Half-Price Solar Power

Solar power is still too expensive to be a mainstream source of power-but it is very effective and a new material could cut solar power costs in half.

Glint Photonics, a startup company funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy (ARPA-E), has developed a new technology that maximizes a solar panel's potential to capture light.

The new material enhances the reflective properties of solar panels in order to capture light across a large span of different angles. Focusing the sunlight makes it possible to use smaller, cheaper solar cells. Image Credit

The new solar energy system has two parts. The first is an array of thin, inexpensive lenses that concentrate sunlight. The second is a sheet of glass that serves to concentrate that light more-up to 500 times-as light gathers over its surface.

On the front and back of the glass is a reflective material that traps light inside the glass. One of the sides features the new substance made by Glint. According to MIT review, "When a beam of concentrated light from the array of lenses hits the material, it heats up part of it, causing that part to stop being reflective, which in turn allows light to enter the glass sheet." The light bounces around until it reaches the solar cell mounted on the edge of the glass to generate electricity.

Panels currently on the market have a tracking system that ensures the panels are taking in the most amount of light possible. The panels change their reflectivity in response to heat from concentrated sunlight in a way that makes it possible to capture light coming in at different angles throughout the day. The tracking system requires lenses or mirrors, which must move precisely as the sun advances across the sky using heavy equipment to keep the apparatus steady. Without the need for a tracking system, the solar panels can be made at a much lower cost.

In the new system, the beam of light from the lenses moves and the material adapts, always allowing sunlight in only where the beam of light falls. This reduces the need for an apparatus that keeps the system pointed directly at the sun. Image Credit

According to Glint's CEO Peter Kozodoy, the solar power from its device could cost four cents per kilowatt-hour, compared to eight cents per kilowatt-hour for the best conventional solar panels.

There are still some challenges, but Glint received the first installment of grant money from ARPA-E this month to allow the company to scale up from prototypes to commercial scale.