With its sprawling, wide open spaces and energy-sucking communities, the US is tailor-made to support a thriving domestic solar industry. Other nations are not so lucky. Take Japan, for example.
Japan is an island 25 times smaller than the US by land mass, raising the temperature of deforestation and other land use issues to a fever pitch. So, what’s a solar developer to do?
The Japanese R&D firm Green Science Alliance Co., Ltd. is among the innovators coming up with solutions. The firm is exploring the idea of a space-saving ”jungle gym” structure to squeeze more solar power out of far less space than the typical utility-scale solar farm.
Instead of conventional, rigid silicon solar cells, GSA proposes using organic solar cells. For those of you new to the topic, “organic” in this context does not mean all-natural or free of synthesized chemicals. It simply refers to thin films of photovoltaic material based on carbon.
Though not as efficient in converting sunlight to electricity as their silicon cousins, organic solar cells are flexible, and they can be fabricated in transparent or semi-transparent forms. That gives them a much wider range of application than conventional silicon solar cells, which must be arrayed in flat panels at an angle optimal to the direction of sunlight.
GSA proposes to wrap organic solar cells around a compact structure made of transparent pillars and struts, much like a jungle gym. “The array can expand both horizontally and vertically; if both the cells and supports were fully transparent, it could theoretically extend to any height,” GSA explains.
“This approach would eliminate the need for vast planar installations and the deforestation associated with them,” the firm added in a press statement.
GSA aims to begin proof-of-concept testing next year. That’s going to be a complicated exercise of simulation. GSA lists solar irradiation intensity at different times of day, weather conditions, and seasons; light absorption by curved cell surfaces; power generation under varying conditions; and how electrical output is affected by different interconnection methods and circuit configurations among the variables to be studied.
If all goes according to plan, the jungle gym layout could be applied to dual-use (aka agrivoltaic) farming among other applications where land use issues run deep and space is at a premium. If you have any thoughts about that, drop a note in the comment thread.
