Looking back at last week's solar energy news

The year’s still young and footing uncertain for solar going forward. But that’s not stopping the industry from moving forward as leaders are working to figure out how to navigate the industry through these uncertain times. This was apparent at a number of recent conferences and other news last week that saw solar moving in a number of different directions.

With a choppy end to 2011 accentuated by precipitous module price drops, leading to the ongoing trade dispute—which could lead to higher-cost PV modules—at least in the U.S., and the ending of some important incentive programs, 2012 may be a year for corrections. That’s according to a panel of solar industry leaders and analysts who spoke at the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association annual conference, Solar Power Colorado. Each of the panelists mentioned that 2012 will be a year for corrections in the solar industry. The year will likely see some consolidation and failures as manufacturers struggle to remain profitable despite the lowered prices and developers looking for project financing.

In an effort to secure financing or raise capital, many solar companies have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to go public, according to Partho Sanyal, managing director of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s global power, utility and renewable energy group. While they’ve filed the papers, many haven’t done much else at this point. That’s likely because they’re not sure when the best time to offer stock is. They’re also keenly aware that some recent initial public offerings haven’t gone that well.

Last year was touted as the year for concentrating photovoltaics (CPV), and there were some successes with some of the first installations getting underway. But CPV companies are looking for more, and some are plenty bullish on the promises of their technology. In fact, Pedro Cacorino CEO of Magpower, speaking at Solar Power Generation USA in Las Vegas, contended that CPV will overtake traditional PV in the coming years in terms of cost effectiveness.

To do that, CPV companies will have to make their cells and concentrators more efficient. Semprius, Inc., a North Carolina-based company, is taking that challenge on. It broke the record for a high-concentration photovoltaic (HCPV) device with a 33.9 percent efficient CPV module. It bested the previous record of 32 percent conversion efficiency. The company is preparing to start producing commercial modules later this year.

Not to get too confusing, but there’s also another type of concentrating solar power (CSP), which uses the thermal energy of the sun to superheat water into steam to power a traditional generator. These are the technologies being used in some of the world’s largest solar projects in the U.S., Spain and in other hot, sunny places. Increasingly this includes Africa. BrightSource Energy, one company that makes CSP plants, just won a contract to study the feasibility of developing CSP projects in South Africa.

To bring solar to more of the world, MIT researcher Andreas Mershin, Ph.D. is taking an open-source approach to his solar research. Mershin is developing a substrate that can be mixed with plant materials to create photovoltaics. He wants to be able to put the substrate in a bag with a one-page instruction sheet that allows people throughout the world to make their own solar array. To do it he’s asking for labs around the world to investigate what works most effectively and to develop their own applications.