Application

Next Generation Solar Cell to Power the World

Despite the dramatic growth of the solar industry, solar electricity accounts for less than 1% of global electricity generation. To truly deliver solar power to the world, solar cells must become more efficient and convert more sunlight into electricity at a lower cost.

Today’s cost per watt metric for measuring solar cell competitiveness, while tempting in its simplicity, is inadequate to quantify the total cost of a solar system. A 2011 article by Marcelo Gomez in Renewable Energy World predicted that Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) would soon become the standard by which solar systems will be evaluated. Solar3D’s high efficiency solar cells, occupying a smaller space, will result in a TCO that will be lower than conventional solar cells.

Conventional, less efficient, solar cells require more space, maintenance, and other collateral support expenses. Over a year of research, analysis, and experimentation has led us to a 3-dimensional solar cell design that will be substantially more efficient than conventional solar cells. Furthermore, the wide-angle collection feature of the Solar3D cell allows it to produce even more power by capturing more sunlight during the morning, evening and winter hours. As a result of higher power density in a smaller space and collection of light from wider range of angles, all of the associated support components can be less costly and less bulky. Smaller panels and frames, less support structure, less weight per watt, and less land or building space will be used to build high power solar systems.

With Solar3D’s high efficiency 3–dimensional cells, area or space limited applications that were not suitable for photovoltaics in the past can now be considered for solar systems. Furthermore, any application that does not constantly track the sun, such as fixed installations without tracking, or portable/mobile applications, can greatly benefit from the wide angle light collection feature of our 3-dimensional solar cell. Solar3D has committed to studying or testing a number of these applications such as:

1. Rooftop Installations – This is a particular growth area, with millions of rooftops in the US alone that are eligible for PV installations. It is an application, with both space and orientation limitations, for which our 3D solar cell will be a perfect fit.


2. Mobile and Outdoor Products – Anything that is portable by its very nature is not usually arranged to receive sunlight at an optimal incident angle. Furthermore, for portability, the smaller the footprint the better. We believe our high power solar cell will lead to a new generation of mobile products.


3. Military – Military equipment requires high reliability and high performance. The key attributes of our 3D cell will serve the military in many applications from stationary power generation to front line portable systems for battery recharge or mobile power.


4. Law Enforcement – Traffic lights, radar units, and other applications related to law enforcement require power from a small footprint. Our 3D cell is well suited for these applications.


5. Consumer Product – Consumer products are constantly moved by the user. They may be used in shade, on cloudy days, or in positions not facing the sun. In addition, the less visible the solar cells the better (i.e., more power in a smaller space). Our 3D cell will facilitate the development of many new consumer products.


6. Building Integrated PV applications (BIPV) – BIPV applications, such as PV embedded roof tiles, are by nature non-tracking applications. They are also generally space constrained and require high power density and more effective light collection. With the right solar cell technology, such as our 3D cell, BIPV may become the standard for new building construction.

By using our high efficiency 3–dimensional solar cells, many of these new applications will benefit from a smaller solar footprint, higher power density, as well a significantly lower TCO, as compared to conventional solar cells.