Comments on: The German Disease

By: Øyvind Holmstad

Øyvind Holmstad — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 06:08:45 +0000

Here is the kind of technology Plastal should use: http://www.forskning.no/artikler/2010/juni/251961

The article is in Norwegian, but it’s about nano threads that can be put in a thin plastic film, and these can be sticked at your ordinary windows etc, and they’ll be quite effective, and quite sheep. This may become a new revolution for solar cells.

By: Christophe Inglin

Christophe Inglin — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 08:44:12 +0000

It makes little sense to spread the effective cost of subsidies so far only on the approx 0.6% electricity supplied by PV in Germany today. You need to recalculate the cost when PV is supplying over 10% of electricity, and that will only happen when it is commercially viable without subisidies (ie post-grid parity).

There is a parallel in the low prices we pay today for mobile telephony. We would never have reached today’s prices if early adopters were not prepared to invest in the industry by paying much higher prices early on. With PV the twist is that subsidies accelerate the adoption rates.

The true benefit of Germany’s programme is to have created a big enough market for manufacturers to reduce cost through economies of scale, experience and reinvesting earnings in R&D. The result is much cheaper PV today than when the programme started. And costs will fall further, making grid parity a reality. Markets well beyond Germaný’s are benefitting from the falling prices.

By: Øyvind Holmstad

Øyvind Holmstad — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:23:33 +0000

I just watched a program on the Swedish State Broadcasting SVT2 about the stirling engine, and I learned it was invented by a Scottish priest in the 18th century. Today Sweden is the leading country in sterling technology, and the factory situated in Åmål by Lake Vaetteren has orders coming in from all over the world, because this engine is a hit these days. This engine is very energy effective and can ran on every kind of fuel.

What surprsed me was that the biggest orders were now from customers who wanted to transform solar energy to electrisity by using sterling engines. This happens with using a mirror parabol that consentrates the solar radients in a hot spot hitting the stirling engine that, so on makes the cylinders in the engine run around producing electrisity. With using the stirling engine you get out much more electricity than using a steem turbine, and you don’t need (still)expensive solar cells producing energy.

By: Craig Mackintosh

Craig Mackintosh — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 09:53:26 +0000

Thanks Jason – fixed now.

By: Øyvind Holmstad

Øyvind Holmstad — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 07:44:43 +0000

http://www.solenergi.no/
I could not find the article about this new technology from Plastal at Raufoss, written i my local newspaper Oppland Arbeiderblad. But if anyone want to learn more about this new technology i suggest to contact the Norwegian Solar Energy Club in the link above, I guess they have the overwiew.

By: Øyvind Holmstad

Øyvind Holmstad — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 07:36:14 +0000

Yes, I resently learned that harvesting solar energi as thermal energy gives 5 times more energy than solar cells, including that thermal systems are cheep and low tech. Also I think the stringling engine, I think developed in Germany and is very flexible, can be a better solution if you want to live off-grid here in Norway. This can produse electrisity from wood as well, something which is plentyfull here.

Anyway the development of solar cells are running fast, I resently read that the division of the Swedish company Plastal here at Raufoss has developed a new technology that will decrease the costs of colar cells with 10 times or something like this.

So I think the future for living off-grid, off-pipe etc. is bright!

By: jason

jason — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 06:21:59 +0000

The Chris Goodall and David Thorpe links are broken, they both have a leading space confusing the browser into thinking they are local links versus links to other sites.