New innovations that are changing the solar industry

As the need for us to switch to more renewable sources of energy becomes more evident, the solar industry is continuously growing and innovating to offer us the ideal replacement for the more environmentally harmful options. The use of solar power has grown exponentially in recent years and the constantly evolving technology ensures that the future is bright.

Let’s take a look at some of the latest innovations in the solar industry that promise to change the game.

Thin Film Solar Cells

Land area and the installation process account for the majority of expenses when it comes to solar power plants. Second-generation thin-film solar cells are geared to change this obstacle. They are lightweight, flexible and easy to install while having much smaller light-absorbing layers compared to the standard panels. 

In addition to being an economic alternative, they have a high efficiency of up to 21%. These narrow and bendable solar cells are constructed using cadmium-telluride (CdTe), amorphous silicon, copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS), and gallium-arsenide (GaAs). 

Perovskite Solar Cells

Another addition to the new generation of solar cells is this flexible, lightweight, and semi-transparent alternative. Hybrid metal halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have great performance in low light, offering excellent light absorption capabilities. 

The main highlight, however, is that these thin films can be printed, meaning that they are much more scalable in the manufacturing process. Other highlights of PSCs are their low price, thin design, low temperature processing, and 12.2% efficiency. Yet to reach the commercial space, they promise a high economic and efficiency advantage in the future.

Transparent Solar Windows

Engineering researchers at Michigan State University have developed a breakthrough innovation that could change the way we see solar power generation. They have formulated a thin, plastic-like material that acts as a transparent luminescent solar concentrator that creates solar energy without disrupting the view. This means that it can be a revolutionary replacement to the bulky rooftop solar units and instead be used on buildings, windows, mobile phones, cars or any other format that have a clear, see-through surface. 

This see-through material absorbs invisible wavelengths of sunlights using organic molecules developed by the researchers. These researchers are able to tune these materials to pick up only ultraviolet and near-infrared wavelengths of sunlight that will be used to generate electricity. These transparent solar cells are able to record an efficiency of above 5% in comparison to the 15-18% efficiency of traditional solar cells. Despite this difference in efficiency, they are able to offer the untapped potential of being applied to a wide number of surfaces in a larger area as well.

Reverse Solar Panels

When it comes to the efficiency of solar panels, the unavailability of sunlight during the night time is a major hurdle. Researchers from the University of California, Davis set out to combat this problem with an interesting innovation. 

Typically, solar cells are cooler than the sun and therefore absorb the light. Reversing this concept, the UC Davis researchers theorised that if you take a warmer object and point it towards sky where space is cooler it will radiate heat towards it in the form of infrared light. This means that, even without the availability of sunlight, thermoradiative cells can be used to generate electricity during daylight as well as the night time. 

Although this alternative could only generate about a quarter of the electricity that a regular solar panel could, it would still be more power than regular solar panels are currently able to generate at night.