From: dean@vexcel.com (dean alaska)
Newsgroups: sci.environment
Subject: photovoltaic technology update
Date: 7 Apr 92 17:19:27 GMT
Organization: VEXCEL Corporation, Boulder, CO

Here are a few excerpts from the Photovoltaic Energy Program Overview
published by the National Renewables Energy Labs (formerly the Solar
Energy Research Institute, SERI).
To get the document (its free) you can write to:

	Natl Energy Renewables Lab
	Technical Inquiry Service
	1617 Cole Blvd.
	Golden CO, 80401-3393

	or call 303-231-1365 and leave a message

Documents for other "utility technologies" are also available.  The report
is for fiscal year 1990. 

Begin excerpts.

A strong DOE partnership with the U.S. PV industry is crucial to bringing
photovoltaics into widespread use by the year 2000.  The goal of the PV
Program is for photovoltaics technology to compete with conventional
electricity generation early in the next century.  But for PV to reach
its full potential - supplying bulk power for utilities - the cost of
energy from PV must decrease to one-fourth of what it is today. page 2

Selected New Records in Cell Sunlight-to-Electricity Conversion Efficiency

Who		New record		cell type and size

Boeing		34.2%			GaAs; 100 suns
NREL(SERI)	31.8%			Monolithic InP/GaInAs; 50 suns
Univ of New SWales 22.6%		Si; 20 suns
Solarex		17.5%			Multicrystalline Si

(various other module record descriptions)	page 5

Photovoltaic Program Goals
Factor			1995-2000	2010-2030
------			---------	---------
Module Efficiency (%)	10-20		15-25
Price ($/kWh, 1990$)	.12-.20		.05-.06
System Lifetime	(years)	20		30
Installed Capacity (MW)	200-1000	10000-50000
page 6

[note that module efficiency and cell efficiency are different metrics]

As part of an ongoing response to these safety concerns, DOE scientists last
year ground up thin-film CIS modules and tested them for toxicity according
to EPA standards.  Because of the extremely small amount of thin-film
semiconductor materials in the modules and their nonreactive nature, the
modules can qualify as ordinary (non-toxic) materials. (further discussions
of dealing with cadmium wastes in PV technology).
page 10

According to a recent report by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI),
hundreds of small-power PV installations are operated by U.S. utilities.  One
utility, California's Pacific Gas & Electric Co (PG&E), has carried out a 
systematic study of PV applications now in place inside the PG&E service
territory.  PG&E found 700 PV systems installed by their engineers.  In
each case, PV was chosen because it was the most cost-effective power
supply.  Hundreds of additional projects are in the planning stages. 

...

After looking at small-power applications, PG&E found that they could 
also install PV off-grid power systems to residential-sized (smaller than
2 kW) more cheaply than extending new power lines one-third of a mile.
page 14

(Discussion of utility scale projects)...  In the utility-scale segment of
the project, three systems are now being installed that use technologies
for which sufficient manufacturing capacity exists to supply systems of
200-400kW.  Ultimately there are plans for 2 MW of utility-scale systems
to be installed at Davis, California, and at other utility sites across
the country by the end of 1993.

In another utility development, Public Service Co. (PSCo) of
Colorado announced last year it is conducting a feasibility study of
replacing the Fort St. Vrain nuclear power plant near Denver with
other electricity generating systems, including several megawatts of
photovoltaics.  The PV Program is providing technical support for this
study.  page 16

The PV Program helped underscore the potential market in a recent
demonstration project on the Navajo reservation in western New Mexico.
With the help of Sandia National Laboratory's Design ASsistance Center,
about 100 homes that had never before had electricity were recently 
equipped with PV modules with battery storage.  The residents are so
pleased with the project, the Navajo Council is submitting a proposal
requesting more PV.  In addition to the benefit of electricity supply,
the project helped to create sorely needed jobs on the reservation.
As part of the project, local residents were hired and trained in
installing and operating PV systems.  This training was done primarily
so these installations can be maintained properly, but it also demonstrates
the jobs that could be generated by further exploiting this country's
solar energy resource.  page 17
-- 

		dingo in boulder	(dean@vexcel.com)