Date: Sat, 29 May 93 04:00:16 From: ISU Space Power Digest Reply-To: Space-Power-request@isu.isunet.edu Subject: Space Power Digest V1 #008 To: Space.Power.Talkers Precedence: bulk Space Power Digest Sat, 29 May 93 Volume 1 : Issue 008 Today's Topics: solar power news via internet Welcome to the ISU Space Power Digest!! This digest will seek to provide a forum for discussion of wireless power transmission, solar power systems. It is hosted by alumni and faculty of the International Space University, but is open to everyone with an interest in this area. Send e-mail contributions to: space-power@isu.isunet.edu To subscribe or unsubscribe, send your e-mail request to: space-power-request@isu.isunet.edu If you experience technical problems, send an e-mail message detailing the problem to: digests@isu.isunet.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 28 May 1993 14:07 EDT From: USRNAME Subject: solar power news via internet ********** Solar Power News via Internet ************* May 28,1993 your friendly editor, G.E. Canough Any size space solar power station likely to be built in the near future will most probably use photovoltaics(PV). This is just because, we have the most experience with using these in space. I expect that further down the road, other means of using sunlight will also be developed, such as solar dynamic. But for now, PV is "it". This means that we (the SPS community) should become informed as to what is going on in terrestrial PV. Bob Forstrom (whom I met at the latest Princeton space manufacturing conference) designs and builds solar powered houses and he stressed to me the need for getting informed about terrestrial solar. He also supplied me with a pile of information on just what is going, so I figured I'd pass it on here. As it turns out, the USA may be in for the dawn of a new day in the area of solar energy. Some of the programs the US dept. of energy (DOE) used to do have been closed out (nuclear weapons and nuclear reactor research) and so DOE has intelligently increased funding for PV research and development by 25%. Here's a sample of what is going on: UPVG and SMUD Power companies in the USA have just formed (as of Dec. 1991) the Utility Photovoltaic Group, UPVG) in order to foster development of PV systems for use as power plants and for individual buildings. One utility, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) has already requested proposals and received proposals for a program which includes 400 kW worth of residential systems, 100 kW worth of commercial (at individual buildings) systems and a 200 kW PV substation. PV producers: United Solar, Inc. This company is building a new factory in Virginia. It plans to manufacture 10 MW per year worth of PV. Photocomm in AZ has received a $1M order for PV systems Golden Photon, Inc. is installing a factory to build CdTe PV modules, 2MW worth per year. Batteries: A new type of battery has just been invented. It can be recharged in just 15 minutes. Races: Several solar powered vehicle races are taking place this year. To get all the latest info on PV developments, subscribe to one or both of these newsletters: PV News, Paul Maycock PV Energy Systems Inc. PO Box 290, Casanova, VA 22017 phone = 703 788 9626 Photovoltaic Insider's Report, Richard Curry 1011 W. Colorado Blvd, Dallas TX 75208 phone = 214 942 5248 You are also encouraged to subscribe to the SUNSAT Energy Council Newsletter where all the latest on SPS and wireless power transmission will be reported! [SUNSAT Energy Council Newsletter c/o ETM, Inc., PO Box 67, Endicott, NY 13761, $25/yr.] The increase in PV production is a definite plus for solar power, since the main reason PV is expensive is that it is not mass produced. We will see the prices drop as the production increases. Although we often cast the power companies in the role of "the bad guys" for burning coal, many of them are very concerned about the affect of fossil fuel burning and are funding efforts to develop solar energy. A local example of that is New York State Electric and Gas (NYSEG), which is funding a large PV array to be installed at the Kopernik Observatory. This array (4kW) will be used to power the lights at the newly installed science center at the observatory. And there are 62 power companies who are members of the UPVG. So there is a lot of concern and money is being spent. On May 10, there was an IEEE PV conference in Louisville, KY. I found out about it too late to attend. If any of you went (Lewis PV people?), I would really appreciate getting a summary of the conference posted here. Ground based PV won't be able to meet all the energy needs of Earth, but it can be used much more than it is now, and this is all to the good. Producers of PV are likely to be very interested in the prospect of space solar power stations, since these larger stations represent an very large market for PV. I have also just learned some new info on climate change. I have not been a real alarmist about this in the past, but recent data is quite disturbing. So stay tuned for the next edition of The Solar Power News, via Internet! Dr. Gay E. Canough ETM,Inc. and BU-SUNY, dept.of physics e-mail(Internet): CANOUGH@BINGVAXA.CC.BINGHAMTON.EDU (GEnie) : G.CANOUGH phone/fax= 607 785 6499 voice mail = 800 673 8265 radio call sign: KB2OXA 'Snail Mail: ETM, Inc. PO Box 67 Endicott, NY 13761 ------------------------------ End of Space Power Digest Volume 1 : Issue 008 ------------------------------