The work, which potentially could inspire devices with improved efficiency in solar energy conversion, was performed on photocells that used lead-sulfide quantum dots as photoactive semiconductor material. The research is detailed in a paper placed online by the journal Nature Communications.

In the process studied, each single photon, or particle of sunlight, that is absorbed potentially creates multiple packets of energy called excitons. These packets can subsequently generate multiple free electrons that generate electricity in a process known as multiple exciton generation (MEG). In most solar cells, each absorbed photon creates just one potential free electron.

Multiple exciton generation is of interests because it can lead to solar cells that generate more electrical current and make them more efficient. The UO work shines new light on the little understood process of MEG in nanomaterials.

While the potential importance of MEG in solar energy conversion is under debate by scientists, the UO spectroscopy experiment — adapted in a collaboration with scientists at Sweden’s Lund University — should be useful for studying many other processes in photovoltaic nanomaterials, said Andrew H. Marcus, professor of physical chemistry and head of the UO Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Spectroscopic experiments previously designed by Marcus to perform two-dimensional fluorescence spectroscopy of biological molecules were adapted to also measure photocurrent. «Spectroscopy is all about light and molecules and what they do together,» Marcus said. «It is a really great probe that helps to tell us about the reaction pathway that connects the beginning of a chemical or physical process to its end.

«The approach is similar to looking at how molecules come together in DNA, but instead we looked at interactions within semiconductor materials,» said Marcus, an affiliate in UO’s Institute of Molecular Biology, Materials Science Institute and Oregon Center for Optics. «Our method made it possible to look at electronic pathways involved in creating multiple excitons. The existence of this phenomenon had only been inferred through indirect evidence. We believe we have seen the initial steps that lead to MEG-mediated photo conductivity.»

The controlled sequencing of laser pulses allowed the seven-member research team to see — in femtoseconds (a femtosecond is one millionth of one billionth of a second) — the arrival of light, its interaction with resting electrons and the subsequent conversion into multiple excitons. The combined use of photocurrent and fluorescence two-dimensional spectroscopy, Marcus said, provided complementary information about the reaction pathway.

UO co-author Mark C. Lonergan, professor of physical and materials chemistry, who studies electrical and electrochemical phenomena in solid-state systems, likened the processes being observed to people moving through a corn maze that has one entrance and three exits.

People entering the maze are photons. Those who exit quickly represent absorbed photons that generate unusable heat. People leaving the second exit represent other absorbed photons that generate fluorescence but not usable free electrons. People leaving the final exit signify usable electrical current.

«The question we are interested in is exactly what does the maze look like,» Lonergan said. «The problem is we don’t have good techniques to look inside the maze to discover the possible pathways through it. The techniques that Andy has developed basically allow us to see into the maze by encoding what is coming out of the system in terms of exactly what is going in. We can visualize what is going on, whether two people coming into the maze shook hands at some point and details about the pathway that led them to come out the electricity exit.»

The project began when Tonu Pullerits, who studies ultrafast photochemistry in semiconductor molecular materials at Lund University, approached Marcus about adopting his spectroscopic system to look at solar materials. Khadga J. Karki, a postdoctoral researcher in Pullerits’ lab, then visited the UO and teamed with the Marcus and Lonergan groups to reconfigure the equipment.

UO doctoral student Julia R. Widom was a co-leading author on the paper. Other co-authors with Pullerits, Marcus and Lonergan were Joachim Seibt of Lund University and UO graduate student Ian Moody.

That’s why, especially at this time when solar is under attack in so many state utility commissions, it’s exciting that our friends and colleagues at the advocacy groups Vote Solar and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council last week released their eighth annual report on state solar interconnection and net metering rules, called Freeing The Grid: Best Practices in State Net Metering and Interconnection Policies. Wonky though it may sound, the report is actually cram-packed with accessible information about rules and policies each of the 50 states uses to either speed or hinder the expansion of solar energy. It’s information advocates and activists like you and me can use to improve solar policies at the state level where so many of them are decided.

The report focuses specifically on interconnection and net metering rules, which, respectively, govern the way individual solar power systems plug into the grid and determine whether solar users can sell excess power back to utilities — usually, investor-owned utilities — and at what rates. There’s a good reason to concentrate on these policies specifically: “While financial incentives are the engine of market development,”Freeing The Grid’s authors write, “interconnection and net metering policies are the road. It is much easier for a market to accelerate on the smooth, finished roads of Colorado, New Jersey and California, for example.” Using the letter grades we’re familiar with from school, FTG tells us which states are on the honor roll and which states are, ahem, not living up to their full potential. (Texas, you know who you are.)

FTG also offers plug-and-play solutions — best practices — that states can adopt in their efforts to promote solar. Among them are rules and policies that:

• don’t impose unnecessary limits on the size of the individual solar systems allowed to feed electricity into the grid, or artificially limit the total amount of solar allowed;
• enable customers to carry forward on their electric bills from one month to the next retail-rate credits for the excess electricity they’ve sold;
• enable customers to invest in off-site community solar projects;
• allow the third-party ownership of solar systems that is driving so much of solar development these days;
• allow developers to easily access information about the interconnection process and about preferred interconnection locations.

So, who’s on the honor roll and who’s hanging out at the back entrance to the school smoking cigarettes? For interconnection, only seven states got “As” — Arizona, California, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon and West Virginia. The net metering honor roll includes large swaths of the West and Northeast. A special shout-out goes to Vermont, which last year increased the amount of electricity solar can provide in the state from an already impressive 4 percent all the way up to 15 percent now.

Meanwhile, 16 states lack statewide interconnection rules, and seven generally don’t allow net metering, without which it’s difficult for owners of solar systems to earn back their upfront costs. These laggards include several states with way-above-average solar potential: Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas.

The report lists rankings from 2007 on. And it’s nice to watch some states, like Utah, move up from “Fs” in both interconnection and net metering in 2007 to two “As” today. (Another feather in the state’s cap: In September, Utah’s Public Service Commission rejected a utility proposal to charge solar users an additional $4.65 a month to use the grid.) Other states, sadly, have fallen in the ranks, due to sustained political attacks on solar and other forms of renewable energy. In Kansas, for instance, where groups funded by fossil-fuel billionaires Charles and David Koch have worked hard to overturn clean energy laws and policies, the state has rolled back its net metering law, reducing the amount that solar power producers get paid for the energy they sell, and limiting the rollover of utility bill credits for excess electricity.

Still, overall, we’ve seen great progress since the first FTG report was issued in 2007.

And states can go even further, with Freeing The Grid’s help. Knowledge is power. Let’s all of us — policymakers, activists and advocates like you and me — get out there and use it.

This article was originally published on NRDC and was republished with permission.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—(eSolarEnergyNews)—  ET Solar Energy, a leading smart energy solutions provider, announces that its wholly-owned subsidiary ET Solutions AG has been chosen to provide turnkey EPC service to a 40 MWp PV power plant in Israel along with local partners G-Systems and Elmor.

The project is jointly owned by Arava Power, a pioneering developer of large scale solar installations in Israel, and EDF Energies Nouvelles Israel («EDF-EN»), one of the world’s leading electric utility companies.

Located in Kibbutz Ketura, approximately 45 km north of Eilat, the project is built in a desert land of 600,000 square meters. This new solar power facility is expected to generate over 70,000 megawatt hours of clean and renewable energy each year.

ET Solar provides project management, electrical design and plant layout, purchasing, quality control, construction supervision and commissioning services to this solar power plant. Furthermore, ET Solar will also serve as the maintenance service provider, and Arava Power will offer the operation services.

«This project is our largest solar power plant in the Middle East up to now, it is also an important demonstration of our comprehensive solar energy solutions to effectively deliver clean, affordable and reliable solar energy in local market,» Dennis She, President and CEO of ET Solar, commented. «We are delighted to extend and deepen our collaboration with EDF-EN and Arava Power, to make this utility-scale project a reality after completing a 7.8 MWp solar power plant in Israel early this year.»

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The competition to design one of India’s oldest museums, also known as the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, attracted proposals by several famous offices, including OMA, Studio Mumbai Architecture and Zaha Hadid. By selecting Steven Holl, the competition jury set a precedent as this is the first time an architect was chosen through an international competition to design a public building in the most populous city in India.

The sculptural building is simple in volume and creates dramatic effect of light and shade that’s expected to provide 25 lumens of natural light to its gallery spaces. A large central channel with a monsoon water basin in front of the building will be used for depositing water into a central pool, and around 60 percent of the building’s energy usage will be generated by large photovoltaics.

Related: 7 Questions with Architect Steven Holl

When built, the museum spaces will house permanent and temporary exhibitions, interpretation center, library, archive, conservation quarters, shops and cafes. The architects will continue working on the design in collaboration with Mumbai office Opolis Architects. Construction is expected to start next year.

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+ Opolis Architects

Via World Architecture News, Archdaily

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BELMONT, CA —(eSolarEnergyNews)— SunEdison, a leading solar technology manufacturer and provider of solar energy services, today announced that the National Energy Commission in Chile has awarded SunEdison a contract to supply 570 gigawatt hours of clean energy a year. To meet the demand, SunEdison will be investing more than $700 million USD to develop 350 megawatts of utility scale solar photovoltaic power plants throughout the country. SunEdison intends to add the plants to the call right list of TerraForm Power, Inc. (Nasdaq: TERP), a global owner and operator of renewable energy power plants.

Electricity generated by SunEdison’s solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants is now 10%-25% lower cost – without subsidies or incentives of any kind – than electricity generated by fossil fuels in Chile. The National Energy Commission in Chile recently changed the bidding process used to award electricity supply contracts for the regulated market to create a more level playing field across different kinds of energy. With these changes, SunEdison was able to bid on and win supply contracts for 570 gigawatt hours of solar energy. SunEdison was awarded the provision of 190 gigawatt hours per year during the daytime block which begins in 2016 and a further provision of 380 gigawatt hours per during the daytime block which will become operational in 2017. The solar energy generated through SunEdison’s 350 megawatts utility scale projects will be purchased by local energy commercialization companies under 15 year power purchase agreements.

 «This project demonstrates SunEdison’s ability to provide innovative energy solutions and compete on equal footing in the Chilean regulated market,» stated Jose Perez, president of SunEdison for Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America. «Without incentives or subsidies of any kind, solar energy is 10-25% more affordable than imported fossil fuels in Chile. This bid represents a portfolio of strategic projects for SunEdison that will help diversify the energy mix of the Chilean grid and will help resolve the country’s energy supply deficit using clean, sustainable renewable energy at competitive electricity prices.» Perez added: «This award allows us to continue our steady growth as the leading renewable energy developer in Chile and Latin America.»

  «We are proud to partner with SunEdison to make this milestone event in energy provision in Chile a reality, and we’re pleased to continue to expand our portfolio of renewable energy assets in high quality energy markets,» said Carlos Domenech, president and chief executive officer of TerraForm Power.  «As we acquire these power plants over the next several years, we will adding to our substantial base of facilities with high-quality, long-term power purchase agreements that are not affected by fossil fuel price changes.  Contracts like these demonstrate the cost advantage that solar and wind generation has established over conventional generation in many markets.  Lower oil prices will not reverse this advantage and we expect it to continue to drive rapid growth in the deployment of renewables.»

How will demand response (DR) be compensated in wholesale energy markets under NY’s Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) initiative in the wake of the DC Circuit Court’s decision vacating Order 745, and how will the bulk system respond to cuts in peak demand with the growth of distributed energy generation (DEG)? How will FERC’s role change as regulation of DR migrates from federal to state jurisdiction? This article focuses on DR, and a follow up will be coming shortly on DEG in our ongoing series on REV.

Since DR in wholesale energy markets under Order 745 was struck down by the DC Circuit, we have seen an industry push to move DR from federal to state control. But is this push also supported by politicians and regulatory agencies?

On the one hand, on November 19, the New England Power Generators Association (NEPGA) filed a complaint similar to First Energy’s regarding PJM’s DR programs. NEPGA requests that DR be removed from ISO-NE’s 9^th Forward Capacity Auction. Like FirstEnergy, NEPGA reasoned that the DC Circuit’s ruling on Order 745 regarding DR in energy markets should apply to all wholesale markets.

On the other hand, on November 20, New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich introduced a bill that would amend the Federal Power Act (“FPA”) by explicitly giving FERC jurisdiction over DR in wholesale energy, capacity, and ancillary service markets. Heinrich stated that the FPA was drafted before RTO/ISOs and when “there were few interstate sales of electricity.” Heinrich added, “there is some question whether Congress intended a reduction in power use to be considered on equal footing with the generation of power, even though both clearly affect the rates consumers pay for power.” However, doubt exists as to whether the bill will pass given Congress’ less than impressive track record on passing energy efficiency legislation.

On November 3, Feller Energy Law Group attended a panel at NYU Law School regarding, “Possible Impacts of the New York Public Service Commission’s ‘Reforming the Energy Vision’ on Wholesale Power Markets.” The panel was moderated by David Schwartz, Partner, Latham Watkins, who opened the discussion with the following statement: “When it comes to the way that REV intersects with the bulk power markets, there is no guidance yet, we are without any descriptive effort by anyone to tell us how this world will work.” He went on to ask, with each [Distributed System Platform (“DSP”)] essentially functioning as a mini wholesale market, “how will this intersect with the existing FERC regulatory paradigm?” Furthermore, and more specifically, how will the DC Circuit’s vacating of Order 745 impact REV’s ultimate treatment of DR?

REV’s Impact On The DR Market Hinges On REV’s Success

As a threshold issue, there was consensus among the panelists that the impact of REV on the wholesale market, or any market, depends on how successful it is. John P. Reese, Senior Vice President, U.S. Power Generating Company in his opening remarks noted that REV will be driven by technology and that the adoption of more DR will not be guaranteed by REV. He stated, “If you look at demand response in ConEd’s service territory, in the last 5 years there’s been a 40% reduction in people providing demand response.” Even with rising capacity prices and ConEd tariffs raising the available payments for demand response participants, Reese noted that DR providers are not willing or able to meet the reliability requirements and to take on the responsibility of remaining on call to cut back their energy usage. Some of the fundamental DR market penetration issues will ultimately need to be resolved for REV to have a meaningful impact.

Richard B. Miller, Director, Energy Markets Policy Group at Con Edison opined that REV will be a slow process, driven by technology more than anything else. Miller noted, “the regulatory construct does not matter. Technology matters and technology will determine the degree to which things actually change. The important thing is to have a regulatory construct in place to anticipate those technology changes.”

To What Extent Will New Markets Under REV Interact With Wholesale Markets?

According to Miller, wholesale issues have not been a focus of REV thus far, however, they do need to be resolved as early as possible. As it currently functions, ConEd’s DR programs are not wholesale or FERC jurisdictional. Miller went on to state that the current DR construct is as follows: ConEd pays customers directly for DR, and then “recovers the cost themselves through their own PSC level tariff. It does not require any interaction with the NYISO. It affects [emphasis added] how the NYISO operates the system, but it does not require any direct interaction with the NYISO.” The core issue arising from this sentence is that Section 205 of the FPA gives FERC jurisdiction over “all rules and regulations affecting” wholesale electric rates. This word, “affecting,” has been the central issue of the ongoing DR litigation.

Nevertheless, Miller continued, if and when ConEdison’s relationship with NYISO “changes to a buy and sell relationship to the NYISO” there will be a jurisdictional issue. Further, by expanding a competitive DR market under the control of a Distributed System Platform Provider (“DSPP”), Miller noted that the programs could still remain under the jurisdiction of the PSC by maintaining the basic current DR construct. Ultimately, the only impact according to Miller is that forecasted load would be reduced, which would not entail selling anything to the NYSIO.

Aftermath of 745, Utilities picking up the Slack

To the extent that DR is a vital part of maintaining system reliability in wholesale markets, there was an overall question of where the missing DR would now come from if Order 745 is to remain vacated. (See here for a fuller description of the Order 745 dispute, which may eventually be resolved at the Supreme Court.) Miller framed the issue by noting that ConEd already has DR programs that are meant to ensure distribution system reliability, whereas NYISO’s responsibility is bulk system reliability. Essentially, if RTOs cannot pay customers directly for DR, then ConEd will “to some extent, be responsible for maintaining bulk system reliability.” This notion is similar to PJM’s recent informational report (.pdf) on proposed ways to keep DR in its markets.

If Order 745 is ultimately entirely vacated by the Supreme Court, then we will likely see REV move much faster on DR in order to make up for the part of the market that relies on federally regulated DR.  Reese supported this notion, stating that ConEd’s DR program will have to change if it is going to have to pick up all the DR responsibilities with the end of Order 745, especially considering the 40% drop in DR participation over the last five years. Either DR providers will need to get paid more, or DR technology will have to evolve so that customers will not feel like providing DR is such a burden, Reese suggested.

This blog was co-written with Natara Feller.

Lead image: U.S. map via Shutterstock

THORNTON, CO—(eSolarEnergyNews)—Ascent Solar Technologies, a developer and manufacturer of state-of-the-art, flexible thin-film photovoltaic modules integrated into the company’s EnerPlex™ series of consumer products, announced that the company will offer EnerPlex products on BestBuy.com (NASDAQ: BBY) starting today.

“EnerPlex has uniquely positioned ourselves as a premium power solution and green alternative to the outlet; providing power for devices which all consumers use, whether it be phones, tablets, cameras, wearables or other devices,” said Richard Hashim, General Manager of EnerPlex.

EnerPlex has changed the paradigm of solar-integrated consumer electronics, providing consumers with lightweight, powerful and extremely durable charging solutions for all their portable electronics. Surfr™, a line of solar and battery integrated phone cases, allows users to charge their phone anywhere and in cases of emergency. Kickr™, a line of portable solar chargers, provides a charging solution for most USB-enabled devices, enabling power to be generated almost anywhere and in nearly every situation, perfect for emergency preparedness. With the addition of the Jumpr™ line of portable batteries, consumers now have a complete, integrated, solar charging and storage solution for life on the go.