Partnership to boost solar power

Scientists from The Australian National University, Chromasun, a Silicon Valley company, and Tianjin University in China will join forces to create roof-mounted solar trough concentrator systems that are more cost effective and efficient than previous models.

These systems will be suitable for take-up in emerging economies and by the budget and environmentally conscious in developed nations.

The Australian arm of the collaboration is being funded with $1.8 million by the Australian government as part of the Asia Pacific Partnership (APP) on Clean Development and Climate. The Australian contribution will be led by Professor Andrew Blakers and Dr Vernie Everett from the Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems at ANU.

“Solar concentrator troughs are like long, curved mirrors that focus the sun’s rays onto photovoltaic cells, which then produce solar electricity and solar hot water,” explains Prof Blakers.

“Traditionally, these kinds of systems have been built with expensive, specialist concentrator cells. We’ll be modifying and upgrading commercially available non-concentrator solar cells, which should result in major savings.

“We’ll also be developing more efficient techniques to reduce the influence of moving shadows, which have the potential to eat into the amount of energy being generated.”

The joint project will involve extended exchanges of staff and research students between Tianjin University, Chromasun and ANU.

In addition to sharing in research and development, the project partners will also be identifying market opportunities in China, other APP nations and countries where the cost of more expensive forms of solar-power technology presents a barrier to adoption.