GE brings solar panels to life!

Electronics giant General Electric (GE) announced last week that it is getting into the thin-film solar panels industry.  In a new partnership with PrimeStar Solar, GE will start R&D of cadmium telluride solar cells, with an eye toward marketing its own cad tel solar modules next year.

In the so-called “cad tel solar” market, only First Solar has managed to be a significant mass producer of the cells.

Now, GE is poised to step into the lucrative market!

General Electric’s move is long in the making.  In 2007, GE invested in PrimeStar, a cad tel start-up, and the  became the majority shareholder in 2008.

Finally, after nearly 2 years, GE has finally announced that it will work with PrimeStar to develop cad tel solar panels. GE plans to sell the panels for utility-scale solar plants.

Danielle Merfeld, the leader of GE’s solar research and developmen, stated that the company is looking to differentiate itself with respect to solar technical capability.  Cad tel could be the least expensive type of solar panels.  Just last year, First Solar broke the $1/watt barrier in thin film solar manufacturing.  GE could threaten to “de-throne” the company with respect to its leadership position in solar R&D.

With the resources and expertise of GE, the race to continually lower the cost of thin film panels is on.  Of course, the lower the cost, the less expensive solar electricity rates would be for end-user customers who get power from the utilities that are served by solar power plants.

Bring on the competition, I say!

Rooftops in Spain go solar

Our European counterparts have done a better job converting to solar energy than those of us in the United States.  Many rooftops in Spain boast solar panels. In fact, one of the biggest stories in solar energy last year was the solar panels installed at a Spanish graveyard.

Spain also now includes a large concentrated solar power plant near Seville, and there are a number of photovoltaic solar power facilities throughout the country.

As noted in a Wikipedia Article on “Solar Power in Spain“:

“Spain is one of the most attractive countries for the development of solar energy, as it has more available sunshine than any other European country. The Spanish government is committed to achieving a target of 12 percent of primary energy from renewable energy by 2010 with an installed solar generating capacity of 3000 megawatts (MW). Spain is the fourth largest manufacturer in the world of solar power technology and exports 80 percent of this output to Germany.”

Solar power in Spain

Future solar growth in Spain will be in neighborhoods, business sectors and agricultural operations.  According to Bjorn Persson, executive vice president of European operations for Premier Power:

“We continue to see substantial growth opportunity in Spain for rooftop and building integrated solar energy systems.”

Recently, three new solar panel projects in Spain were announced.  They are planned to be completed by the end of 2009 and will generate an additional 400 kilowatts (kW) of clean solar energy.  General Electric is providing the crystalline (photovoltaic or PV) modules for the projects.

Simply put, Spain continues to lead with solar power.   Here’s hoping the rest of the world catches up, and catches onto the wonderful clean, renewable resource we have in the sun!

GE and the Sun - a clean, green combination

Where can you find reliable solar panels when there are so many from which to choose?  Why not go with one of the industry leaders in electricity, General Electric?  Who doesn’t remember the classic GE commercial from the 1970s…. “We Bring Good Things to Life”?  Today’s tag line for the company is “Imagination at Work.”  Let me tell you, I feel comfortable relying on GE’s imagination to help bring solar panels to life!  As explained on its website,

“GE’s solar electric power systems and products offer high quality, reliable power generation technology for residential, commercial and industrial applications. By partnering with the sun, solar energy can supply local power for on-and off-grid applications with zero noise pollution and air emissions.”

This year, GE has reaffirmed its dedication to the future of solar power.  In June 2008, General Electric became a majority shareholder in an emerging solar technology company, PrimeStar Solar.  PrimeStar Solar produces high performance thin film photovoltaic (PV) modules.  Notably, the company is developing a proprietary semiconductor technology for low-cost, high-volume manufacturing of PV solar panels.  With General Electric on board, consumers can expect both high quality and the reduced cost of solar panels that the GE-PrimeStar Solar venture should produce.

And though GE is forward-looking with respect to its solar panel technology, how about if we take a quick peek into the past to see just how far this company has come?

GE does bring good things to life!