Solar energy the key to feeding green to public
Aug 26 2010 by John Hill, The Journal
As the Solar Flair conference returns to County Durham in December, John Hill looks at the hopes for the sector following the introduction of incentives for renewable energy generators.
Talk at the last conference was that the average household would make £1,200 per year from the feed-in tariff, while neatly evading the full burden of the seemingly-inevitable energy price rises. While it is often mentioned that reserves of oil and gas are finite and dwindling, Tim Bruton of the New and Renewable Energy Centre told delegates that the sun sends 6,000 times more energy to Earth than is used. A major debate this and last year is how sun-worshippers soak it up to power their daily activities.
Chrystalline silicon is a very popular material for solar cells as it is extremely efficient, but some opt for printing photosensitive materials on to thin-films of plastic, steel or glass.
CDDC director of innovation development Catherine Johns says: “I think it’s going to be horses for courses as to who uses what type of solar cell. The advantage of printing on a plastic background is that it’s lighter and easier to produce in large quantities. The US army uses thin-film materials because they’re bendy and more transportable, but the efficiency isn’t as good. Silicon is by far the best in that respect.
“The trouble with bendy photovoltaics is that the material needs to be impervious to water. The trick is to find the material that’s bendy but as imporous as glass, and that’s what people like Petec are working on at NETPark.”
NETPark is already helping to raise awareness on green issues through its work on the Recharging the Earth challenge with Sanyo. Rosa Street Primary School won a £15,000 solar system as a result of a County Durham schools competition, and the equivalent of 43,000 AA batteries were collected for recycling by students county-wide.
While students are warming to the theme, businesses and the state itself have also become more open to discussions about renewable energy in recent years.
Bramble says: “With each successive government, whether national or regional, they’re tending to understand more and more about the importance of science and technology as an economy regenerator.
“As far as business in the region is concerned, you need look no further than Thorn Lighting. They were on the verge of closing the plant down in Spennymoor several years back.
“We persuaded the parent company in Austria that the technological development in the region was so important that they should maintain an enhanced presence in the region to take advantage of it commercially. It made a significant investment in the plant and it has given them a considerable commercial advantage. Narec has a wind centre but also hosts one of the leading PV testing labs, while companies like Romag are making solar panels for charging electric cars.”
The morning session at Solar Flair 10 will feature discussions about the application of solar technology in sectors such as transport, construction and space technology, while the afternoon will look at the pros and cons of materials.
Johns says: “This year, solar was the most popular renewable technology in terms of sales because it’s very unobtrusive, and people understand the principle of light and power.
“The man objective of Solar Flair is to keep the message going that innovation is where it’s at.”
