New Solar PV Technology - 3D Solar Photovoltaic Leaves

By Kris WalkerJun 4 2013

3D PV Leaves Track & Park develop park sites for trackers on city fringes
locate on highways for e-car battery exchange Credit: ANU.edu.au

The impact of solar panel technology is visible to all in our carbon constrained society. The pursuit of the optimum arrangement of solar panels is of critical importance to achieve robust solar panel constructions.

A recent development has taken significant strides in solar panel installations via an innovative 3d arrangement from the Australian National University – 3D PV solar leaves.

It is not so much as incorporating nature’s leaves, as it is more to do with the overall arrangement of the solar cells in general; in which the 3D solar cells can be arranged as double-layer orthogonal-offset panel arrays for optimal efficiency.

Ross Edgar, PhD, at ANU was kind enough to explain the thinking behind this great technology:

"In contemplating the same environmental risk factors affecting solar panels, I thought vents between panels would be a good thing but didn’t like increasing the envelope of installations too much – it was then it occurred to me side-by-side panels could be moved up or down to make vents arbitrarily large."

Solar tracking systems should ideally target daily household needs, e.g. 25–35 m2 of PV generating 20 – 40kWh of electricity a day.

Panels in layers elevation 15 to horizon. Image Credit: ANU.edu.au

"The 3D layer structure can only be used by a system that tracks the sun, so in that sense it is less flexible. On the other hand, only a very small minority of us have the roof, orientation and lack of shade necessary for efficient solar photovoltaic systems. Due to the way cities have developed and their shade and height restrictions; it is unlikely tracking systems will become ubiquitous in urban settings. On the other hand, all consumers will benefit from innovations that make ownership of solar power sources more accessible." Ross Edgar PhD, ANU.

With rooftop and backyard solar tracking systems becoming more and more difficult to incorporate to the masses, 3D PV Solar technology has a different idea of how to incorporate this technology, as Ross Edgar explains:

"A major contributor to solar accessibility will be the development of specialist parks around city fringes that lease sites to owners for grid connecting their solar systems. 3D solar tracking systems will on average use six times less photovoltaic area than low cost non-tracking systems and are more compatible with dual land uses including agriculture. This means solar parks can offer owners the most cost competitive location in terms of land rates, sunlight and subsidies for their investment dollar on a global basis. There is no physical reason a Londoner should not put their solar tracker in Valencia for example, if only sunlight quality mattered. By installing common infrastructure solar parks also minimize the cost of having services such as internet to monitor private electricity production or security and maintenance options."

The great thing about solar power is that it is one of the renewable technologies that can improve with new innovation and can be developed and transformed into different forms.

So it’s looking good for the future of solar technology and 3D PV Solar Leaves, as Ross Edgar states that;

"In 5 years I expect there will be parks on city fringes installing garage sized 3D solar units each generating in the order of 20 to 30kW hours of electricity per day, which is about the minimum a household needs. None of us will be chained to a particular house to individually generate the renewable energy equivalent of what we use."

Reduced drag surface of 7x7 Double Layer Array - Image Credit ANU.edu.au.

I believe that this technology will really take off and credit goes to the team at ANU that has been researching this technology. Many thanks to Ross Edgar for answering my questions and be sure to like our AZoNetwork Facebook page and tell us what you think of this technology. You can also follow us on Twitter and ask any questions to our dedicated editorial team using the comments section below.