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The most recent announcement comes from Sunrgi, which claims its XCPV system will “produce electricity at a wholesale cost of 5-cents per kWh” (via news release). Their system magnifies sunlight 2,000 times at over 3,000 degree Fahrenheit onto a small, top-of-the-line solar panel, which dramatically boosts the amount of energy the panel can produce. Since the system is in a module, it can be as big or small as you want. The modules also track the sun throughout the day to maximize power output, and they’re upgradable. That means if better solar panels hit the market in the future (or if theirs do get fried after all), you can switch them out. Another feature Sunrgi claims is an impressive efficiency rating of 37.5%. For the uninitiated, that might not sound like much, but consider that the world record in February, 2008 was 31.25% using CSP – on an unusually sunny day. But the whole system hinges on its cooling mechanism, described only as nanotech “goop”, to prevent the solar panels from melting. And that technology is still “proprietary”. In other words, they haven’t actually made commercial product yet.

So the exciting thing about Extreme Concentrated Photo Voltaics is the combination of high efficiency with low price. By magnifying the power of the sun, these companies are pushing the envelope at a time when energy prices are high. But these ventures are not without risk. Inadequate cooling of of the solar cells could result in decreased performance or melting. There’s also hurdles facing solar energy; the least of which is investing in manufacturing infrastructure, and transporting product. But the magic number here is 5 cents/ kwh.

Full Article: Cleantechnica

This is definitely good news to see solar power begin to get the recognition it deserves. While solar isn’t the ultimate solution since the sun doesn’t shine 24 hours a day obviously, combining it with some other source such as wind power or nuclear could help rid fossil fuel burning electricity plants completely.