Extreme Energy Makeover

November 17, 2011 | Email this

The November 18 broadcast of ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition follows the construction of the Dunning family’s new Jusst Sooup Ranch soup kitchen facility in Cool Spring, Delaware. As part of the makeover, the new facility has a clean, renewable energy supply thanks to a 25-kilowatt SunPower high-efficiency solar energy system professionally installed by Clean Energy USA, a SunPower Premier Dealer based in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

Featuring high efficiency SunPower Signature black solar panels, the system will generate approximately 75% of the Dunning family’s annual energy needs. That’s a lot of hot soup! Moreover, the SunPower system provides the Dunnings with peace of mind that comes with significantly reduced electricity bills, enabling them to continue to serve needy families in Delaware’s Sussex County for years to come.

Beating the Clock with Teamwork

Working with Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is a fast-moving experience, and the Jusst Sooup Ranch project was no different. Hundreds of professionals from SunPower, Clean Energy USA, project builder Schell Brothers, and dozens of other vendors came together to complete the Jusst Sooup Ranch build at lightning speed. Clean Energy USA was selected to participate in the project just weeks before it was scheduled to break ground, and contacted SunPower with no time to waste. Two weeks later, we were on site with 114 SunPower solar panels, helping to refine the overall project design to enable the property to maximize the benefits of solar, and configuring the monitoring system. A project that normally would have taken a few months to build was completed in less than a week! Everyone pitched in beyond what anyone thought was possible.

Reliable Solar from SunPower Weathers Hurricane Irene Challange

Midway through the construction, Hurricane Irene came barreling up the East Coast. There were also reports of tornado sightings all around Sussex County. When Irene rolled in, Clean Energy USA had completed installation of the mounting system for the solar panels. They needed to decide whether to put down the panels and ride out the storm, or hold off on the panel install, potentially delaying the project. Being familiar with SunPower’s excellent reputation for reliability, Clean Energy USA elected to install the panels. After the bad weather had passed, every aspect of the system was inspected, and not one panel had moved or misaligned during the storm!

Increasing Assistance for Those in Need

The Jusst Sooup Ranch project was one of the most ambitious builds ever on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. It’s fitting that the Dunning family’s generosity was met with unprecedented levels of generosity from the team involved in building this project. We’re proud to have been a part of it, and to know that, for the next 25 years or more, Jusst Sooup Ranch can take advantage of the significant cost savings they will realize as a result of their SunPower system to provide food and assistance to those in need in their local community.

Presentation in front of the soup kitchen

Check out this extreme energy makeover on November 18 at 8:00pm Eastern, and don’t miss the special behind-the-scenes show at 7:00pm Eastern!

Interested in going solar? Want to enjoy the peace of using renewable energy, and feel good that your solar system is from a company that is committed to giving back to those in need? We are here for you. Visit our website to get a free home solar assessment from a local SunPower installer.

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SunPower Helps Nissan LEAF Owners Further Reduce Emissions − and Save on Electricity Costs

by Tom Werner, November 15, 2011 | Email this

Last week, we announced that SunPower is teaming with Nissan to provide Nissan LEAF electric vehicle owners information on how a SunPower residential solar system can further reduce their carbon emissions and control the cost of charging their electric vehicles. Nissan LEAF is the world’s first and only all-electric no gas car for the mass market.

Nissan found SunPower an ideal partner because they have confidence in how we’ll work with their customers to deliver the highest efficiency, highest reliability solar systems on the market today with guaranteed performance.

SunPower has contributed content to the Nissan LEAF website describing how solar power systems convert sunlight into clean, renewable power for use in the home, including for charging electric vehicles. Site visitors can also request a free home solar assessment from a local SunPower dealer.

Take a look at the content we’ve provided on the Nissan website.

Solar power is a reliable, cost-effective technology for homeowners and EV drivers today. For example, a 2.5-kilowatt SunPower rooftop solar system may offset the power required to drive a LEAF about 10,000 miles a year. I power my own 100% electric Nissan LEAF with a SunPower system, eliminating trips to the gas station while significantly reducing my electricity bill.

I am looking forward to a long partnership with Nissan. If you have any questions about our collaboration with Nissan, feel free to ask them here.

SunPower employees with their Nissan LEAFs

A SunPower employee charging his Nissan LEAF at Headquarters

A SunPower employee charging his new Nissan LEAF in San Jose

Tom Werner
President and Chief Executive Officer, SunPower Corporation
San Jose, CA, United States

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C7 Tracker Rocks Solar Power International Show, Offering the Lowest Levelized Cost of Electricity for Utility-Scale Solar

by David Henry, October 20, 2011 | Email this

At midnight, Monday night, the word was out: The new SunPower C7 Tracker was unveiled. As the solar industry gathered in Dallas for Solar Power International (SPI) this week, they sure talked up this new concentrated PV tracking system. The SunPower^®C7 Tracker concentrates the sun’s power seven times, delivering the lowest levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for utility-scale power plants – up to 20 percent lower than competing technologies.

Who’s behind this high-efficiency, cost effective C7 Tracker technology? The credit goes to SunPower President Emeritus Dick Swanson, Ph.D., whose vision for solar concentrator-based power plants stretches back four decades.

When the “first” energy crisis swept the U.S. in the 1970s, Dr. Swanson dreamed of constructing solar power plants in arid desert regions of the American Southwest. In those locales, he believed, the U.S. could easily convert the sun’s energy into usable power, and help reduce the country’s (and the planet’s) dependence on fossil fuels. However, Dr. Swanson was far ahead of the game. The market for utility-scale solar plants would not mature for many years. So SunPower changed course and adapted the high efficiency solar cell it had developed for concentrators for use in traditional flat solar panels —the most efficient panels on the market today.

Fast forward to year-end 2010, when the global cumulative installed solar capacity reached 40 gigawatts. As the demand for solar around the world has grown, so has the demand for solar power plants. We built the world’s first 10-megawatt solar power plant in 2004 in Germany, and SunPower will have more than 400 megawatts of power plants operating around the world by the end of 2011. All of these plants have used solar panels on single-axis trackers.

For the past three years, however, our development teams have had lengthy dialogues with utility companies and solar power plant developers, assessing their needs. In response, SunPower engineers – who have unparalleled expertise in cells, modules, trackers, electronics and performance – collaborated in crafting a concentrated tracking product that leverages a decade of experience in reliable tracking systems and delivers the best economics over the long term. On October 18, with the release of the C7 Tracker, their efforts came to fruition… and Dr. Swanson’s dream became reality.

The Reflection of SunPower High Efficiency Cells off of the C7

A SunPower Engineer Assembling the C7 Tracker

Easy Installation of Modular Designed Cells for the C7 Tracker

Mirrors Ready for Installation onto the C7 Tracker

Reflection of the Sky off the C7 Tracker

If you haven’t yet read the details, here’s a look at this exciting new product. And if it’s time to get your solar power plant project on track, talk to SunPower. High output for the lowest levelized cost – that’s the C7 Tracker.

David Henry
Chief Marketing Officer, SunPower Corporation
San Jose, CA, United States

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The SunPower C7 Tracker: The Power of 7 Suns, the Lowest LCOE

by David Henry, October 18, 2011 | Email this

A seismic shift in the solar industry has just taken place. Did you feel it?

Today, the SunPower C7 Tracker made its debut. This isn’t a routine product introduction – for utility and power plant owners and operators, it is a game-changer.

The C7 Tracker multiplies the sun’s energy by 700 percent, delivering the lowest Levelized Cost of Energy for utility-scale solar power plants – up to 20 percent lower than competing technologies. Combining a horizontal, single-axis tracker with rows of parabolic mirrors that reflect light onto SunPower’s highest-efficiency solar cell receivers, the C7 delivers unprecedented solar power production. With C7 Tracker technology, a 400-megawatt power plant requires less than 70 megawatts of SunPower solar cells.

Components of the C7 Tracker can be manufactured locally, creating new employment opportunities in addition to the jobs created to build and operate a new solar plant. The new SunPower C7 Tracker is also upgradeable. As solar cell technology evolves and improves, cells can be easily and cost-effectively replaced with newer, more powerful cells.

What’s a better investment than SunPower’s proven, reliable product performance? Watch this video, and see for yourself. Once you’ve watched, tell us what you think below! Your comments are important to us.

The new C7 Tracker is like nothing else available, anywhere. Visit our web site to learn more about the new SunPower C7 Tracker. Come back often for late-breaking news on the new SunPower C7 Tracker, and find out how SunPower technology can help utilities and power plant owners meet the global demand for clean, renewable solar energy.

David Henry
Chief Marketing Officer, SunPower Corporation
San Jose, CA, United States

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Think Your Home Is a Lousy Fit for Solar? Say Hello to the SunPower AC Solar Panels.

by David Henry, October 17, 2011 | Email this

Are you someone who thinks, “I’d get a solar system in a heartbeat if my home wasn’t surrounded by big, beautiful trees?” Or, are you reluctant to ‘go solar’ because your roof isn’t perfectly oriented in a southwesterly direction? Think again.

Today SunPower introduced the SunPower^® AC Solar Panel series. These high-efficiency panels are designed to bring clean solar power to homes that have energy production challenges, such as shading, less-than-perfect orientation or irregular rooflines.

With a conventional solar power system, the panels are linked to a single inverter that’s usually placed in a ground-level location – such as a garage or the side of the house. This is a very effective way to convert unobstructed sunlight into electricity for the home, and it works well when a rooftop is unshaded and well oriented.

In contrast, each SunPower AC Solar Panel is integrated with a “microinverter” on the back. The microinverter transforms the panel into a self-contained powerhouse and can be put anywhere there’s space on the roof.

Is there a chimney or vent-pipe shading one of your panels during peak hours? No problem. While shading on even a single panel can reduce the amount of power produced by a conventional system with a single inverter, all unshaded SunPower AC Solar Panels will continue to generate solar power even if one panel is shaded – allowing the homeowner to continue to enjoy the maximum return on their investment.

As with all our solar power systems, SunPower AC Solar Panels, available for residential customers, offer a reliable SunPower Monitoring System, so you can track your energy production. Add in the panels’ sleek, unobtrusive design, and SunPower AC Solar Panels could well be the solar solution you’ve been looking for.

Want more information? Watch this new video:

Or visit our web site to learn more about SunPower AC residential panels.

David Henry
Chief Marketing Officer, SunPower Corporation
San Jose, CA, United States

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Nobody Does it Better: The SunPower Dealer Network

October 14, 2011 | Email this

We know that choosing the right solar panel installer is one of the most important decisions you’ll make in the process of going solar. You want the most reliable solar panels for your home installed by a company that will provide you with the highest level of service and workmanship. Yet, with demand for residential solar power systems at record levels and the number of solar panel installers increasing accordingly, it can be daunting to find the solar panel installer that’s right for you.

To ease the solar panel installer selection process, SunPower has built a network of almost 2,000 locally-owned dealers around the world, including 400 in the US. All SunPower solar energy system installers in our network have been chosen for their commitment to customer service and quality workmanship, and are provided with regular training and evaluation to ensure they have up-to-date skills and knowledge. You can easily find a local solar installer by going online and searching the SunPower Dealer Network on our web site.

Benefits of working with a SunPower solar energy installer include the following:

Extensively Trained: Solar technology is complex and requires skilled, trained professionals to ensure safe, optimized system performance. Your solar dealer should be a licensed and insured contractor as well as a solar energy specialist trained specifically for home solar installation. SunPower is the only solar panel manufacturer with an ISPQ-Accredited Training Program, the international standard that ensures continuity, consistency and quality in the delivery of renewable energy training. Dealers pursuing SunPower certification in design and installation begin at the “Associate” level, then progress to “Advanced” and finally “Master” certification. Additionally, we inspect our solar panel installers’ work to ensure that the highest quality standards are upheld.
The SunPower Industry-Leading Warranty Coverage: When making a solar purchase decision, we encourage you to compare service and power warranties. SunPower provides a 10-year service warranty on materials and workmanship. In addition, we offer an industry leading, 25-year performance warranty, which ensures that your panels will produce up to 80% of their expected minimum peak power output, or SunPower will address the shortfall. Learn more on SunPower service and product warranties.
SunPower Solar Energy System Monitoring: Homeowners who opt for SunPower Monitoring Services can track their own energy production and overall environmental impact. SunPower provides monitoring services online or through an iPhone application. In addition, our solar energy installers can monitor the energy output of your solar energy system through our monitoring services, enabling them to receive an alert when a system isn’t meeting performance standards and address the problem quickly.

Your local SunPower solar panel installer is your solar advocate, providing quality, timely installation and responsive service. If you’d like to learn more about the SunPower Dealer Network, going solar or finding a solar energy installer, leave us a comment below or join the conversation on our Facebook page.

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Solar Decathlon 2011: Solar Roofpod, Team New York's Solution for Underutilized City Rooftops

by Farah Ahmad, October 04, 2011 | Email this

With 100 members, Team New York'11 is a multicultural and interdisciplinary Solar Decathlon team from the City College of New York, a college within the City University of New York. Composed of all undergraduate students, we are proud to have been the youngest and most student-engaged team in this year’s competition. Over 30 engineering students and 60 architecture students helped to make Solar Roofpod a reality. Approximately 10 faculty members from both schools served as advisors.

Originating from many different ethnicities, and residing all over New York City, Team New York included students from the standard disciplines of architecture and engineering, but also from communications, film, and graphic design. We, the students, were involved in every project phase and thoroughly engaged in all project tasks. My student teammates and I were responsible for everything from conception, design and drawings to communications deliverables, construction and operation.

Team New York participated in the Solar Decathlon to introduce the public to an urban concept for the first time in the competition’s history. Our design is unique, as it will serve not only as a single-family residence, but also as a piece of urban infrastructure. Solar Roofpod is a solution for our growing cities.

Our modular, flexible penthouse design uses lightweight, durable, renewable materials and incorporates photovoltaic (PV) technologies. We chose to use SunPower panels, as the company represents the ideals of our home, sustainability and energy efficiency. We installed a 10.08 kilowatt solar system with SunPower E19 / 240 solar panels to power the house during the competition.

Solar Roofpod is an urban prototype. Rooftops of buildings in cities are largely underutilized, yet they offer true potential as living spaces because of their direct access to sun, wind and water. Designed for flat rooftops of existing mid-rise residential or commercial buildings, Team New York's Solar Roofpod aims to enable eco-conscious urban dwellers to live sustainably, as stewards of a more resilient urban environment. Solar thermal collectors supply clean energy for hot water, heating and cooling, and an innovative monitoring and control system allows users to be energy efficient while maintaining a level of comfort inside the pod. Solar Roofpod’s design allows for the cost-effective collection and delivery of solar power (not only to the home, but also to the host building and the city’s power grid), cultivation of roof gardens and recycling of storm water.

Solar Roofpod was featured on “The Early Show” a national television show on CBS, and on New York 1 News. Our team’s design has appeared in approximately 100 print and web publications. Prior to the Solar Decathlon competition, we presented to high school and college students, as well as the Museum of the City of New York and the New York City Mayor’s Office. We also took part in several urban design expositions, such as the New York City Solar Summit, the Urban Green Exposition and the AIA Westchester Fair.

Solar Decathlon 2011 was a memorable experience for everyone on the team. The three weeks onsite in Washington DC consisted of assembly, public exhibition, contests and disassembly. Our team’s architecture and engineering students had to collaborate quickly to get the house assembled and operating. Once assembly was complete, the team conducted house tours for media, VIP guests and the general public. The Solar Roofpod received over 10,000 visitors in a period of ten days!

Though Team New York did not win the overall Solar Decathlon competition, Solar Roofpod was certainly a favorite amongst public visitors, who claimed the house was attractive and maintained a unique concept amongst all nineteen entries. The hands-on experience at Solar Decathlon 2011 has steered some team members towards more specific building industries, including construction management and sustainable design.

As Public Relations Manager for Team New York, I learned how to design with energy efficiency in mind and how to clearly communicate my ideas, since interviews and public tours were frequent throughout the Solar Decathlon. I am thrilled to report that our team placed fourth in the Communications category.

Solar Roofpod will be moved back to the City College of New York campus, where it was originally constructed, to be repurposed as a public exhibit to educate the community about sustainable design in the urban setting.

Team New York assembling Solar Roofpod in Washington DC at dusk

Team New York assembling Solar Roofpod in Washington DC at night

View of Solar Decathlon from across the Potomac River

Farah Ahmad
Public Relations Manager, Team New York Solar Roofpod
New York, NY, United States

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Solar Decathlon 2011: Designing a Solar House By Team Middlebury

by Katie Romanov, October 04, 2011 | Email this

This past Saturday, after a week and a half of operating our home, Self-Reliance, and being evaluated in the 10 decathlon contests, Team Middlebury College was awarded fourth place in the Solar Decathlon competition. In addition to winning fourth place overall, our student-led team took first place in three of the 10 decathlon contests: Communications, Home Entertainment and Market Appeal. Team Middlebury College also placed fourth in the Architecture contest and five in Affordability, gaining the most juried contest points of any team.

Team Middlebury College was the first undergraduate liberal arts team to be accepted as a finalist into the Solar Decathlon competition without partnering with another institution. We are extremely proud that we performed as a top contender amongst teams from technical architecture and engineering institutions. We dreamed of finishing in the top five overall and being the little engine that could. We did it!

In our original schematic design proposal, we described our vision of reinventing the New England farmhouse, a long-standing American symbol of home. With no idea of how we'd fare against other submissions, and an added application phase due to a surplus of proposals, we eagerly awaited a response from the DOE. On April 6, 2010, the announcement came. We were in! Enthusiastic screaming ensued… until a student stood up and said "Let's get to work!"

Over the past year and half leading up to this year’s Solar Decathlon, we put ourselves to work. Long hours and hard decisions became even more tedious as our team continued to grow. Over 85 students from more than 25 different majors played an active role in the project. We drew on chemistry majors to do our materials research and English majors to write our fundraising materials, turning our perceived limitation as a liberal arts school into our greatest strength. Our interdisciplinary background encouraged us to take a unique approach towards the engineering challenge of creating a 100% net-zero energy home by incorporating our appreciation for the humanities into an integrated design process.

We crafted our design around our target client: a young New England family of four. With a maximum of 1,000 square feet of finished floor space to work with, and the goal of having a separate children's bedroom, we allocated space efficiently. We maximized space with our southern-facing gable roof and added a loft as a storage and multipurpose area. We integrated a greenhouse-wall into the kitchen, allowing family members to grow their own produce from seed to plate. To reduce embodied energy, we incorporated local natural materials that are healthy for both the inhabitants and the surrounding environment. We employed passive techniques and simple active systems, with a user-friendly interface for parents and kids to observe their energy usage. Demonstrating that solar-powered homes can be comfortable and appealing for families was one of our team's top priorities at the 2011 Solar Decathlon.

Selecting our solar panels was a big decision. We chose to partner with SunPower, an company that shares our commitment to renewable energy and environmental stewardship. SunPower was able to provide the highest solar panel efficiency for our project, generating more than 6.75 kW on a sunny day. Instead of consuming electricity generated from coal, natural gas, nuclear material or other non-renewable sources, Self-Reliance meets its energy needs with solar power – a clean, green technology that is available to home and business owners across the world.

Team members installed our all black SunPower E18/225 solar panels during the construction of Self-Reliance this past summer in Middlebury, Vermont, then disassembled and reassembled the system for the competition in West Potomac Park on the National Mall and are currently disassembling the solar array for shipment back to Vermont.

This coming weekend, after the six-day disassembly process is complete, we will truck the eight modules of Self-Reliance back to the Middlebury College campus for final siting. Boreholes have already been drilled for a geothermal system and the permanent foundation is currently under construction.

Middlebury College will use the house for special interest housing, where students will apply to live on a per semester basis. Our home will serve as an environmental outreach center for dinners, speakers and educational events open to both the campus and the local community. It was incredible sharing our home with over 15,000 visitors on the National Mall. Now it's time to bring the house home, where it will continue to be an educational tool that demonstrates the livability and affordability of solar-powered homes.

Team Middlebury College accepting their award for Communication

You can learn more about our team and Self-Reliance on our blog.

Katie Romanov
Communications Coordinator, Team Middlebury College Self-RELIANCE
Middlebury, VT, United States

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SunPower at Solar Decathlon 2011: Meet Team Purdue

by McKenna J. Regan, September 29, 2011 | Email this

We are Boilermakers. Boilermaker heritage goes far beyond athletics. It defines our community through spirit, determination, and work ethic. Back in the late 1800’s, the Purdue football team was known for their knowledge and hard work in the classroom and industrial fields. Covered in dirt and smog every day from working in boiler rooms, the football team soon gained the unpleasant nickname “Boilermakers.” Since then, Purdue University has adopted the name in remembrance of our university’s humble beginnings.

Today, with the INhomes team’s hands-on-approach, we truly represent the essence of a Boilermaker. We are proud of the hard work, determination and skills that have made this dream become a reality. Kevin R. is the team’s project manager and designer of the unique Biowall feature. Jordan W. is our engineering manager, who has integrated multiple technical features into our home along with the PV system itself. Jordan has a team of talented engineers that have built and designed the INhome to perform very well. Mallory S. is our HVAC system engineer and Lee C. is the controls engineer of the home. Sarah M. is our team’s design and architecture manager. Communications includes those in management, hotel tourism management and liberal arts. McKenna R., Devynn L. and Kristyn Z. are a few of the students involved in communications and education for the INhome. Eric H. leads the construction team as the team’s construction manager. Those who assist Eric H. in the home’s design and build are; Derek K., Jeffery D., Matt H., Spencer D., Steven J., Kaitlyn T., Brendan M., Andy G. , Caitlin M. and more.

The INhome is powered by a 8.64 kW SunPower solar photovoltaic system that annually produces as much electricity as the INhome consumes, allowing the INhome to become net-zero. The photovoltaic system is driven by 36, SunPower^® E19 / 238 Solar Panels. Excess electricity is sold back to the power utility company during times of high production. Our team chose to use SunPower solar panels because the company is a leader in the solar industry and offered our team a cost effective, high quality and reliable product, as well as a supportive industry partnership. All in all, allowing us to succeed in the competition.

The philosophy behind the INhome is making the concept of solar powered residences a reality in the near future for residential consumers. This Midwestern inspired home shows consumers they can be sustainable without sacrificing quality or comfort. The INhome blends technological innovations with functional and appealing aesthetics to create a living space that appeals to the majority of homeowners.

The most unique feature of the INhome is the Biowall. The Biowall is a home air filtration system that utilizes plants placed in a vertical wall, which remove harmful chemicals that can accumulate in homes that are tightly sealed like the INhome. Air from the home is drawn through the plant wall where the chemicals are removed by the plants and used as a food source. The wall requires very little maintenance and is even designed to water itself. The Biowall improves the air quality in the home, saves energy, and provides a calming ambiance by bringing nature inside the home.

We will not only be a top player in this competition, but also be recognized as future leaders in innovation. Team Purdue is competing in the Solar Decathlon knowing that no matter the challenge, we Boilermakers have the drive and skills necessary to surpass our goals.

For more information on Team Purdue, please visit our website.

McKenna J. Regan
Communications and Marketing Manager, Purdue INhome
West Lafayette, IN, United States

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SunPower Partnering with Six Teams at the 2011 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon

September 29, 2011 | Email this

In mid-September, 19 teams of talented university students traveled to Washington, D.C. to participate in the fifth U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon at the National Mall's West Potomac Park. The teams represent 13 U.S. states, five countries and four continents. Competing in 10 categories over nine days, the Solar Decathlon challenges each team to design, build and operate the most attractive, functional and energy-efficient solar-powered home. Teams accrue points based on how well their houses perform in the 10 categories, each worth 100 points. Once teams are scored in all ten categories, the team with the highest total number of points is declared the winner of the Solar Decathlon and receives the championship trophy.

Competition categories:
1.   Architecture
2.   Market Appeal
3.   Engineering
4.   Communications
5.   Affordability
6.   Comfort Zone
7.   Hot Water
8.   Appliances
9.   Home Entertainment
10. Energy Balance

The final results for Architecture and Affordability were announced this week. Congratulations to two of the teams using SunPower panels - Middlebury College for placing 4^th in Architecture and Purdue University for tying for 1^st place in Affordability!

Long-term planning and determination is key to participating in the competition. Teams started preparing more than two years in advance. Check it out - their work is impressive and inspiring.

With homes designed for the energy needs of the average household, the Solar Decathlon aims to help visitors learn about the benefits of applying sustainable, energy efficient and cost-saving features to their own homes.

The public is invited to tour the houses for free through Oct. 2. If you haven’t had a chance to tour the 2011 Solar Decathlon homes at West Potomac Park, make time for it this week or over the weekend.

For those of you who live too far away to go in person, we are happy to bring the Solar Decathlon to you. Take a look at our Solar Decathlon 2011 Facebook album to see photos of this year’s innovative and sustainable homes and follow us on Twitter for updates.

Six Solar Decathlon 2011 teams selected our high efficiency, high reliability SunPower solar systems for their homes:

Team Florida International University (Florida International University) with perFORM[D]ance House, selected the SunPower^® E19 / 320 Solar Panels
Team Illinois (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) with Re_home, chose the SunPower^®E18 / 230 Solar Panels
Team Massachusetts (University of Massachusetts at Lowell and Massachusetts College of Art and Design) with 4D Home, featuring the SunPower^® E19 / 240 Solar Panels
Team Middlebury College (Middlebury College) with Self-Reliance, using the SunPower^® E18 / 225 Solar Panels
Team New York (City College of New York) with Solar RoofPod, selected the SunPower^® E19 / 240 Solar Panels
Team Purdue (Purdue University) with INhome, will install the SunPower^® E19 / 238 Solar Panels

Did you know?
The winners of the 2005, 2007 and 2009 Solar Decathlon competitions used SunPower solar panels. SunPower panels offer the maximum power from a limited roof space, a key design requirement for the decathletes, as well as residences and businesses everywhere.

Interested in learning more about the SunPower teams at the 2011 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon? We are excited to host a series of guest blog posts about the six Solar Decathlon homes powered by SunPower at this year's competition.

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Solar Panel and Cell Efficiency. What Does It All Mean?

June 30, 2011 | Email this

One of the most frequently asked questions by people researching a solar power system for their home or business is the difference between panel and cell efficiency, both which work to determine the energy production and cost saving benefits of a system.

In the solar industry, efficiency refers to the percentage of sunlight energy hitting a cell or panel that is converted into electricity. SunPower’s world-record efficiency Maxeon cells, for example, achieve efficiencies of 22.4%, which means they convert 22.4% of the sunlight that hits them into electricity. Solar technology on the market today is available in a range of efficiencies, from about 10% in the lowest efficiency thin film solar panels to SunPower’s high efficiency products, which are two to four times more efficient than thin film and up to 50% more efficient than standard efficiency solar technology.

The efficiency of a panel is always lower than the efficiency of the solar cells used in that panel. This is primarily because glass is used to cover and protect the cells in the panel, and glass reflects light, preventing some of the sunlight from reaching the cells.

The example below shows the mathematical formulas for determining how 22.2% efficient cells produce a 20.9% efficient panel:

If, by shining 1,000 Watts of light directly onto a number of cells, you generate 222 Watts of electricity, then you can measure the efficiency of the cells to be 22.2%.The formula is 222/1,000 = 22.2%.
Now, what if those 22.2% efficient cells were used in the manufacture of a solar panel, with glass placed over the top of them? If you then exposed that panel to 1,000 Watts of light, approximately 60 Watts of the light will be reflected by the glass, and only 940 Watts of light energy will hit the cells. Since the cells receive less light, they will produce less electricity. This is the formula for calculating how many Watts the panel will produce: 940 Watts x 22.4% = 209 Watts. Applying the formula in the previous example (209/1,000 = 20.9%), you can determine that the panel is 20.9% efficient.

Panel construction, shading, temperature, mounting and positioning are all factors that affect the amount of power generated by an installed solar power system, but high solar cell efficiency helps ensure that the number of kilowatt hours generated by a system is maximized, maximizing the cost savings realized by the system owner.

Here is an informative interview with SunPower’s founder and president emeritus Dr. Richard Swanson in which he explains SunPower Maxeon solar cell technology.

If you have any additional questions about solar panel or cell efficiency, please post them to our Facebook page or leave them below.

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Re-Broken Any Records Lately? We Have. Meet SunPower’s E20 Series Solar Panels.

June 09, 2011 | Email this

(And read about them soon in the next edition of Guinness World Records…!)

For years, SunPower has focused research and development efforts on offering the most efficient solar cells and panels on the market. As a result, SunPower solar panels allow customers to take best advantage of limited roof or ground space to produce significantly more electricity, and reap significantly more savings. Do you think we’re satisfied?

Well… records are meant to be broken, even our own. We are proud to introduce the E20 Series of solar panels, SunPower’s newest record breaking solar technology, and a new industry benchmark. The new E20 Series sets a new standard for solar, achieving record panel efficiencies of 20 percent or more.

The efficiency of the E20 has been verified by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory and none other than Guinness World Records! We’re very proud to receive our certification of the record from Guinness at a ceremony in Germany.

Following are some of the features of the E20 solar panel:

SunPower Maxeon™ solar cell technology. Our revolutionary patented, all-back contact, 22.4 percent efficient SunPower Maxeon solar cell technology currently holds its own world record in efficiency for mass-produced cells. As a result, SunPower solar panels deliver up to 50 percent more energy than conventional panels.
Anti-reflective coating to increase sunlight absorption. E20 panels capture more light to further maximize solar power generated.
Full compatibility with the most efficient inverters. Inverters convert direct current (DC) electricity from a solar system into alternating current (AC). E20 panels can be used with inverters that require transformers, which are common in North America, as well as the more efficient transformer-less inverters that are now popular in Europe.

What does all this mean to our prospective customers? The key value proposition of the E20, as well as our existing E19 and E18 solar panels, is to generate the greatest energy savings for our customers. The E20 Series is available in Europe and Australia this year, and will come to North America and Asia in early 2012.

Check out this video about SunPower E20 Solar Panel.

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Where is the Best Place for Solar?

June 03, 2010 | Email this

When asked this question many people imagine the barren sands of the Kalahari or Death Valley. At the very least, the average person thinks of a bungalow in San Diego, California; or a sundrenched beach condo in Miami. While it is true that places where the sun shines the most are fantastic locations for solar power generation, what if you were told that damp and cloudy England, or chilly Germany were also possible climate zones for solar installations with SunPower panels? The fact is, with current solar technology the opportunity to harness solar energy is available to people in places where a sunny day is a luxury.

In a recent Facebook poll, we asked our fans if they thought solar power only worked in sunny places like California. Fortunately, the majority responded “no,” yet this myth still exists.

SunPower has made it possible for people to take advantage of the sun’s energy and reduce their carbon footprint by providing high efficiency solar panels that generate up to 50 percent more power than conventional panels in climates as varied as Arizona, Germany and England. In fact, studies by the universities of Loughborough in the UK and Stuttgart in Germany as well as Arizona State have hailed SunPower as being the best for their respective climates.

SunPower solar energy systems capture more light and convert it into more energy in cold, hot weather and low-light conditions. This means, SunPower makes solar an attractive option wherever you are.

Howard Wenger

Nowhere is this more true than right in SunPower’s very own backyard of San Francisco, California. As many an underdressed tourist has found out, the temperatures and sunlight conditions can change within minutes in the Bay Area. Nonetheless, Bay Area cities such as San Francisco are some of the national leaders in adopting solar technology. A stunning example of how efficient SunPower’s technology works is the California Academy of Sciences (CAS), which uses solar energy on its state-of-the-art living rooftop with the help of SunPower. Check out the video below to learn how CAS is harnessing all the energy it can from the sun.

While everyone in the world cannot have the luxury of a winter in sunny Palm Springs, just about everyone can enjoy solar power. And in fog, frost and sun SunPower is still the most efficient there is no better provider of solar energy than SunPower!

Tell us about your experience with solar energy. Do you have a SunPower system? Are you considering purchasing one? Are you concerned about the weather being appropriate for solar installation? Leave us a comment here or share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

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Re-Broken Any Records Lately? We Have. Meet SunPower’s E20 Series Solar Panels.

(And read about them soon in the next edition of Guinness World Records…!)

Where is the Best Place for Solar?

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