Jul

17

A new kind of solar power

Filed Under Sunrise on KGMB9 

The new solar panels at NELHA representative a different kind of solar power technology that bears watching.

It’s still about the rays of the sun producing current — the big word for this kind of power is photovoltaic — but the method and material differ.

Mountainview, Calif.-based SolFocus Inc., which had a Hawaiian blessing for the NELHA facility Wednesday, converts light energy into electrical energy in the same way as convention solar panel, but adds an optical system to focus a large expanse of sunlight onto each cell.

There are different degrees of magnification but the panels can get ten times to several hundred times the oomph from a ray.

And the cell is made of germanium rather than polysilicon, which is currently the almost omnipresent material for solar panel. Germanium cells convert 35% more power than polysilicon.

Gary Conley, CEO of SolFocus, says power generated from the NELHA (Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority, next to Kona airport) facility will be donated to the power grid.

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