Rectenna Solar Twice as Efficient and 80% Lower Cost than PV
NovaSolix today announced the NovaSolix Solar Antenna technology, a disruptive technology enabling solar energy to expand beyond the inherent limitations of photo-voltaic (PV) cells. The NovaSolix Solar Antenna technology converts a much broader spectrum of light waves to electricity than PV through the use of miniature carbon nanotube (CNT) antennas. Prototypes will be available Q4 2017.
The NovaSolix Solar Antenna technology, also known as rectenna, was developed to dramatically improve efficiency, cost, weight and deployment of solar technology, thereby expanding the potential applications of solar energy. Georgia Tech studies of rectenna technology cite theoretical efficiencies of 40-80% -- two-to-four times better than PV.
â€œNovaSolix has successfully manufactured the world's fastest diode â€“ a critical component for energy conversion. We expect to have samples during Q4. As our first products will be built using standard semiconductor equipment, we will target markets that are relatively price inelastic and have space and weight (we are 20% the weight/watt of PV) requirements such as fixed wing drones and space applications. Our devices were designed from day 1 for mass production. Our goal is to deliver meter wide panels using roll to roll manufacturing techniques--we will deliver panels, not devices or modules,â€ commented Rich Preston, CEO of NovaSolix.
Initial applications will include fixed wing aircraft, drones and satellites. In future iterations, the NovaSolix Solar Antenna technology will replace PV as the dominant form of solar power. Larry Cooke, NovaSolix's Founder and CTO, said, "PV is closing in on its theoretical limits while solar antenna technology is at the very beginnings of its potential."
"NovaSolix's Solar Antenna technology will provide electricity at a lower cost, on an unsubsidized basis, than any fossil fuel and will be the lowest cost power available," said Cooke.
The NovaSolix team includes industry veterans with decades of advanced semiconductor and process manufacturing experience. NovaSolix early estimates indicate the associated costs of manufacturing their technology could be 80-90% percent less than PV. "We are well advanced in the process of productizing our technology. It will have a tremendous impact on renewable energy that is so critical to our world," Cooke concluded.
NovaSolix has developed a truly revolutionary new solar technology. Initially using micron level semiconductor processing, developed using Stanford Nanofabrication Facility's equipment, NovaSolix has created quartz based chips on which millions of nanometer diameter carbon nanotubes are grown per square inch.
These form low impedance antennas coupled to diodes with petahertz cutoff frequencies, the fastest diodes ever built, enough to capture and rectify up to 80% of all sunlight from infrared down to ultraviolet. Replacing the quartz with flexible rolled glass, NovaSolix will create a continuous high volume roll to roll manufacturing process using micron level printing and maskless self-aligning lithography to produce power at a tenth of the cost of existing PV systems.