Solar Technology
Solar Technology
Hyper-Powerful and Inexpensive Solar
"A company in California, Pyron Solar, is making the bold claim that its solar power system can compete head-to-head with conventional power plants. The system, developed with Boeing-Spectrolab, is very compact, and uses short-focal-length lenses to concentrate direct sunlight to photovoltaic cells. The company says these cells produce 800 times more electricity than conventional non-concentrating cells of the same size. Their first prototype, which is 23 feet in diameter and 16 inches high, produces an astonishing 6.5 KW of electricity, enough to power six homes.
The Pyron Generator costs around $18,000 (with California rebates of around $2.30 per watt, or just over $2,000) compared with around $32,500 for flat-panel systems. Basically, it has a cost of less than $3 per watt, compared the the average solar system cost of $5 per watt, which translates to a 40% decrease in the cost of solar power.
Pyron Solar has future plans for large-scale production, with 30 kW and 50 kW units planned. With the size, price, and efficiency of the system, it has been calculated that, with a piece of land measuring 50 square miles in the desert southwest, the Pyron system could provide all the electricity consumed by the entire US."
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Hyper-Powerful and Inexpensive Solar
"A company in California, Pyron Solar, is making the bold claim that its solar power system can compete head-to-head with conventional power plants. The system, developed with Boeing-Spectrolab, is very compact, and uses short-focal-length lenses to concentrate direct sunlight to photovoltaic cells. The company says these cells produce 800 times more electricity than conventional non-concentrating cells of the same size. Their first prototype, which is 23 feet in diameter and 16 inches high, produces an astonishing 6.5 KW of electricity, enough to power six homes.
The Pyron Generator costs around $18,000 (with California rebates of around $2.30 per watt, or just over $2,000) compared with around $32,500 for flat-panel systems. Basically, it has a cost of less than $3 per watt, compared the the average solar system cost of $5 per watt, which translates to a 40% decrease in the cost of solar power.
Pyron Solar has future plans for large-scale production, with 30 kW and 50 kW units planned. With the size, price, and efficiency of the system, it has been calculated that, with a piece of land measuring 50 square miles in the desert southwest, the Pyron system could provide all the electricity consumed by the entire US."
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