Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Could U.S. Get 20% of Electricity from Solar Under Power Lines? | john-farrell-ilsr

Let's go a step further... Use the towers themselves as hybrid vibration, wind, solar and gravity power and storage framework. Definitely a step in the right direction though... | cindy s martin

Could U.S. Get 20% of Electricity from Solar Under Power Lines? | john-farrell-ilsr


What if the U.S. could get 20 percent of its power from solar near transmission lines without covering virgin desert?

It could. Transmission right-of-way corridors, vast swaths of vegetation-free landscape to protect high-voltage power lines, could provide enough space for over 600,000 megawatts of solar PV. These arrays could provide enough electricity to meet 20 percent of the country's electric needs. (Note: There may not be good interconnection opportunities for solar under these huge towers, so this should be read as a land use discussion rather than technical analysis of interconnection to the grid.)

It starts with the federal Government Accountability Office, which estimates there are 155,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines in the United States (defined as lines 230 kilovolts and higher). According to at least two major utilities (Duke Energy and theTennessee Valley Authority), such power lines require a minimum of 150 feet of right-of-way — land generally cleared of all significant vegetation that might come in contact with the power lines...

Read the Full Story: Could U.S. Get 20% of Electricity from Solar Under Power Lines? | john-farrell-ilsr

Solar power could get boost from new light absorption design

Source: By Sarah Ostman, Northwestern University

(Nanowerk News) Solar power may be on the rise, but solar cells are only as efficient as the amount of sunlight they collect. Under the direction of a new McCormick professor, researchers have developed a new material that absorbs a wide range of wavelengths and could lead to more efficient and less expensive solar technology.

A paper describing the findings, "Broadband polarization-independent resonant light absorption using ultrathin plasmonic super absorbers", was published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications. "The solar spectrum is not like a laser – it's very broadband, starting with UV and going up to near-infrared," said Koray Aydin, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science and the paper's lead author. "To capture this light most efficiently, a solar cell needs to have a broadband response. This design allows us to achieve that." The researchers used two unconventional materials – metal and silicon oxide...
trapezoid-shaped metal gratings on the nanoscale
Read the Full Story: Solar power could get boost from new light absorption designMetal grating developed by Koray Aydin's research team.