The Telegraph put out a very positive slant on Solar a couple of days ago. Check this out:

Where did fossil fuel energy come from anyway?

Within five years, solar power will be cheap enough to compete with carbon-generated electricity, even in Britain, Scandinavia or upper Siberia. In a decade, the cost may have fallen so dramatically that solar cells could undercut oil, gas, coal and nuclear power by up to half. Technology is leaping ahead of a stale political debate about fossil fuels.

Anil Sethi, the chief executive of the Swiss start-up company Flisom, says he looks forward to the day - not so far off - when entire cities in America and Europe generate their heating, lighting and air-conditioning needs from solar films on buildings with enough left over to feed a surplus back into the grid.

The secret? Mr Sethi lovingly cradles a piece of dark polymer foil, as thin a sheet of paper. It is 200 times lighter than the normal glass-based solar materials, which require expensive substrates and roof support. Indeed, it is so light it can be stuck to the sides of buildings.

... "It'll even work on a cold, grey, cloudy day in England, which still produces 25pc to 30pc of the optimal light level. That is enough, if you cover half the roof," he said.

"We don't need subsidies, we just need governments to get out of the way and do no harm. They've spent $170bn subsidising nuclear power over the last thirty years," he said. - Telegraph

Roll-to-roll manufacturing technology allows continuous deposition of thin films onto flexible plastic substrates at high speeds. The cost of electricity produced with such solar cells will be significantly lower than with the solar cell technologies common today.

The idea is to essentially wrap anything that needs powering in this thin photovoltaic film, essentially making them a self-sufficient solar device - whether they're small like mobile phones, or big as a building.

His ultra-light technology, based on a copper indium compound, can power mobile phones and laptop computers with a sliver of foil.

"You won't have to get down on your knees ever again to hunt for plug socket," he said - Telegraph

The potential energy savings for the North is only half the picture. The potential energy consumption avoidance for the South is even more significant.

"The beauty of this is that you can use it in rural areas of India without having to lay down power lines or truck in fuel."

Villages across Asia and Africa that have never seen electricity may soon leapfrog directly into the solar age, replicating the jump to mobile phones seen in countries that never had a network of fixed lines. As a by-product, India's rural poor will stop blanketing the subcontinent with soot from tens of millions of open stoves. - Telegraph

Utility companies not already investing in solar may wish to consider doing so around now...

Needless to say, electricity utilities are watching the solar revolution with horror. Companies in Japan and Germany have already seen an erosion of profits because of an effect known "peak shaving". In essence, the peak wattage of solar cells overlaps with hours of peak demand and peak prices for electricity in the middle of the day, crunching margins. - Telegraph

Meanwhile, entrepreneurial types are making the most of the 'free' energy to be had from the big ball of burning gas. Up until recently the energy conversion efficiency of solar panels wasn't all that... er... hot, and the up-front installation costs were... er... through the roof (hey, let the puns fall where they may). But now efficiency improvements have been dramatic, with some companies so confident of their solar future they're taking the price-prohibitive up-front costs upon themselves:

Energy startup The Citizenré Corporation's haikulike Google ad says it all. "Solar for free," it headlines. "No initial investment needed. Just monthly payments for power."

Instead of making you spring for $25,000 or more in gear, Citizenré says it will loan you a complete rooftop solar power system, install it for free and sell you back the power it generates at a fixed rate below what your utility charges. The company hopes to make back its investment with those monthly payments, augmented by federal tax credits and rebates. - Wired News

Reading the Wired News story does make you wonder if Citizenré will survive their own ambition, and to date, their methods of operation are certainly raising eyebrows.

The company has devised a plan that essentially would allow individual homeowners to lease solar electric panels installed on their roofs. That way, they would avoid hefty up-front costs--a perennial barrier to widespread use of solar power.

But there's a hitch: Citizenré does not yet have a product to sell and has not named financial backers. Next month, though, the company intends to announce its lineup of investors, who are expected to put $650 million into the operation. It will also disclose the location of a planned manufacturing plant.

The absence so far of these crucial details has brought skepticism from solar electric industry incumbents, who fear that Citizenre could set solar power adoption back by promising too much. But even critics admit that one of the big ideas behind Citizenre--letting people rent rather than buy solar power--is compelling.

"Inevitably, somebody is going to figure out how to deliver energy services to customers versus selling solar PV (photovoltaic) systems," said Travis Bradford, author of Solar Revolution and president of the nonprofit Prometheus Institute, which promotes sustainable business. - CNET News

Maria from the Maria Energia blog has a post on the more conventional angle - the homeowner financing the initial costs - but highlights new businesses that are trying to make the experience a little more palatable.

 

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