(56) Mon 24 Jan 94 6:05 By: Ken Bridges To: ALL Re: New Solar Technology St: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ @MSGID: 1:325/802.5 d43aca20 This is the most info I can find to add at this point, hopefully more to follow. Ken Here is the full text of the DOE Announcement of 1/18/94 -Rob ======================================================================== ENERGY DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES BREAKTHROUGH IN SOLAR TECHNOLOGY The Department of Energy says that a three-year government/industry partnership has produced new thin-film solar technology that can supply all the daytime electric power needed for a home at almost half the present cost. Deputy Secretary of Energy Bill White said, "The successful implementation of this cost-shared $6.26 million project with United Solar Systems Corporation is proof-positive that, working together, government and industry can deliver the whole package -- innovative technology and its delivery to the marketplace." The new photovoltaic solar panels will be manufactured at a new plant site in Newport News, Virginia. DOE's Assistant Secretary of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Christine Ervin, said the practical application of these new solar panels will also help meet administration goals of reduced greenhouse gas emissions. "This project is an early example --- a foundation, if you will -- of what the Climate Change Action Plan can do. At the same time, we will help create high-skill, high-wage jobs and increase America's share of the growing world market for environmental technologies." The applications of this thin-film technology include the replacement of glass panels used in constructing walls of commercial buildings as well as other products. Ervin said, using the new technology, thin-film solar panels can be made, for example, into roofing shingles that could supply all the daytime electric power needs of a south facing residential home. Currently, costs for electricity from photovoltaics run from 25 to 50 cents per kilowatt hour (kwh). The new technology is expected to bring down the cost to 16 cents/kwh, and eventually down to 12 cents kwh. Ervin also noted that the shingles are similar in appearance from those we use today, eliminating aesthetic objections. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "New Silicon Cell can Halve Cost of Solar Energy" paraphrased without permission from The Wall Street Journal, Jan. 19, '94 page B7 Uninted Solar Systems Corp produced a new photovoltaic cell with an efficiency of 10.2% in a 1,000 hour test. It should drop the price of PV electricity from the current 25-50 cents/KWh to 16 and eventually 12 cents/KWh. [No mention of dollars/peak watt, projected life, interest rates, or tax incentives used to estimate the price - me] The new material is thinner and therefore cheaper than previous amorphous silicon pannels. The material could be fabricated into roof panels, battery-charging panels, wall coatings for commercial buildings, etc. Uninted Solar Systems Corp., is a joint venture between Canon and Stanford Ovishinksy's Energy Conversion Devices. The Energy Department shared costs of the three-year, $6.3 million development program. The devopment team was led by Subhendu Ghua, vice president of research & development. USS is building a $30 million plant, financed largely by Cannon, in Newport News, Va. to produce the new alloy beginning in 1995. -- Laurin Pestes ÿÿ Amorphous PV in WSJ -DOE- ------------------------------ --- timEd-B9 * Origin: The Solar Point, Solar Powered! (1:325/802.5) @PATH: 325/806 333/359 101/1 396/1 270/101 151/1003 3641/1