Sharp "to ship GaAs solar systems in 2007"

[jpak]

http://compoundsemiconductor.net/articles/news/10/11/8/1

Sharp, the world's largest manufacturer of conventional solar cells, is to begin shipping GaAs-based concentrator photovoltaic systems for terrestrial electricity generation next year.

<snip>

GaAs-based solar cells used in the systems are grown on a germanium substrate and have a photovoltaic conversion efficiency of over 37 percent. The systems are set to begin shipping to customers in Europe, where solar power enjoys a large subsidy from the European Union.

<snip>

And if concentrator systems were deployed very widely in these sunny regions, they could produce phenomenal amounts of clean electricity. Tomita estimated that widespread implementation in Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico could generate as much as 2.6 TW hours of electricity annually.

To put that figure in context, 2.6 TW hours would be equivalent to just over 40 per cent of the predicted total electricity generation in the US for the year 2030.

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[flamin lib]

1. Yeah, but we gotta' build us some more coal fard plants and

nookler generaters. Hell, we gots us 250 years of coal in the ground, kain't let it go to waste . . . 'Sides, all them empty holes in tha ground is a good place fer all the nookler waste.