It was the Greeks who first viewed the sun as a source of energy that could be managed and exploited by humanity.  Early efforts to tap this energy source revolved around what are now called “passive solar designs”–methods that tap the sun’s light and heat to help us see and stay warm within our homes and other buildings.

Solar power technologies received a major boost from Leonardo da Vinci in the 1500s, when he conceived a parabolic mirror that concentrated solar energy for clothing dyes.  This form of solar energy — now referred to as “Concentrated Solar Power” (CSP)–was first developed commercially for electricity generation in the Mojave Desert in California in the 1980s.  For more than three decades, this series of parabolic troughs totalling 360 megawatts (MW) of CSP was the largest solar power generation station in the world.  While there are several CSP projects on the drawing boards throughout the world, with North Africa and Spain being two major markets, many are being canceled in California and through the western U.S. and replaced with solar photovoltaics (PV), the focus of today’s solar power industry.

Modern solar PV technology was developed initially for the space program over 30 years ago and relies upon silicon transistors.  Because these solar transistors were so expensive, it took the emergence of the satellite industry in the 1950s to create a demand for such wireless electricity generators to find a cost effective application.  The space industry needed a remote power source that did not require copious quantities of stored fuel.  Solar PV panels filled a unique though specialised market niche.  Initial terrestrial applications were for remote homes and facilities not connected to any utility grid.

Today, even the conservative Institute for Electrical Energy Engineers (IEEE) now predicts that solar power will be the world’s cheapest source of power over the long-term, due to its modularity and the increasing efficiency of the panels.  Future innovation should radically increase performance since efficiency can be targeted at the four-fifths of the potential solar resource that’s currently lost in the power conversion process.

The Growth of Smart Solar

A typical solar PV system consists of the actual solar modules, balance of system (BOS) components, such as inverters that convert the direct current (DC) power generated by the solar module into alternating current (AC), and other system components, such as racks and wiring, or even advanced storage systems such as batteries.

From a utility point of view, solar PV can be problematic.  Like wind, power production can be variable, though wind is less predictable. (We know, for example, that the sun does not shine at night!) The key technologies necessary to integrate solar PV into utility systems are “smart” inverters and “smart” meters, technologies that can tap intelligence within the grid network to manage the increased complexity of relying upon multiple smaller sources of power.  In this way, solar PV is part of an evolution transforming our grid from a one-way power flow from large centralised power plants to a two-way exchange that looks a lot like the Internet.

Molecular Solar Ltd, a spinout company from the University of Warwick, has achieved a significant breakthrough in the performance of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells.

They have achieved and demonstrated a record voltage for organic photovoltaic cells that means these highly flexible, low cost solar cells can now be devolved for commercial uses in a wide range of consumer electronics.

The Company’s most recent advance in the development of its organic photovoltaic (OPV) cell technology is the realisation of cells with open-circuit voltages in excess of 4 volts for the first time. Molecular Solar’s research team believe this is a record for an OPV device. Dr Ross Hatton, Research Director of the company commented:

“This is an important advance. We are now very close to having highly flexible organic photovoltaic cells that will be capable of delivering electrical energy at a voltage suitable for recharging lithium ion batteries that are widely used in portable consumer electronics. Remarkably, this high voltage is achieved using a cell with only 4 junctions (sub-cells)”.

University of Warwick researcher Professor Tim Jones, who is Chief Technology Officer of Molecular Solar, added: “The first generation of organic photovoltaics will be exceptionally well matched to consumer electronics applications. The advantage of Molecular Solar’s high voltage cells is that a single cell can be used with no requirement to connect multiple cells in series for these applications, saving manufacturing cost.”

Andrew Oldfield, Head of Cleantech at Mercia Fund Management said, “We were attracted to Molecular Solar’s unique approach to realizing truly flexible, environmentally sustainable photovoltaics that are well matched to the burgeoning portable consumer electronics market.”

Molecular Solar are currently finalising a £5m investment round to complete the up-scaling of their OPV and MS-Flexifilm™ electrode technology.

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To: Premier of NSW - Barry O’Farrell

Minister for Energy – Chris Hartcher

Minister for the Environment – Robyn Parker

An open letter to the Government of NSW

On Friday the 1st of July the second Solar Summit was held in Newcastle to agree on a fair price for Solar.

My business Partner and I have been involved in the solar industry since the late 90′s. We have both spent our entire adulthood in the Solar Industry, all we know is Solar. We have seen it grow from a niche market that was supported by off grid demand to a mainstream product sold to the masses. We agree that the previous incentives put in place have been overly generous however the current policy or lack thereof has brought us to our knees.

You promised that you would like to put a stop to the boom bust cycle; however within weeks of the policy change we are seen many players in NSW go “BUST”  

In July I’ve never seen such a dive in demand, month over month in all our time in solar. We run a wholesale solar company, servicing over 250 customers. We are in conversations daily with our customers who have either downsized massively or closed their doors.

The only companies that have managed to survive in NSW are the ones which have sales and install exposure in other states such as ours. 

The rooftop solar market only requires around 2 to 3 years of support before we can compete with conventional electricity generation. Prices across all components have come down dramatically over the years. 

One example is solar panel pricing.  In 2006 they were priced above A$ 4.50 per watt, from the manufacturer. Now we are wholesaling solar panels below A$ 1.60 per watt  

Our customers are able to install a system on a consumer’s roof for under $3.50 per watt. 

There needs to be some sort of incentive for the end user to put solar panels on the roof. The utilities are not going to do anything as they are making huge profit margins at present. 

We went from a Gross FIT of 60 cents which was 3 times more than the retail electricity rate to a Nett FIT of 6 cents which is more than 3 times less than the retail rate. We are on our knees.

We are told that IPART will review and recommend a new policy on a fair price for a solar FiT; we understand this will take around 12 months for anything to happen.

We need something in place in the interim urgently; otherwise all the knowledge, infrastructure and jobs which have been developed over the years will disappear and go to waste.

We plead with you to help support us by working on an interim package like a nett 1 for 1 that will see us survive.