Efficient Cells Cut the Cost of Solar Power

If you visit Glenn Research Center, you might encounter a photovoltaic (PV) array that looks unlike anything you've ever seen. In fact, what one would normally identify as the panel is actually a series of curved mirrors called solar concentrators, engineered to reflect sunlight rather than absorb it. These concentrators gather, intensify, and focus sun beams upward, aiming at a fixture containing specialized silicon concentrated PV chips the actual solar cells. If you stay by the array for a while, you'll notice that the solar concentrators follow the path of the sun throughout the day, changing position to best capture and utilize the sunlight. The specialized chips that make the technology possible are the brainchild of Bernard Sater, an engineer who had worked at Glenn since the early 1960s before retiring to pursue his unique ideas for harnessing solar power. Sater contributed to multiple PV projects in the latter part of his career at the Center, including research and development on the International Space Station s solar arrays. In his spare time, he enjoyed tinkering with new approaches to solar power, experiments that resulted in the system installed at Glenn today. Sater s basic idea had two components. First, he wanted to create a silicon cell that was smaller, more efficient, and much lower cost than those available at the time. To ensure that the potential of such a chip could be realized, he also planned on pairing it with a system that could concentrate sunlight and focus it directly on the cell. When he retired from Glenn in 1994 to focus on researching and developing the technology full time, Sater found that NASA was interested in the concept and ready to provide funding, facilities, and expertise in order to assist in its development.