Solar Panels - Why So Long to Hit the Shops?

THE SEPTEMBER 2006 ISSUE OF SCIENTIFIChave powered the bulb of a toy torch for a few
AMERICAN was dedicated to exploring the futureseconds a day. Still, the circuit is there and the
of energy beyond the carbon era.date is mid-1966.
The editors shared a sobering outlook: 'DecadesDon't be distracted by Bollen's talk of 'satellite
may pass before hydrogen-powered trucks andapplications'. His circuit is a million miles from
cars relegate gasoline-and diesel-fueled vehicles torocket-science - in fact it's the simplest of the
antique auto shows.' Until that happens, we'llbunch in this edition of a magazine that was
'muddle-through' somehow.pitched at everyone between novice constructor
But why does it take so long for some energyand electronics professional.
technologies to get from the lab and industrialSomeone with barely any experience could have
applications to the service of consumers?thrown a demonstration version of this circuit
Take solar panels, for example.together in fifteen minutes flat.
A high-street electronics chain in London now sellsAnd all the parts were available from specialist
educational solar-power kits for around thesuppliers in London and south-east England. The
£20 mark. Serious, roof-dwelling solarlisted supplier for 'assorted selenium and silicon
panels that will power equipment in your home sellcells' is International Rectifier.
in DIY superstores at around £2,500.I contacted the company to find out how much a
That's a price-tag for the wealthy or verysimilar solar-cell cost at the time Bollen wrote his
committed, but at least consumers can push theirfeature. A single cell measuring about a centimetre
trolleys past the technology.by two centimetres cost four dollars, right up to
SOLAR PANELS HAVE ONLY RECENTLY1966. In his feature, Bollen describes various
APPEARED on the shelves of retail outlets, socombinations between one cell and four, so the
you'd forgive them for posing as new technology.most expensive part of his circuit cost between
But they're not. While England was priming itselffour and 16 dollars, or about $25-100 dollars in
for what was to become its most famous Worldtoday's money.
Cup, a contributor to the July 1966 edition ofWorld's first solar-powered car: 1912
Wireless World faced a copy deadline for theBut what came back from International Rectifier
magazine. His name was D. Bollen, and he(IR) proved far more interesting than price
provided a circuit for a solar-powered batteryinformation. It turns out that the company had
charger. As he put it: 'The ability of solar cells todemonstrated the world's first solar-powered car
convert sunlight directly into useful electrical- a 1912 model of the Baker Electric - as early as
energy has been well demonstrated in satellite1958. They achieved the stunt by making a
applications.high-output solar panel - less than two metres
An advantage of the solar battery is that is allowslong and just over a metre wide - from a whole
true, unattended operation in locations remotebank of little solar cells. Commercial, industrial and
from a power supply and...promises an outstandingmilitary customers went on to buy solar panels
degree of reliability.'from International Rectifier.
Over four meticulously-illustrated pages, BollenSO WHY HAS IT TAKEN ALMOST FIFTY YEARS
goes on to provide a blueprint for a circuit that willfor solar panels to reach our shops? Southface, a
trickle-charge a battery from a solar cell. Bollennon-profit, sustainable-living organisation based in
shows that you can run something that uses onethe USA, point out that solar-cell technology has
milliamp of current for '2.74 hours' in a 24 hourhad been uselessly competing against the relative
period.fall in price that occurred in the fossil-fuel market
He leaves us guessing what application he had inin the nineties.
mind for this tiny current, but the rig could also