The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $195,000 contract to develop a roadmap for completing development of solar concentrator arrays. The arrays use flexible, ultra-light lenses to focus sunlight onto high-efficiency solar cells. The concepts to be explored under the NSF contract will increase efficiency beyond the prototype arrays that recorded 27 percent efficiency.
The funding will support a solar technology team led by ENTECH Inc. (Keller, TX), one of 93 proposals that were submitted to NSF, NASA and the Electric Power Research Institute (Palo Alto, CA) in several technology areas. Twelve proposals were selected in a competitive procurement for funding to investigate advanced technologies for future space solar power applications.
