The CSIRO is developing solar cells that can be printed out by the metre, like banknotes.

Scientists say the cells would be printed onto large areas of flexible light plastic using technology already developed by CSIRO for the latest banknote production.

The cost of current solar cell technology remains an obstacle for domestic households.

The CSIRO’s Gerry Wilson says once the printable cells reach the market in about five years, the cells will probably be much more efficient.

“The print trials that we were conducting today, those printers typically run at 200 metres a minute, which is 100 kilometres per day.

“If you were printing a solar cell that had only 10 per cent efficiency say, then we calculate that over five months, you’d be able to print enough plastic solar cells to generate a gigawatt of power.”

The CSIRO says the technology could end up being used within the windows of houses.

Dr Wilson says printing solar cells heralds an electronic revolution.

“You could obviously put them on the roof or any other solid frontage like walls and things like that,” he said.

“But because we can lay down these polymer films with different thicknesses you could make them transparent or semi-transparent so even windows or architectural features like that could all be used.”

He also says the technology could even, in principle, be used on water.

“These plastic films that we’re making now also float you don’t necessarily have to be constrained on putting them on land,” he said.

“When you consider the amount of water we lose through evaporation on dams, wouldn’t it be smart to put a whole heap of films on top of your dam.”

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/19/2496458.htm

A $10 million power station planned for Lake Cargelligo, in central western New South Wales is to trial new technology not used in Australia before.

The plant will use sunlight to power steam turbine equipment and generate three megawatts of electricity.

Steve Hollis from Lloyd Energy Systems says the first eight towers should be operational by August, months sooner than expected.

He says the towers will be covered in solar panels not used here before.

“Most of the mirrors around the world are made from glass,” he said.

“But there are some problems associated with glass. It does crack in extreme temperature conditions.

“So we’re actually using a new product that’s made in America which is a very thin plastic film that contains silver and that’s glued onto the fibreglass panels to form a reflective mirror.”

Mr Hollis says the panels are generating significant global interest.

“There’s a lot of interest in this technology worldwide,” he said.

“Americans will be coming out to see it and we have proposals through a licensee to put projects in Spain, as well as quite a number of projects in Australia.

“Everyone is waiting to see this project up and running before they start their really big projects.

“It’s a very, very significant project.”

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/12/2489224.htm

Research engineers at the Australian National University (ANU) say solar-powered air-conditioning is the answer to preventing blackouts during heatwaves.

The ANU’s Dr Mike Dennis has developed a solar air-conditioning system currently being tested for commercial viability.

Dr Dennis says solar air-conditioning would remove pressure on electricity grids and reduce the power demand over summer.

He says it is a cheaper and more effective option than electricity-powered cooling systems.

“You can have one solar collector on your roof and it will deliver solar air-conditioning in summer, it will deliver your space heating in winter and as a by-product almost, it will deliver solar hot water all year round,” he said.

“There’s strong evidence to suggest that the peak loading on the grid is correlated quite strongly to air-conditioning, so if we can relieve that peak loading, and it doesn’t have to be a significant market penetration for that to happen, then we can have a very significant effect on electricity grids and the capacity for them to deliver and keep delivering.”

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/03/2481211.htm