There’s reason to be excited if you’re considering switching to solar energy. Researchers are constantly working to improve solar technology, making it more affordable and efficient than ever before.
These new developments include printed solar cells that are much thinner than human hair and can be glued onto the fabric. They could be used on sails to generate power at sea or tacked onto tents and tarps in disaster recovery efforts.
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Lightweight Solar Panels
Solar PV systems are comprised of solar cells, which convert radiant sunlight into electricity. Researchers have made a series of technological breakthroughs in recent years, positioning solar PV as a viable alternative to fossil fuels.
Flexible solar solutions, like those from Solar by Peak to Peak, don’t require a metal frame and can be mounted with adhesives rather than screws. This allows them to be placed on flat or slanted surfaces and unconventional structures like windows and roofs. Moreover, these panels are much lighter than standard silicon solar solutions. Thinner solar wafers can be used, enabling the panels to fold and be transported more easily. They also have a higher power conversion efficiency than previous generations.
Heterojunction Technology
Heterojunction solar panels use a crystalline N-type silicon wafer sandwiched between layers of amorphous thin-film silicon. This allows more light to be harvested, leading to higher efficiency and lower power losses than standard monocrystalline silicon solar cells.
The amorphous layer on top grabs photons that would have been absorbed by the crystalline layer below, which helps capture low-irradiance sunlight (also known as soft light). This makes heterojunction solar panels bifacial, allowing them to capture sunlight from both sides.
This technology also prevents LID (light-induced degradation), a common problem with monocrystalline modules using p-type wafers. The amorphous layer also helps reduce the degradation caused by fluctuations in temperature. Also check: Parker, Colorado
Floating Solar Farms
Many cities need more land to host traditional solar farms. However, many of them have water reservoirs or wastewater treatment plants that could be home to floating solar arrays.
Known as photovoltaics, these solar systems resemble those spread out over a parking lot or rooftop but float on rafts. Researchers estimate that if all of the world’s water reservoirs were lined with these solar panels, they could produce as much energy as the current global consumption of fossil fuels.
Floating solar farms are already used in many countries, including China and South Korea. The United States has several installations, including the first public floating solar farm in Healdsburg, which generates 8 percent of the city’s electricity.
Building-Integrated Solar Technology
When people think of solar energy, images of rooftops adorned with panels generating renewable electricity come to mind, however, there is another way to integrate solar into your home, involving more than just the roof.
Building-Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) refers to PV technology built into or replacing traditional building materials like the roof, skylights and facades. These can be constructed from either crystalline or thin film solar modules and are often designed with a more subtle appearance.
These are designed to replace or complement standard glazing and can be a suitable alternative to traditional skylights. They also work well in buildings with limited roof space or where access to sunlight is limited by vertical walls or shade.
Solar Skins
Solar panels are a great energy source but can often be seen as an eyesore. This can make them a turnoff for homeowners who value aesthetics. Solar skins are a new technology that allows homeowners to integrate their solar panels with the look of their roof tiles or shingles.
The solar skins use selective light filtration to display a vibrant image while transmitting sunlight toward the underlying solar panel. This allows homeowners in Golden, Colorado to create a seamless integration with their existing roofs while making solar power more appealing.
In the future, solar skins and solar ‘paint’ could turn windows into solar energy generators. This could allow buildings and electric vehicles to generate renewable energy without being connected to the grid.
Solar Noise Barriers
More energy from the sun falls on Earth in one hour than everyone uses over their lifetimes. Solar technologies convert sunlight into usable electricity to power homes and businesses.
Many residents and schools alongside highways have long complained of traffic noise pollution.
The solution combines noise reduction and renewable energy generation efficiently. It also takes advantage of the vast lengths of noise barrier structures that crisscross highways across North America. The technology ensures high efficiency using local climate and solar data to determine optimum PV tilt angles.
