A new glass developed by engineers at MIT can soak up sunlight and divert it to tiny photovoltaic cells along its edge. The sunlight-collecting glass is so efficient and inexpensive to manufacture that it could make solar power as cheap as coal power, the engineers say.

The glass would replace the lenses and mirrors that typically focus sunlight in photovoltaic systems. It works like this: Each pane is coated with a special dye that sucks up light and then channels it through the glass to small solar cells along the panes’ edges. Researchers have created several tints of the dye, each one capable of capturing a particular wavelength of light. It’s an important development because some wavelengths, or colors, of light produce more energy than others. High-frequency ultraviolet light is supercharged while lazy infrared yields little juice. 

The researchers have stacked different panes of the glass, allowing a solar system to absorb several wavelengths of light. Using two panes, they say, nearly doubles the efficiency of the system. The panes are also good at sucking up indirect light, which means they don’t need to be mounted in expensive motorized sun-tracking apparatuses. 

Marc Baldo, a lead member of the team, says that the panes could replace windows in homes and would be much more effective on rooftops, hilltops, or anywhere the sun shines. His team is testing several different combinations of the glass and hopes to produce large-scale solar collectors soon. 

Link to Technology Review article.

Californians will soon bask in the glow of 245 megawatts of green solar power, thanks to a new deal between Southern California Edison (SCE) and eSolar.  SCE will purchase power from eSolar’s pre-fab, modular solar plants, which will harness the blazing sun of the Southern California desert. 

eSolar recently received a $130 million charge of funding to develop its new system, which uses mirrors to focus sunlight on a central tower. The white-hot beam heats water to steam, which spins a turbine to generate electricity. They system is modular, allowing incremental expansion to meet growing power needs. eSolar will start building the new solar power plants in 2011. The initial phase of plants will provide enough juice to power about 160,000 homes.

In March, SCE announced that it would install about 65 million square feet of solar panes on Southern Californian commercial buildings during the next five years. The solar panels should be good for approximately 250 megawatts of power, enough to power 162,000 homes, and will cost about $875 million to install.

It’ll be interesting to see how things progress as solar panels continue to become more efficient and inexpensive. I can envision a time when most homeowners will be able to afford their own panels, thus negating the need for power companies like SCE. 

Link to Gizmag article.