So, it’s official, we’re announcing the installation of our first Sun Simba HCPV demonstration facility at the Earth Rangers Centre just outside of Toronto in Woodbridge, Ontario. This is exciting for a couple of reasons.

Our strategy has been to make it to the demonstration prototype stage prior to seeking external funding – demonstrate our technology before we start talking to investors. (What we can do is pretty amazing, so a little proof to quell people’s healthy scepticism is a good thing.) We’ve been developing the Sun Simba HCPV for a while, and we’re going to be releasing details on how it works in the next few weeks.

It’s one thing to say that we’ve built a low-cost, high-efficiency CPV system with a long list of advantages over other systems, we’re looking forward to showing people.

The other reason this is exciting is that Earth Rangers will be hosting the demo. Earth Rangers, if you haven’t heard of them, are a non-profit organization dedicated to children’s environmental education and action, and to demonstrating cutting-edge environmental technologies. In the words of one of their engineers, they believe in implementing smart environmental technologies now, and they believe in walking their talk.

The Earth Rangers Centre is a certified LEED Gold building that is an amazing model of environmental technology in action. After discussions and a tour of the facility, we’re most likely going to be installing our demo system just south of a building on the site that already features a rooftop PV installation. Our demo will be tied into the existing system. In addition to hosting the demo system and providing us with a beautiful location, they’re going to be providing us with monitoring support as well as access to their facilities. Their enthusiasm to support cutting-edge solar energy technology research translates into a perfect setting for us to showcase the Simba.

It’s a beautiful spot too. We’ll be installing the demonstration system in mid to late September and releasing more details soon.

Cool, eh?

We’ve had an interesting week on many levels, but the biggest item is that we’ve finalized the location and host for our demonstration site and it’s WAY cooler than we were originally planning. Basically, the demonstration site is perfect in just about every way it could be, and we’re going to be mounting the tracker in mid September. So, we’re going to sort out the last details and we’ll be announcing it next week.

We’re pretty excited, not only is the spot itself cool, but we’ll be able to monitor the output from the panel and the electricity we generate will go to a good cause. So, announcement next week, but we’re excited.

For Ontarians, have a great long weekend, for the rest of you out there, enjoy the regular weekend.

We’re pretty close to releasing the full specifications and images for the Sun Simba HCPV system, and will be uploading images here and on the website fairly soon.  We’re putting together the final details of the spec sheet right now, and are looking forward to having the working demonstration system available in September.

The Sun Simba HCPV is based on the best implementation of the Light-guide Solar Optic (LSO), which is described in high-level detail the technology section of our website.  It’s a pretty amazing system.

Some of the key advantages of the Sun Simba HCPV:

• Low cost - We’ll definitely be able to sell our panels at a significantly lower cost than most other CPV systems on the market.  Reasons:
  • We use very few materials compared to other systems - less material equals lower weight and less cost.
  • Our manufacturing processes are extremely simple and can be 100% automated.
• Low profile - The LSO allows us to build a panel that is only 3cm (<1 inches) thick.
• Low Wind Load - We have a simple innovation that allows for lower wind loading on the panel, even when in full wind facing position.
  • Combined with the low weight and low profile of the system, this leads to additional savings in the tracker.
• No Overheating - We don’t have any overheating issues, not that we’ve found ways to deal with overheating, our system doesn’t overheat.
• No Thermal Expansion Problems - We don’t have any thermal expansion issues, our system expands evenly, with no thermal misalignments.
• High Concentration - Our concentrator technology very easily scales up to 1400 suns concentration in the current implementation, and with modifications can achieve up to 5000 suns concentration (which we’re considering for solar chemistry and other super high temperature industrial applications).
• High Efficiency - There is an absolute minimum of sun exposed surface that isn’t capturing light, and very few losses in the optics, so the system functions at near the theoretical limits of efficiency for CPV systems.
• Unique - We don’t use lenses or reflectors - our system is unique so our advantages can’t easily be replicated in other systems.

We’re a couple of weeks away from being able to go into more details, and are arranging renderings right now so expect to hear more about this soon.

This week, a couple of people have asked why there’s not much on the website about our actual products. There will be, and soon too. But there are a couple of reasons we’re being vague.

First off, the reason we’re not formally announcing anything concrete or specific yet is that we’re sorting out some final patent details that inform the best implementations of our technology and we don’t want to get too specific until we have it completely sorted. We expect to be able to publicly talk in detail about what we’re doing in a month or two, possibly sooner. We’re preparing press releases as well as spec sheets and other materials in the meantime.

Second, we’ve ordered the optics, but these things take time and we expect to have working demonstration systems in place by some time in September or October. Having these working demonstration systems has always been part of our strategy - we’re going to make some very bold claims and having the evidence to back them up is part of our approach. We have proof of concept prototypes of course, but these demonstration systems will actually be installed and generating power, which is a key difference.

So, we’re going to have all the intellectual property stuff sorted soon, and definitely before the demos go live, and then, when we’re a little closer to having the demo systems installed, we’ll really start promoting our innovations

Here’s part two of my wrap up of Intersolar North America 2008. Obviously, this doesn’t even scratch the surface of what was covered at the conference, but these were some of the things that stuck out in my mind. Also, I haven’t added anything about the exhibition - I spend quite a bit of time checking out the various exhibits and talking to people, but they were enforcing their “no photography” policy the day I was walking the floor, and frankly, there’s not much I could say here that isn’t on the exhibitor’s websites.

• Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST) - CST still enjoys cost advantages over PV, but these are shrinking rapidly. As the price of concrete and steel continue to climb, this advantage will erode, and will quite likely disappear and then reverse in the next 5 to 10 years:
  • Solar Thermal systems can store their heat, they can produce more power output as needed and during peak demand, which makes this more attractive for utility scale solar.
  • As PV costs start to significantly fall, combined PV - Wind systems might start to look more attractive, see next point.




• Meeting Peak Electrical Demand - Photovoltaic and Wind Power output compliments well. As prices fall, proposals for blended systems might become more common. See slide:

• High Quality Development Land - Land use is becoming a bigger issue as flat, high solar irradiance land near transmission lines gets bought up. The US Federal Bureau of Land Management tried to put a 2 year moratorium on new solar projects, and concerns about endangered species habitats and even flash flooding have put the breaks on some projects.
  • This hurts land inefficient applications like thin film, tracking PV and Tower Solar Thermal the most.

And finally, here are a couple more blog posts and articles covering the event.

Greentech Media has another slide show of the conference itself, and a short article on some of the other conference news items. (If you look carefully in slide 3, I’m the green shoulder and hair visible behind the woman in the first row.)

In the San Francisco Examiner, a short summary article about the conference. Short version of the article, it was an excellent conference, attendance was huge and if you’re at all interested in solar and can make it next year, go.

So, that’s basically it for now. I will definitely go into more detail on some of these points in the future and am likely to cover other points raised that I didn’t mention here.

This turned into a longer post, so I’ve cut it in two. The second part will come out tomorrow.

The organizers did an excellent job of putting together the conference, and the quality of the speakers was outstanding. In particular, Travis Bradford of the Prometheus Institute, Hal LaFlash from PG&E and Dr. Fred Morse from Abengoa were excellent. Some interesting take aways from the conference:

• Grid parity - It’s coming sooner than people thought, with realistic dates ranging from 2011 to 2015. This is because:
  • The price of electricity is rising faster than expected, with the price of electricity predicted to double in the next five years.
  • And the price of solar power installations is falling faster and faster.

  
  

• Renewable Investment Tax Credit (ITC) - The ITC is really important, and it would be a major failure of leadership in the US Congress to see it die. See my previous post on the importance of the ITC. The consequences of a failure to renew this tax credit will mean hundreds of thousands of lost jobs in the US, electricity costing more in the long run, higher CO2 emissions and basically, solar in Europe and Asia pulling further ahead of a lagging US industry. It will mean the difference between a booming industry and a flat one.




• Tracking - Utilities love tracking PV applications. Tracking means more total power output for a system, but more importantly, it means more power output during the later afternoon and evening when peak demand hits. See slide:

PV With and Without Tracking

Also, here are a couple of really good blog posts about the conference from Edgar A. Gunther, another blogger that was there. The first features a couple of slide shows of exhibitors, and the second features extensive coverage of the Dow Corning and REC Silicon presentations including some slides and video.

More to come tomorrow.

Edit: References to the failure of the ITC were premature.

FYI, there is an unofficial Morgan Solar blog as well, which has most of the same content as this one, but with some posts that really don’t belong here. That’s where the off-topic, less formal or more opinionated stuff goes.  Check it out if you’re interested.

The Investment Tax Credit is the major US Federal incentive for Solar Energy in the US.  The most basic description of it would be that it’s a 30% tax credit on the installation of a Solar Power system.  The credit is worth up to $2000 for individuals, and with no cap for businesses provided they have sufficient tax liability.  It’s currently valid through to the end of 2008, and is up for renewal right now.

But, it’s completely bogged down in partisan politics and it’s starting to look like it’s not going to go through (article dated Sunday, July 20, 2008).  Basically, the Republicans want to kill it more than the Democrats want to save it.  While at Intersolar 2008, almost every speaker raised the importance of the ITC to the US Solar Energy Industry.  The general consensus was that without it, solar would grow in the US but slower, and with European and other non-American Solar Energy companies pulling further ahead of their American competitors.

Here are some articles and analysis that summarize different view points rather well:

• No Tax Credit, No Solar Power -  A the title is alarmist, the article is specifically about two Abengoa projects that could be halted without the ITC.  Good analysis though and worth reading.
• More Solar Energy Coming to California, Some Contingent on ITC
• Extension of US solar investment tax credit emerges as key issue at Intersolar/Semicon West - Summary of Intersolar panelist’s comments on the ITC.

Finally, a quote from Dr. Fred Morse, senior adviser of U.S. operations for Abengoa Solar, from this Greentech Media Q&A.

Q: Many companies expect a one-year extension to pass before the renewable-energy tax credit expires at the end of the year. Will that be enough to keep CSP moving forward?
A: A one-year extension is of zero value. It takes about four to six years to get a CSP plant sited, permitted, built and up and running. The [investment tax credit] only applies when the plant comes online. And, if you want to finance the plant today, the banks … won’t finance the project unless the [credit] will be there when it’s needed.

So what does all of this mean for the solar energy industry in general?  Well, it looks bad, but the reality is that it’s “less good”.  Basically, even without the ITC, analysts predict a record year for Solar in California and the rest of the US, if it passes with the 8 year extention that Democrats want, then it will be a banner year.  Or put another way, it weeds out the mediocre projects and the mediocre companies.  Solar investment will still be in the Billions this year and more solar farms will be built this year than last year.

Signs of a booming industry example:

• Q1 2008 Solar Investment is already 30% over Q1 2007 - Source Cleantech.com
• States are moving in to fill the funding gap, especially California and parts of New England
• Electricity is expected to double in price in the next five years while Solar energy prices continue to drop.

Not to say that the Solar Tax Credit isn’t essential for many US companies and many solar projects, but the industry in general is doing great.

More details available from the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA Solar Tax Credit pdf file) and if you’re trying to do research and want as thorough a description as possible, check the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency’s (DSIRE) Federal Incentives Page.

It’s a little long, almost 30 minutes, but very cool and I think as a society, we have the technology and the resources to do it, all that’s lacking is the will.  It wouldn’t be easy, but it would be worth doing. Here at Morgan Solar, we’re going to do our part. Here’s a quick summary from the Boston Globe.

If we succeed, we create booming new industries, wealth, clean secure energy and maybe we prevent the greatest disaster so far in human history, saving millions of lives while improving billions more. If we fail, basically it’s business as usual while things slowly get worse all around us.

Short update here - I’m going to document what I’ve been picking up here, and some of it will be posted on the blog.  I’m amazed at the quality of the presenters and presentations.  A few highlights:

• The ITC is a huge concern, it’s looking like it might not pass which will impact the US solar industry over the next few years.  More info on the ITC, and a good blog post about the discussion here at Intersolar.
• The price of solar cells is falling faster than many people predicted.
• People are expecting electricity prices to double in the US in the next 5 years.
  • Which means grid parity in some regions is closer than many people think.
• Most of the breakthroughs that people are really triumphing are incremental not transformative.
• The state of the art of BIPV isn’t that impressive - tinted glass and silicon PV on glass and roof mounted systems.  Pretty good, but not much else.

More details tomorrow.