January 29th, 2013
Is the Shape of the Solar Future about to Change?
By Kent Harrington | Comments (1)
The gale-force storm of internet Hype is starting to clog bandwidh so badly that LOLCats addicts are starting to complain.
V3Solar, a Southern California startup, says that it has invented and is now commercializing the first major change to flat panel PV technology in decades – and calling it the V3 Spin Cell. Their website boasts, "For too long, the world believed solar was flat," wrapping cool technical innovations into an ironic early-adopter slogan as elegant as the Hollywood sci-fi design virally fueling the Internet links propagating like Justin Beiber retweets.
The mind-boggling Claim, reported by Zachary Shahan at
Clean Technica: V3 Solar says the Spin Cell can produce power with a levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of 8¢ per kWh. (The average cost of energy in the US is 12¢ per kWh and 28¢ from solar PV.) If true, that's a stunning leap in efficiency, and it could revolutionize the solar industry, hastening grid parity (
a technical review).
But can this technology live up to its claims? Check out the video in the panel at right and decide for yourself.
Photos: various, V3solar
Cool idea. I hope this works and brings down the price of solar energy.