2 men claim to have more powerful solar panel
By Kyle Stock
A local entrepreneur and an electrician from California say they have exclusive rights to a solar panel that will turn the energy industry on its head and help the environment — a device 15 times more powerful than any other and cheaper to boot.
The pair organized in July as FreEnergy LLC and unveiled their sun-powered generating system to a crowd of about 20 people in North Charleston on Wednesday.
FreEnergy's chief executive is Nelson Mensch, an electrician who moved to Charleston from California this year. He said he was a "total skeptic" when he first heard about the device but vowed that it produces about 3,200 watts of power versus 200 watts cranked out by an average photovoltaic solar panel.
The device is based on traditional silicon-chip technology, but its purported advantage is that it captures all of the light in the solar spectrum, as opposed to about 17 percent in the most efficient photovoltaic cells to date.
FreEnergy President Andre Woods called the device "possibly earth-shattering."
"We can give assurances that your power cost can be the same for 30 years," Woods said. "The economic impact of this is almost incomprehensible."
The company declined to say who invented the panel, how they came to acquire the rights to manufacture it or how they will bankroll the 200-worker factory they are proposing to buy or build by summer.
FreEnergy said the panel was patent-protected but would not elaborate, citing fears of knockoff products. The company said the oil industry has squashed or shelved similar technology.
"The only reason there aren't solar panels on every rooftop is that big oil companies have not figured out how to charge you for the sun," Woods said.
Powering an average-sized house with FreEnergy panels would cost about $19,000, versus $30,000 for conventional photovoltaics, according to Woods.
At least one South Carolina solar panel dealer was skeptical of FreEnergy's claims.
"If this is real, this is like New York or Paris kind of stuff, not Charleston," said David Odell, whose Greenville-based Sunstore Solar sells and installs photovoltaic panels.
Reach Kyle Stock at 937-5763 or kstock@postandcourier.com.
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TsuDhoNimh (anonymous) says...
Charlestonians, hold on to your wallets! The signs of snake oil I see: claiming a conspiracy that will suppress the invention, refusing to identify the nature of the "earth shattering" device, and claiming that to reveal who patented the technology would allow knock-offs.
Oil companies suppressing solar power? They are actively encouraging it, as shown by Chevron and PG&E just installed a 1.1-megawatt solar system at Fresno State (fresnostatenews.com/2007/03/solarpower.htm). That's just one of many solar projects by various electric and oil producers.
The sooper-seekrit technology? Search at Google for these words - gallium indium nitride solar cells - and you will find many articles. Even en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indium_gallium_nitride is informative.
Producing the collecting material in commercial quantities will require the investment of billions to build or modify a semiconductor fabricating plant. It's not going to happen by summer with 200 workers.
December 7, 2007 at 11:12 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
angryinjun (anonymous) says...
Bring it on, FreEnergy LLC. Otherwise this is another set of lies P&C is foisting upon it subscribers. How do you feel, paid subscribers, knowing that P&C isn't providing you with factual data, and you're paying hard cash for it that could be used for things like putting fuel into your car? Maybe you should cancel your subscriptions and send copies of your cancel notice to all of the companies that have advertisements in the P&C...
December 8, 2007 at 12:13 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
LocalHero (anonymous) says...
Gee Injun why are you reading a paper you claim is foisting lies upon it's subscribers? I agree, the paper could be a lot better and I canceled my subscription long ago but I still come here for the local news. This story is typically pretty low on substance but the P&C did no more than report claims made by a local businessman. The truth of those claims remains to be seen. You seem to have a sizable chip on your shoulder.
I have to agree with TsuDhoNimh, this seems to be a "to good to be true" scenario but anything's possible and it bears watching. Approach with caution...
December 9, 2007 at 8:08 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
sc_blueman (anonymous) says...
Yes such a device I think is bogus.
A comparison was not explicitly made between
panels of the same size, but lets do some basic math
anyway.
If the panel produces 200W
at maximum solar flux and is 17% percent efficient
then the total solar flux hitting the panel is 200W/.17 = 1176.5 Watts.
Indeed, the average maximum solar flux per square meter
(roughly the size of these panels) is usually taken to be about 1000 Watts.
See for example
http://www.alternate-energy-sources.c...
(see "solar constant")
So, I don't know where that extra 2000 Watts is coming from.
40% efficiency panels were recently developed
in conjunction with NREL (www.nrel.gov).
An interesting way of reducing cost without reducing
efficiency is to replace some of the silicon with simple
reflecting material, a concentrating photovoltaic, but this
does not increase efficiency.
December 14, 2007 at 5:06 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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