Solar power enthusiasts have always said that around 5 cents per kWh is the magic number to compete with electricity costs.  Sungri, a company haling from Hollywood, CA, says that they have a cell that will do it.  And it’s called the Xtreme Concentrated Photovoltaic.

As we’ve seen on other systems, they utilize a lot of magnification to achieve their power ratio.  That would be about 1,500 suns worth of magnification.  Here are the R&D milestones that Sungri has achieved:

An initial thermodynamic analysis was calculated to determine initial design
parameters and an approach to a cooling solution for a 1-cm2 solar cell subjected
to high-concentration solar energy.
• An experimental system concept-solution for cooling a 1,089X Suns
concentration on a 1-cm2, triple-junction solar-cell was theorized, designed,
developed, constructed, calibrated and tested;
• This triple-junction solar cell is a 35% efficient, terrestrial version of the PV cells
used in space-based applications;
• SUNRGI’s experimental testing included supplier pre-mounted solar-cells on
ceramic substrate and a bare-cell. Proprietary techniques were used to directly
mount the solar chip on to SUNRGI’s cooling technology;
• SUNRGI’s solar cell cooling technique was successful and resulted in a cooling
improvement of approximately 300% in comparison to supplier’s own testing
data-sheets (around 36°C compared to supplier’s 105°C).

It sounds like Sungri is poised to deliver an efficient solar cell with good cooling.  We’ll keep an eye on them.

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