In conventional photoelectrochemical cells, sunlight is converted into electricity and an electrolyte is used to move electrons which creates a current. The problem is that these cells have chromophores, which are light-absorbing dyes that degrade after being exposed to sunlight. But with self-repairing solar cells, this would no longer be an issue. To create these new solar cells, the Purdue research team utilized two crucial elements needed to make this technology imitate nature, which was molecular recognition and thermodynamic metastability. This allows the system to be dissolved and reassembled on a regular basis, replacing photo-damaged dyes continuously.

UBND TPHCM vừa giao Ban Quản lý các khu chế xuất – khu công nghiệp TPHCM (Hepza) xem xét điều chỉnh quy hoạch cục bộ khu đất 42 héc ta tại Khu công nghiệp Đông Nam, huyện Củ Chi để giao Tập đoàn First Solar (Mỹ) triển khai dự án xây dựng nhà máy sản xuất pin mặt trời. Theo nội dung thông báo của Văn phòng UBND thành phố liên quan đến dự án trên, Phó chủ tịch UBND Nguyễn Trung Tín chỉ đạo Hepza giải quyết các thủ tục liên quan đến đầu tư xây dựng cơ bản để Tập đoàn First Solar có thể triển khai dự án từ đầu năm nay.

Siemens Healthcare is developing a solar power solution, which would support the medical imaging equipments including MRI, CT, ultrasound scanning and X-ray systems. The company said this would largely help the centres located at the rural parts of the country, where power shortage is high.

Trận lũ lụt lịch sử xảy ra ở Australia trong những ngày cuối năm 2010 đòi hỏi nỗ lực cứu trợ trên quy mô lớn. Cũng từ thảm họa này, người ta nhận ra nhu cầu cấp thiết là cần có một thiết bị cung cấp năng lượng ổn định, có tính cơ động cao để thay thế máy phát điện bằng dầu diesel thông thường. Sự hợp tác giữa hai công ty chuyên sản xuất thiết bị năng lượng mặt trời FTL Solar và Ascent Solar đã cho ra đời một giải pháp ưu việt: những tấm pin mặt trời linh hoạt vừa cung cấp năng lượng sạch vừa có thể dùng làm lều tránh nạn.

Conventional fuel sucks an enormous amount of resources out of disaster relief efforts, because it has to be purchased and then transported to its point of use, often under extreme conditions. It also creates new hazards at the relief site in terms of storage, leaks and spillage, along with emissions and noise from the generators. Solar and other renewable energy sources, such as portable wind power, practically eliminate these added costs and complications.

Tin mới cho vùng sa mạc Tây Nam: sẽ có những nhà máy điện mặt trời với khả năng tạo ra điện năng ngay cả khi không có mặt trời tại nơi đây. Tập đoàn Abengoa Solar hi vọng có thể khởi công xây dựng vào giữa năm 2011 tại một nhà máy ở bang Arizona, giúp dữ trự nhiệt mặt trời, có thể cung cấp điện năng thêm 6 tiếng/ngày so với công suất bình thường. Nhiệt mặt trời sẽ tạo ra hơi nước làm quay các tuabin điện.

Abengoa Solar Inc. expects to start construction in mid-2011 on a plant in Arizona that will store sun-generated heat to provide six extra hours a day of electric-generating capacity. The heat creates steam that is used to turn power turbines. Abengoa's $2 billion Solana plant is expected to be the first major stored-heat plant in the U.S. when it enters service in 2013. Some already exist in Spain and a few more are on the drawing board for Nevada and California.

The sun power industry in Germany, the world's leader in solar energy, is facing a tough year amid the threat of growing competition from Asia and falling prices. German solar-power companies rebounded last year from a dramatic slump in profit during 2009 as a boom in the sector took shape last year.

The Indian government recently provided subsidies worth $10 million for projects aimed at promoting the use of solar energy in rural areas. The subsidies went to projects which distributed solar lanterns and installed solar home-lighting systems in villages across the country.

Sweden and Norway have agreed the bases for a common green certificate market, energy ministers for both nations said on Wednesday. A green certificate is a tradable commodity proving that a certain electricity has been produced using a renewable source of energy, such as wind, solar or hydropower. Environmental groups hope they can boost the use of renewables.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said a fund it established to develop large capacity solar projects will increase the renewable energy resource to 3GW by mid-2013 in the Asia and Pacific region. Haruhiko Kuroda, president of ADB, said governments in Asia and the Pacific should invest in solar energy to help ensure their growth is environmentally sustainable.

The future, according to MiaSolé, a Californian start-up, is unrolling at one centimetre a second in a bland-looking building in Silicon Valley. Despite the location, and the fact that most other solar cells are made from silicon, MiaSolé’s cells are not. Ribbons of steel a metre wide and half a hair’s width thick spool through vacuum chambers in which they are sputtered with copper, indium, gallium and selenium—collectively known as CIGS. Out of the end comes a new type of solar cell which promises to be both efficient and cheap.

Với thiết kế “rẽ sóng”, chiếc tàu đôi chạy bằng năng lượng mặt trời lớn nhất thế giới Turanor PlanetSolar đang có chuyến đi vòng quanh thế giới và hiện có mặt tại Cancun, Mexico, để tham dự hội nghị biến đổi khí hậu toàn cầu.

On November 19th, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, with the assistance of German Government through the Organization of German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and the German Energy Agency, put into use the grid connected solar system on the rooftop of the headquarters. The system will save approximately VND 12 million per year for electricity. Using electricity from renewable energy sources is considered the radical solution for the increasing energy demand in Vietnam.

Clean Currents will partner with Solar Cookers International to purchase and distribute the solar cookers, which will address the locals’ basic needs in boiling water and cooking food. Residents in the mid-Atlantic region who will purchase wind power off the grid can send solar cooking kits to locals in Haiti as Christmas gifts through Clean Current’s annual holiday giving campaign.

Tập đoàn Clean Currents đã phối hợp với Solar Cookers International mua và phân phối bếp thái dương năng nhằm đáp ứng nhu cầu đun nấu của người dân địa phương. Thông qua chiến dịch tặng quà dịp lễ hàng năm của Clean Currents, người tiêu thụ phong điện có thể đóng góp ủng hộ người dân Haiti trong dịp Giáng Sinh này.

As countries such as China, the United States and Germany plow billions of tax dollars into renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, Canadian energy companies say the federal government urgently needs to develop a national strategy to grab a piece of the global clean-energy market, which attracted $162 billion US in investment last year.

The solar industry called on Congress on Tuesday to extend a contentious grant program in the lame-duck session that it says produced 20,000 solar jobs in a year and half and helped to jump-start the U.S. clean energy economy. The U.S. Treasury's "Section 1603" Renewable Energy Grant Program, part of the $787 billion anti-recession stimulus of 2009, is slated to run out at year's end.

Thanks to a $3 million federal stimulus grant given to the Utah Energy Program, solar panels will be installed in every school district in the state, at 73 Utah schools in all. Students will be able to track online how many kilowatt hours of energy their solar photovoltaic arrays generate, and teachers at the schools will receive training to teach students about solar, wind and geothermal technologies.

Italy, the country with the world’s first highway ever built (in 1926), is now preparing the addition of another motorway segment between Catania and Siracusa (the A18). But this is not just another motorway: it is the first fully solar-powered in the world, with 20 hectares-worth of solar panels.