NOT JUST CONCENTRATING SOLAR, XTREME CONCENTRATING SOLAR

Originally posted May 2.
There is a familiar and dependable rule NewEnergyNews uses. Picked it up on the hard streets of the East Village a couple of decades back: If it sounds too good to be true, wait ‘til they do what they say they can do.

Electricity from solar energy at 5 cents/kilowatt-hour (KWh)? Wow!

The claim, in lay terms: SUNRGI’s Xtreme Concentrated Photovoltaics (XCPV) lays lenses over a highly efficient silicon solar cell. The sun is concentrated on the cell and the heat is dissipated, allowing highly concentrated amounts of electricity to be generated by a relatively small surface area.

SUNRGI claims it has proven the technology in field tests.

Electricity from solar energy at 5 cents/kilowatt-hour (KWh)? Wow! But it sounds too good to be true, so we'll wait 'til they do it.

Concentrating sunlight is smart. (click to enlarge)

New Solar Energy System Makes It Possible to Produce Wholesale Electricity at a Cost Competitive with Fossil Fuels; SUNRGI Announces Xteme Concentrated Photovoltaics (XCPV)…
Patrick Pharris, April 29, 2008 (Pharris Media/SUNRGI via Business Wire)

WHO
SUNRGI (Robert S. (Bob) Block, co-founder/principal); Craig Goodman, president, National Energy Marketers Association (NEMA)

This is the hard part. How do they do it? (click to enlarge)

WHAT
Xtreme Concentrated Photovoltaics (XCPV), an innovative approach to concentrating photovoltaic energy generation that claims to deliver power at fossil fuel rates, was introduced by SUNRGI at the Global Energy Forum.

WHEN
- Patent is pending.
- Expected to be brought to market in 2009.

Need independent verification of this. (click to enlarge)

WHERE
- The Global Energy Forum was held in Washington, D.C.
- SUNRGI is based in Reno, NV, and Silicon Valley and L.A. CA.

WHY
- SUNRGI’s claim is that the unique features of XCPV make it possible to generate electricity from solar energy at the fossil fuel market rate of 5 cents/kilowatt-hour (KWh).
- Lens concentrate the power of the sun on a super efficient solar cell. The structure contains a cooling component, allowing the bulk of the concentrated energy to be transformed into electricity.
- The structure is modular and affordable.

Makes sense if it works the way they say. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Craig Goodman, president, NEMA: “Solar Power at 5 cents per kWh would be a world-changing breakthrough…It would make solar generation of electricity as affordable as generation from coal, natural gas or other non-renewable sources, without requiring a subsidy.”
- Robert S. (Bob) Block, co-founder/principal, SUNRGI: “In a little more than a year we were able to develop and successfully test XCPV…We expect the SUNRGI system to become available for both on- and off-grid power applications, worldwide, in twelve to fifteen months.”