Re:The Solar Sunflower
by makomk on Monday August 31, 2015 @08:32AM
(#10146507)
They can't convert the heat to electricity because they can't run the solar cells that hot - max operating temperature is 105C, and I'm not sure how great the efficiency and lifespan would be at that temperature. The 80% efficiency assumes they use the heat for heating, which might be a bit difficult in practice given the times of year and locations where this could actually be operated.
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Oh. Well, if that's so, I'm not sure why they've chosen to use photovoltaics at all, because solar thermal should give you a much better cost-performance ratio, and still give you plenty waste heat to use as heat.