Posted on 06/16/2008 5:18:49 PM PDT by fight_truth_decay
Intel Corp. disclosed that an internal team has been working on technology for use in solar panels, and now is spinning off that effort to form a new company.
The chip maker said the company, SpectraWatt Inc., will make photovoltaic cells, the primary component in solar panels that use sunlight to generate electricity.
It will receive $50 million in initial funding from a consortium including Intel's venture capital arm, Goldman Sach's Cogentrix Energy subsidiary, PCG Clean Energy and Technology Fund, and Solon AG, a German solar-panel maker.
Intel's move is the latest in a scramble among Silicon Valley companies to jump on the clean-energy bandwagon. Applied Materials Inc., for example, is branching beyond machines for making chips to sell equipment for use in making photovoltaic cells. Chip maker Cypress Semiconductor Corp., by contrast, spun off a maker of solar cells called SunPower Corp. that now boasts a market capitalization of about $7 billion.
Engineers inside Intel's new business initiatives group in Oregon have been working on the effort for several years, led by Andrew Wilson, who will become SpectraWatt's chief executive. The startup isn't disclosing much about its technology, but Mr. Wilson said its goal is to reduce the cost and improve the power-generating efficiency of solar cells that are made from silicon, the material used to make silicon chips.
Silicon has been in short supply lately, and is more costly than other approaches including "thin-film" materials. But silicon-based cells capture more of the sun's energy per square meter than alternatives, Mr. Wilson said.
Electricity from solar panels is already approaching price parity with other sources in some parts of the U.S., but on average remains about twice as expensive, Mr. Wilson said. SpectraWatt's goal is to help solar panels hit average price parity in four years.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
This isnt Intel Capitals first cleantech investment; earlier this month the fund said it was investing in WiMax-based smart-grid software developer Grid Net.
Installations of photovoltaic solar systems increased by 2,826 MW in 2007 globally, according to Solar Buzz. And as that market grows, more the companies with experience in chips and IT are looking to get a piece of the action
More power to them if they can achieve their goals.
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Approaching price parity is another way of saying more expensive.
SpectraWatt's goal isn't price parity, it's to extend their hands for some of the billions in eco pork the next administration is going to be shovelling out.
Some magazine (Harper’s I think) had an article a few months ago to the effect that green energy would be the next speculative bubble, after the internet and real estate.
Sounds about right. A friend of mine just got recruited to work for a solar start-up near Stanford.
I don’t give a rats a## about “saving the planet” or mythical “global warming”, but I do see the writing on the wall for electrical bills. As such I am seriously considering a thin PV installation on my new house which is all electric. With the nice fat state and federal subsidies, I’m willing to bet in the long run it will make economic sense, and also help me avoid the coming brownouts and blackouts we will be seeing.
My thoughts in part, as well, as well. Time to ride the " Google Green Train"
Amazing how fast GM, Ford ( new vehicles promoted on Rush, Hannity, Laura etc) and others have been able to put out more gas friendly vehicles in such a short time. Automatically down shifting to Neutral when coming to a stop and then shifting up again all by its lonesome, etc; saving on gas.
Changing trends (as if almost planned....) drives the consumer toward another new and innovative marketplace. The market can take care of itself or "survive", but the government will take credit for market success; when the opposite is closer to the truth.
Government officials and their insider trading opportunities.....................Oh My![Just thinking out loud..]
I believe this to be true. The "Green Revolution" is full of hot air and subsidies.
I am so sick of hearing "green", "sustainable", "good environmental stewards", blah blah blah. You would think we were literally destroying the world right now.
My greatest fear, though, is that the investment signals a belief that the next President will align with Kyoto. Heck, our congress is already working on Kyoto-lite.
As far as solar power goes, one device I would really like to see is a solar panel mounted on a pole. Underneath the solar panel is a device that would condense moisture from the air, using the electricity generated by the panel, or stored in a battery charged by the panel.
The condensed moisture would flow down an insulated tube in the middle of the pole to a small, underground reservoir. The water in the reservoir would be kept fresh with a UV light diode to kill microbes.
The final element would be a small hand pump to bring the water back up to the surface.
Alternatively, if there was a whole group of these devices, they could all be networked to PVC pipe, connected to the bottom of their poles. The water from all of them would then flow to a much larger reservoir.
While this wouldn’t work as well in a desert with very low humidity, it might work great in a place with high humidity but little precipitation.
Little off subject, The Squish, but innovative with a market in waiting.
The market demand: "Hybrids are selling so well we are doing all we can to increase production," he said. "We need new lines "
For a lot of future applications, I believe that capacitors will transcend batteries for several reasons.
To start with, they can hold more energy, and are much less prone to decay. Unlike some batteries, they have no “memory” recharge problem. And most of all, their charge and discharge curves are better than batteries for many applications.
Once they create an ultracapacitor, using nanotechnology, for hybrid vehicles, the current battery tech will be obsolete.
Total transmission of voltage and control of voltage drops.
Storage at night.
Another mystery solved.
I read an article a couple of months ago, mentioning a program at MIT that was doing just that.
LoL.. me Too.. Course Congress will then OUTLAW THEM..
Why? Too much oil in the sand?
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