What is the first picture that strikes on the mind when you hear the word ‘solar’?
Is it the picture of solar panels? or a solar farm in the desert? Or just the picture of the sun?
Well, most people instantly think of solar panels on rooftops as they have dominated the solar market until this point.
However, there are now several exciting new solar panel technologies either in the pipeline or already on the market. These promising technologies have revolutionized the way we think about not just solar, but energy production in general. Solar no longer requires large parcels of land or roof space, nor does it need to look boring. Here are the five amazing advances in solar technology;
3D Solar Cell
Solar scientists have developed an innovative 3D solar-cell design with an entirely different architecture which drives down the costs of cell manufacturing. These cells have a unique architecture based on a surface dotted with micro-grooves that could make solar power more efficient. Further, the design removes many of the manufacturing process steps required for making existing photovoltaics (PV) modules and allows new materials to be used that would not usually be appropriate in regular solar cells.
Researchers believe that using this design, solar panels will weigh only a fraction of equivalent-power conventional solar modules. The design also removes expensive conductive oxides and use of high-cost electrical interconnections. All this, in turn, will benefit less developed and off-grid areas of the world where it is not viable to transport heavy solar panels.
Floatovoltaics: Floating Solar Power System
Floating solar installations mounted on a structure that floats on a body of water, typically an artificial basin or a lake. These generate huge amounts of electricity without using valuable land or real estate. Researchers have found that the power production of floating solar panels gets increased by 10% due to the cooling effect of water. In addition to this, the cost of installing floating photovoltaic panels is less than land-based
The installation costs of floating photovoltaic panels are less than land-based photovoltaic panels. Also, researchers have shown that the power production of floating solar panels is greater by up to 10% due to the cooling effect of water.
Building-Integrated Photovoltaics
As the name suggests, these are blended into the building architecture in the as roofs, canopies, curtain walls or facades. Unlike traditional solar panels system, building-integrated panels are aesthetically appealing and don’t compromise a building’s design. These also aid homeowners to save on building materials and electric power costs. The new technology also entails benefits such as increased energy efficiency, high thermal insulation and decreased O&M costs.
Solar Cell Fabric
New technology has been introduced knows as solar cell fabric wherein fabric is embedded with photovoltaic cells which generate electricity when exposed to light. Now, we can generate power from what we wear; it can keep us warm during cold weather, and even power our electrical devices. Although less efficient, these tiny solar cells can be produced with low-cost and can be stitched with any kind of fabric.
Further, these tiny cylindrical cells are not limited to rooftops and fabrics. These can be incorporated into any daily-life objects. The potential of nano solar cells can disrupt the solar industry and create a revolution in the way we generate energy.
Solar Skins
With solar skins, you don’t have to worry about solar panels breaking the lines of your home’s aesthetic, or covering the advertising space on your commercial building. Now, you can customise your solar panels look just like any other wallpaper or advertisement banner. Solar skin panels are also beneficial for businesses or government offices as they can be customized to display business logos, business advertisements, a country’s flag, and so on.
Keynote
Thanks to all these exciting and crazy technological advancements, we can believe that energy-generation is going to get on a whole new level and civilization will be harnessing energy in many different yet innovative ways.