Solar power game-changer: 'Near perfect' absorption of sunlight, from all angles | Hacker News Reader

Solar power game-changer: 'Near perfect' absorption of sunlight, from all angles

esciencenews.com

12 pointsph0rque12 comments

The writer doesn't seem to be aware of the notion of flux when he/she writes that this innovation will make sun-tracking obsolete. Basic trigonometry shows you that, even if the panel absorbs all of the radiation that it intercepts at a high angle, at higher angles the panel intercepts less radiation.

The cosine function is a wonderful thing, and 100% of nothing is still... <mumble>carry the four, divide by seven, minus pi</mumble>... nothing.

Black paint does this too. Absorption is not the goal of a solar panel. It's a shame they don't say anything about conversion. I suspect if it helped with that, there would have been numbers to support it.

"...would absorb 96.21 percent of sunlight no matter the position of the sun in the sky..."

I'm pretty sure that's impossible, and a violation of physics. Maybe it's better than other coatings, but I'm pretty sure it's not the same 96.21 from every angle.

Solyndra is producing a cylindrical shaped solar panel which is capable of capturing light from more directions:

http://www.solyndra.com/Products/Optimized-PV

Seems too sensationalist to be plausible...

I thought so too, but the article seems to make sense for a materials science angle...

Yep. Getting tired of the cycle. Every 3-6 months since 98 or so (when I started reading slashdot) there's a "major discovery that will revolutionize solar power!". The article spends three lines on a few pseudo-scientific generalizations and the rest gushing about how power generation companies' days are numbered.

Its been a decade. Photo-voltaic solar still sucks just as much as it did before the turn of the century. I'm tired of hearing about anti-glare coatings, stupid mirror tricks, splitting water to get hydrogen with your solar power, etc. Sticking a plain old solar cell in your rube-goldberg is not a breakthrough. Call me when we get drastically more efficient silicon wafers. You can keep your mirrors.

Sorry for the rant y'all.

Enjoyed the rant.

News is nothing without context. We get a lot of noise in this area, but no useful context.

I'm just glad that fusion is only 20 years away, and has been for the last 40 years.

Fusion power yield has grown even faster than Moore's law. It just started really, really low.

Call me when we get drastically more efficient silicon wafers

Not gonna happen: we're already at 30%, and don't have room for a "drastic" increase.

I'm far more interested in a drastic reduction in cost.

And durability. Deserts would be perfect for solar power, were it not for sandstorms...

I personally think almost every one of these advances should be covered by the media. I dislike the characteristic journalist euphoria that always accompanies the article, but it's always clear enough where fiction enters. I can always filter it out. And if they didn't hit the mainstream news channels, I probably would hear about it much later.

Incidentally, any technology that can obviate the need for solar panels to tilt towards the sun will vast improve maintenance, installation, and probably manufacturing costs. The tilting super structure accounts for a large percentage of the cost in a solar power station (often in excess of 30%, according to DOE studies).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com