Now, Elon Musk, Tesla Motors’ CEO, has declared himself super-optimistic about their chances to produce an electric SUV and show it to us this year, as a concept. The Tesla Model X, as he called it, is set to go onto the production lines and to the market in about four years, way after the Model S sedan will have grown in popularity.

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The joint efforts of a team of researchers from the Laboratory of Nanoscale Electronics and Structures in Lausanne (LANES), Switzerland, have produced a new semiconducting material, made with molybdenite (MoS2). The new discovery could have important applications in transistors that are superior to silicon or graphene-based ones, in terms of size and energy efficiency.

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Here’s Eric Jacqmain, who built his “Death Ray” out of a normal satellite dish with 5,800 small mirrors on it. He worked about 24 hours on the project whose results you can see in the video below.

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Because solar cell efficiency is the Holy Grail of solar energy researchers, finding a solar cell that takes in light from the entire spectrum and converts it to energy is a quest undertaken by many.

One team, from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, have reportedly found their Grail, in a new, high-efficiency solar cell that responds to sunlight’s full range of illumination, from infra-red through ultraviolet.

Not only is it highly receptive to the full spectrum of light, reports Wladek Walukiewicz, head of the Solar Energy Material Sciences Division (MSD) of Berkeley Lab, but it can also be easily made using a manufacturing technique common to the semiconductor industry which produces products at lower costs.

Berkeley Lab, one of 21 U.S. laboratories operating under the wing of the Department of Energy, is one of the premier labs in the nation, with 57 scientists also members of the National Academy of Sciences. Eighteen engineers hold membership in the prestigious National Academy of Engineering, and 13 scientists have won the National Medal of Science, proving that Berkeley Lab is some serious science!

The manufacturing process that allows for this amazing capacity across the solar spectrum is, according to Walukiewicz and partner Kin Man Yu, altering the amounts of indium and gallium in the same alloy. The result of this is that each different mixture became a different type of semiconductor. Stacking several of these layers, all closely matched but with a variable indium content, produced a photovoltaic device that was sensitive to the full solar spectrum.

Repeating the process with gallium arsenide nitride, and replacing some of the arsenic atoms with nitrogen, a third type of semiconductor responding to a different band gap was made. The best part of this discovery was realizing that the alloy could be made via metalorganic chemical vapor depositions (MOCVD), one of the most common methods used to manufacture semiconductors.

With this latter discovery, scientists were able to capture “virtually the entire solar spectrum.”

This has to be the best solar news of the year, and 2011 is barely begun!

Photo Credit: OregonDOT via Flickr CC

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SAN FRANCISCO – (January 31, 2011) – Recurrent Energy today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Celestica, a global leader in the delivery of end-to-end product lifecycle solutions, for the supply of solar modules for projects awarded within the renewable energy Feed-in Tariff (FIT) program of the Ontario Power Authority (OPA). Celestica will manufacture solar modules for Recurrent Energy under a multi-year supply agreement at its Toronto operation. Full production is expected to be underway by summer 2011.

The crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules, manufactured by Celestica, will be used in the construction of 19 solar power plants that Recurrent Energy was awarded contracts for within the OPA FIT program. The modules represent a significant portion of the domestic content requirements for these contracts. Financial terms are not being disclosed. “This agreement with Celestica is a strategic milestone for our solar power development plans in Canada and in helping Ontario to reach its renewable policy goals,” said Sheldon Kimber, senior vice president, development, Recurrent Energy. “This unique deal also reflects our strategy of pushing procurement upstream into the solar equipment supply chain.”

Overall, Recurrent Energy expects to invest many hundreds of million dollars in the development of the 19 solar power projects, including solar modules; electrical equipment; steel and metal fabrication; and related services such as installation and project management. These investments are expected to generate approximately 2,500 jobs in Ontario directly related to the FIT projects.

“We are excited to be working with Recurrent Energy, a key player in solar power development across Ontario, in support of the province’s Ontario Green Energy Employment Act,” said Mike Andrade, senior vice president, Americas, Celestica. “This agreement reflects the depth of Celestica’s solar strategy and is emblematic of our strong capability to deliver innovative supply chain solutions to the solar market to meet the demand for new energy-generation alternatives in Ontario.”

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