, a major supplier of all things EV, panels, controls and windmill blades. Globalization at its best!

 

[socalrider]

Any business is going to use whatever funds are available to move forward, including government incentives. The incentives are put in place to accelerate the industry, which is deemed to be in the national and global interest. You can agree/disagree but it's the same for all industries, including fossil fuels, which have received far more subsidies than renewables over the years.

Concerns about the renewable energy supply chain are real, same as with semiconductors pharma (antibiotics use ingredients 100% controlled by China), and anything that uses rare earths. The Inflation Reduction Act limits (over time) renewable energy subsidies to US-sourced equipment (including batteries for EVs, solar panels, etc.) which is driving an absolutely historic shift in the supply chain. A huge amount of manufacturing capacity is being built domestically now, all across the country - it will have a generational impact.