Energy generation - solar

Solar

BrightSource Energy
California, US.
Founded 2004
Employees: 30
Product description: Solar plants

BrightSource builds and runs solar energy plants around the world, aiming to provide reliable and low-cost energy for both industrial and utility use. Its tested and proven LPT 550 energy system uses thousands of small mirrors to reflect sunlight on to a boiler on the top of a tower to produce high-temperature steam. The steam is then piped to a conventional turbine, which generates electricity. To conserve water, the steam is air-cooled and piped back into the system. The company is running a demonstration tower scheme in the Negev Desert in Israel.

Concentrix Solar
Freiburg, Germany.
Founded 2005
Employees: 60
Product description: Concentrator photovoltaics

This German company is one of the pioneers of concentrator photovoltaics. Instead of using the conventional flat-plate, silicon modules that dominate the solar market, Concentrix is developing panels that concentrate the sun’s rays through lenses and mirrors and can make the production of electricity 10-20% more effective. High-performance cells have also been developed to convert sun rays into energy. Concentrix says these cells have shown “almost double the efficiency of conventional solar cells”. It installed its first demonstration plant in San Diego, California, in July.

Enphase
California, US.
Founded 2006
Employees: 70
Product description: Solar microinverters

Solar panels can become up to 25% more effective, depending on the way the energy is captured and converted into grid-compliant power. The Enphase microinverter is one way of improving the efficiency and reliability of solar energy systems in this way. It improves the energy harvest, converts the DC output from each solar panel into AC power and provides detailed monitoring advice on what the system is producing every five minutes. Traditional solar systems convert DC to AC power in one large box (an invert) attached to the side of the building. Enphase uses more effective individual microinverters that are tucked away under each panel.

G24 Innovations
Cardiff, UK.
Founded 2006
Employees: 65
Product description: Thin film solar cells

Even without direct sunlight, G24 Innovations can create electric energy. It uses a new class of advanced solar cells which are the closest we have come to replicating photosynthesis. This is done by creating an extremely thin, flexible and versatile nano-enabled photovoltaic material that converts light energy into electric energy, even under low-light, indoor conditions. The company is working on applying this in a range of consumer and industrial applications from mobile phones and energy generation in remote locations to LED lighting and water purification.

GreenVolts
California, US.
Founded 2005
Employees: 42
Product description: Concentrating photovoltaics

Making solar energy economical is the mission of San Francisco-based GreenVolts. Its main products are solar units (concentrating photovoltaics or CPVs) made up of numerous reflectors and receivers. These are designed to catch incoming solar energy in a more efficient way than traditional panels. They are mounted on a base, the CarouSol, which is easier to erect and dismantle than the widely-used pole-mounted CPVs. The fact the CarouSol units do not need ground penetration and concrete supports is a feature that helps keep costs down. GreenVolts is constructing a power plant in Tracy, California, based on this technology and plans to start
generating energy from it next year.

Heliatek
Dresden, Germany.
Founded 2006
Employees: 13
Product description: Organic solar cell systems

Working with BASF, Bosch and academics from Ulm and Dresden, Heliatek hopes to get into pilot production in 2011 with a solar energy technology that could make solar power financially viable without government subsidies. The technology – proven in principle – relates to the creation of organic nano-material to be used as the photovoltaic base of solar panels. Costs are brought down by the production of lightweight and flexible large-area solar cells, using little material and low energy consumption. Only about one gram of organic semiconductor materials is required for one square metre of solar cell area, bringing the cost below that of existing systems.

Infinia Corporation
Washington, US.
Founded 2003
Employees: 175
Product description: Solar power generation

Infinia Corporation is a solar energy technology company and the developer of the Infinia Solar System, a proprietary solar power generation product. This system is initially being sold to energy asset developers, utilities, commercial companies and others engaged in deploying large-scale solar asset projects. The company is working on deals that could see its employee numbers reach 800 by 2013. Since 1985, Infinia has been delivering superhigh reliability, zero-maintenance, free-piston Stirling engines and power systems to commercial companies (including Bosch and Merloni) and US government agencies.

Odersun
Frankfurt, Germany.
Founded 2002
Employees: 90
Product description: Solar cells

Making solar cells that are lightweight, cost-effective and efficient yet able to be integrated into the aesthetics of buildings will result in a major growth of the sector. Odersun has proved that it can be done: it has already supplied “sun roofs” for buildings at Beijing’s Olympic Park. It does this using thin-film solar modules in a glass-foil laminate, and an innovative copper tape wiring system, which allows a significantly higher amount of modules to be interconnected in one string. Although it produces less energy that standard solar cells, its unique ability to be integrated en masse into the fabric of the building is a huge asset.

QuantaSol
Kingston, UK.
Founded 2007
Employees: 12
Product description: Solar cells

Higher efficiency, longer lifetimes and lower cost of ownership are the targets QuantaSol has set itself for its new generation solar cells. To do this, it has invented a system of complex nanostructures that create synthetic crystals with no defects for solar cells that can absorb the optimum amount of light for conversion to electricity. This means that, unlike commercial solar cells that typically convert about 20% of the light energy absorbed into electricity, QuantaSol estimates it can achieve nearly 30%.

Solairedirect
Paris, France.
Founded 2006
Employees: 150
Product description: Installation and operation of residential and commercial solar power

Solairedirect is one of France’s fastest growing green companies, having already sold and installed about 1,500 residential solar power systems. But it has bigger plans: thanks to a round of financing raising €20m, it is aiming for 300 megawatts of solar parks, equivalent to €1.2bn in projects. As well as arranging financing for photovoltaic systems, the company installs panels through its subsidiary, Solairedirect Installation. It says its mission is to provide everyone with the choice of clean and home-based electricity, producing reliable, high- performance, low-cost and smart solar kilowatt-hours.

Solarcentury
London UK.
Founded 1998
Employees: 110
Product description: Solar energy consultancy for buildings

For homeowners, schools and businesses daunted by the thought of converting their building to run on solar energy, Solarcentury provides support and guidance throughout the entire renewable planning and development process, from land appraisal through to design, installation and marketing. Having been in the business for more than 10 years, the firm has helped thousands of homes and businesses go solar, including the Eden Project, and is the founder of the schools initiative, Solar4Schools. In 2007 it was awarded an Ashden award for its commitment to renewable energy.

SolarCity
Foster City,
California, US.
Founded 2006 Employees: 300
Product description: Solar
power system design, financing, installation, monitoring

Making alternative energy available to a mass market, SolarCity is one of the largest providers of solar energy systems in America, providing home-owners, businesses and government with system design, financing, installation and monitoring services. Customers include the Department of Homeland Security, Intel and eBay. Its groundbreaking SolarLease offering makes it possible for home-owners to switch to clean solar power for less money than they currently pay for electricity. The firm now serves more than 500 communities in California, Arizona and Oregon.

SolarEdge Technologies
Palo Alto, California, US.
Founded 2006
Employees: 70
Product description: Solar cell output management

As solar panels vary in the amount of output power they offer, due to construction or climatic conditions, manufacturers often have difficulty checking the efficiency of last scale installations. This can be due to partial shading of some panels or failure to match them up correctly. SolarEdge offers a power tracking device to detect such problems which identifies inefficiencies that might otherwise go undetected, substantially improving the output of solar electricity.

Solel
Beit Shemesh, Israel.
Founded 1995
Employees: 400
Product description: Large-scale solar thermal power plants

Solar thermal power plants, built by Israeli firm Solel, produce electricity in much the same way as conventional power stations, except that they obtain their energy input through concentrated solar radiation, rather than fossil fuels, and then convert it to high-temperature steam or gas to drive a turbine or motor engine. This difference means that no pollutants are emitted in producing the electricity. Solel provides the key technology for new solar power plants in the US and Spain and other sun-rich locations.

Solexant
San Jose, California, US.
Founded 2006
Employees: 35
Product description: ultra-thin photovoltaic technology

This ultra-thin flexible material is being used to produce solar panels that deliver electricity to the grid without subsidy. Described as third-generation photovoltaic, this nanocrystal solar cell allows high-volume, continuous production of the panels. The technique has won recognition as a significant technological breakthrough.

Solyndra
Fremont, California, US.
Founded 2005
Employees: 500
Product description: Photovoltaic systems/solar panels

Solyndra designs and makes solar cell systems, comprising panels and mounting hardware, for commercial buildings. That means employing high-volume manufacturing processes and proprietary
systems. President Obama is impressed: as part of his administration’s investment in renewable
energy, the firm has been offered a $535m loan guarantee to support the construction of a commercial-scale manufacturing plant for its cylindrical solar photovoltaic panels. The company expects to create thousands of new jobs in the US while deploying its solar panels across
the country and around the world.

Sulfurcell
Berlin, Germany.
Founded 2001
Comment Employees: 185
Product description: Sleek solar cells integral to a building’s construction

Sulfurcell produces sleek solar modules that prove green can be the new black in solar-powered building design. The company’s cells are based on copper-indium-sulfide (CIS), a material which, due to its super-efficient absorption properties, can be reduced to 1% of the thickness of a common solar cell, allowing buildings to be covered in a stylish, environmentally-friendly black sheen, rather than having cells bolted on top of the structure.

SunEdison
Beltsville Maryland, US.
Founded 2003
Employees: 400
Product description: Solar energy installation

More than 250 clean-energy facilities have benefited from SunEdison’s expertise in solar energy. As north America’s largest solar energy services provider, SunEdison develops, finances, operates and monitors solar plants across the globe, with work ranging from conducting on-site assessment of a company’s energy needs and solar production potential through to taking advantage of local tax incentives and grants, and organising the installation.

Tigo Energy
Los Gatos, California, US.
Founded 2007
Employees: 35
Product description: Electronic system for maximising solar cell output

Getting the maximum possible efficiency from solar cells is vital to making them viable, but because individual cells can perform very differently – affected by shading, dust, debris, temperature and degradation over time – the installation is limited by the weakest module. An individual module’s power output can be improved by more than 20% by harvesting additional watts, thanks to Tigo’s Maximizer System.

Xunlight Corporation
Toledo, Ohio, US. Founded 2002 Employees: 40 Product description: Flexible solar cells xunlight.com

Xunlight makes high-efficiency silicon solar modules that come in a flexible, lightweight and thin film. Available on a three-feet wide roll, Xunlight’s cells can be installed either directly on the existing roof or integrated with the roofing membrane. With a factory in Toledo, Xunlight aims to bring down the cost of solar cells to a level where they can be used on a mass-market scale for building.