New Solar Cell Generates Electricity Via Sun’s Light & Heat

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Excerpt: A team of scientists has invented a new type of solar cell that converts both the sun's heat and light into electricity, potentially giving a boost to the efficiency of solar energy harvesting devices. The cell combines a photovoltaic process that turns light into electricity with another that c …

UVAC Solar Receiver Has Heat Loss Levels Below 9%

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Excerpt: Siemens announced the release of a new solar receiver, the UVAC 2010 (Universal Vacuum Air Collector), which further increases thermal heat production. The new UVAC 2010 is the next generation of the UVAC receiver, which is the key component for the solar fields of parabolic-trough power pl …

High temperature insulation for connecting panels

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Excerpt: Solar - R pre-jacketed, high temperature insulation (300°F) is suitable for eliminating heat loss on lines connecting solar panels with the storage tank, where UV protection is required.  K-Flex Solar - R comes in 6 ft or 50 ft coils for insulation of any type of copper tubing.K-Flex USA …

Testing evacuated tube solar collectors using NI LabVIEW and FieldPoint

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Excerpt: By Paul McEntee, Kingspan Renewables UKThermomax Ltd. manufactures equipment for efficient and economical conversion of solar radiation into thermal energy. Its evacuated-tube, solar collectors produce clean energy for domestic and industrial hot water, space heating and cooling, and seawat …

Hybrid Photovoltaic Solar-Thermal Collector Does Both Jobs

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Excerpt: The Turkish company, Solimpeks Corp., has launched its Volther hybrid photovoltaic-solar thermal collector, which produces electricity and hot water simultaneously. The hybrid system allows extra module heat to be absorbed to produce hot water while optimising efficiency, the company says.Histor …

New Report Says The Major Solar Thermal Market Is China

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Excerpt: The report “Solar Thermal Power Report” describes solar thermal energy technology in its various applications. Although concentred solar power (CSP) generation is probably better known, solar thermal (ST) collectors employ a much lower level of technology and convert far more of the sun’s …

New Hybrid Solar Collector Produced By Solimpeks Corp.

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Excerpt: Solimpeks Corp., a solar company based in Karatay, Turkey, has released the Volther hybrid solar collector, which produces electricity and hot water simultaneously.The product hybrid modules produced by Solimpeks Corp. allow extra module heat to be absorbed to produce hot water, thus optimizi …

Thermal Towers May Be Going Down To The Ground

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Excerpt: Solar power towers have proven to be a fairly efficient way of converting solar energy into electricity. In a solar power tower, energy from a large array of mirrors focused onto a tower that captures the heat in some way, and then converts that heat to electricity using a boiler and turbine. It's a …

Solar-Driven Parabolic Dish Farm Opens

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Excerpt:Solar plant developer Tessera Solar installed 60 solar collectors, called the SunCatcher from Stirling Energy Systems, in Peoria, Ariz. Each dish is rated at 25 kilowatts and the entire facility will have a capacity of 1.5-megawatts of generation.Utilities installing large-scale solar power …

How effective is residential solar power?

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Excerpt: The effectiveness of a solar power system for powering your home (or part of your home) depends upon a number of factors. For example:Electric or gas? In general, any appliance that uses electricity to power a heat element (for instance, an electric stove, an electric clothes dryer, or an elect …