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As usual, the numbers in the pop media news article are nonsense. From the paper's abstract: In harvesting scattered light, the Omni acceptance can incre

As usual, the numbers in the pop media news article are nonsense. From the paper's abstract: In harvesting scattered light, the Omni acceptance can increase PCE by additional 81% over ITO-SC, leading to a total 175% increase (i.e. 8% PCE). PCE is power conversion efficiency-- 100 watts of sunlight in, 8 watts of electricity out. Very good for an organic solar cell. Pretty bad for a silicon solar cell. (which will do 27%) Absolutely terrible for a multijunction cell. (44%)

ChuckMcM 14y ago
The number of interest though is $/watt-converted. So if 8% organic sells are $x per sq meter, and Si cells are $Y per sq meter, then multiplying that number out you will get the cost per watt extracted out of that sq meter of surface area. If area is not constrained this can result in better economics for organic cells.
- beambot 14y ago
  Shouldn't the metric of interest is $ per installed watt converted? You have to factor back in the installation costs of the PV system (which can be very dependent on area) into the cost of the PV cells.
  - ChuckMcM 14y ago
    That is definitely a consideration, I was thinking that parking lot covering can be an 'easy' install from the perspective of the installer and there can be a lot of surface area (especially in the western part of the US, that is less true for facilities trying to re-use their roof for example. And of course the ratio is important too. 80 watts per sq meter vs 400 watts per sq meter is a ratio of 5:1 so your organics cells need to be less than 20% of the installed cost of your high end silicon cells to have a better overall installed cost value.
jbellis 14y ago
I looked for the actual paper but couldn't find it, can you post the link?
- mbell 14y ago
  http://www.princeton.edu/~chouweb/publications/223%20Chou_Ultrathin%20high-efficiency%20broad-band_OpticsExpress_2012.pdf http://www.princeton.edu/~chouweb/publications/223%20Chou_Ul...
- jpdoctor 14y ago
  Linked in the PR: http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-21-101-A60 http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-21-101-...
jpdoctor 14y ago
> As usual, the numbers in the pop media news article are nonsense. Currently 2 headlines on HN from extremetech, neither one of them worth a damn. Anyone have an extension to block their crap?

ChuckMcM 14y ago

The number of interest though is $/watt-converted. So if 8% organic sells are $x per sq meter, and Si cells are $Y per sq meter, then multiplying that number out you will get the cost per watt extracted out of that sq meter of surface area. If area is not constrained this can result in better economics for organic cells.

beambot 14y ago
Shouldn't the metric of interest is $ per installed watt converted? You have to factor back in the installation costs of the PV system (which can be very dependent on area) into the cost of the PV cells.
- ChuckMcM 14y ago
  That is definitely a consideration, I was thinking that parking lot covering can be an 'easy' install from the perspective of the installer and there can be a lot of surface area (especially in the western part of the US, that is less true for facilities trying to re-use their roof for example. And of course the ratio is important too. 80 watts per sq meter vs 400 watts per sq meter is a ratio of 5:1 so your organics cells need to be less than 20% of the installed cost of your high end silicon cells to have a better overall installed cost value.

jbellis 14y ago

I looked for the actual paper but couldn't find it, can you post the link?

mbell 14y ago
http://www.princeton.edu/~chouweb/publications/223%20Chou_Ultrathin%20high-efficiency%20broad-band_OpticsExpress_2012.pdf http://www.princeton.edu/~chouweb/publications/223%20Chou_Ul...
jpdoctor 14y ago
Linked in the PR: http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-21-101-A60 http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-21-101-...

jpdoctor 14y ago

> As usual, the numbers in the pop media news article are nonsense. Currently 2 headlines on HN from extremetech, neither one of them worth a damn. Anyone have an extension to block their crap?