XEROX PARC and Solar Energy

Concentrating Solar Technologies are very promising, it's great to see investors and inventors recognizing this. From the LA Times:

Over the years, the Palo Alto Research Center has developed numerous electricity-gobbling innovations.

Now the storied lab that gave the world laser printing and graphical user interfaces is trying to harness the sun to power its inventions.

The Xerox Corp. subsidiary known as PARC has produced super-efficient solar systems that experts say could make photovoltaic power — sunlight converted directly into electricity — available on a large scale at prices competitive with fossil fuels for the first time. PARC's technology is one of several promising approaches in the field.

"Solar is growing at 30% annually," said analyst Ron Pernick of Clean Edge Inc., a research organization that specializes in alternative energy technology. Comparing the expansion to the best years of the personal computer industry, Pernick forecasts that solar power will be a $51-billion global business in 2015, up from $11.2 billion last year.

The research at PARC is part of an eco-friendly technology trend that draws on the materials and know-how that built computer microprocessors and other high-tech staples.

PARC's efforts dovetail with Silicon Valley's push into "clean tech," including conservation and renewable energy. Reusable paper is another of PARC's development projects. The California Clean Tech Open, sponsored by dozens of companies, venture capital firms, universities and other groups, recently received 155 competing business concepts.

In an era of stratospheric oil prices, investors are beginning to see solar as the next big thing, despite its embryonic state. Many industry watchers expect to see large rooftop collectors for powering businesses and solar farms that will approach the size of major power plants.

"The electricity market is as big as the sky," said Erik Straser of Mohr Davidow Ventures in Menlo Park, who has invested in emerging solar companies.

... The first generation of photovoltaic technology was based on large, heavy collectors — costly, inefficient systems that converted only 10% to 15% of solar rays to power. The rest reflected away or diffused as waste heat.

Recently, a handful of companies have developed systems that use mirrors or lenses to concentrate the sun's rays as much as 500 times and increase efficiency to as much as 26%, with projections up to 50%. Higher efficiency means cheaper power.

Several such "concentrating photovoltaic" schemes have been devised.