Dream come true?? Cheap power at last.

[Dj]

Figured everyone (especially Heinbloed!) would be very interested in this.
It is a new type of solar photovoltaic panel. Apparently it can generate enough power to run standard home applicances, etc, purely from the sun.
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=143&art_id=vn20060211110132138C184427

Dj

[heinbloed]

Thanks! The article is a bit funny:Why would one install a PV panel to run a stove? Anyhow, there are many more PV panel manufacturers on the market. Heating the home with electricity isn't exactly energy wise, check the ammortisation costs compared with a conventional solar collector system. PV has secured it's save place in the energy production a long time ago, the question is when it becomes economical viable in our climate.The Club of Rome only last month published that standard silica PV modules ARE already cheaper then burning oil in powerplants - in Northern Africa- because of the high oilprice. Only because the old powerplants of Lybia and Egypt and Tunesia etc are already written off they can compete against PV power. But once these old powerplants are taken out of production there is no reason why they should not be replaced with large PV plants, land in the dessert costs nothing.In one or two years the PV silica shortage will be overcome and then these highly efficient cells will become even cheaper, more competitive.That means that Spain , Italy and the south of France as well as Malta, Cyprus, ex Jugoslavia etc. will all switch to PV to produce electric power at peak demand. The "Think tanks" are sugesting "a fair dicussion about nuclear power", at every tabloid they run their sponsored rubbish campaigns based on wishfull thinking and providing no numbers on the total costs per kwh of nuclear electricity , feeling the ice is getting thinner and thinner...... The efficiency of thin PV cells (those from DJ's post above) is only 6-8% at the best and these cells deterioate very quick. The standard 200-350 micron PV cell has an efficiency of more 18%(!),17% to 18% per module, and lasts for generations, even though it surely but slowly deterioates as well.The manufacturers guarantee 20 years of the nominated output at 80%. No conventional power plant can come up with such a good rating/guarantee. And technical developement doesn't stop at these points, they're getting better and cheaper/more efficient with every new generation of cells.