Holographic Hybrid Solar Panels for $1 Per Watt

New York-based Prism Solar Technologies has developed a unique solar panel that addresses some major concerns for solar technology. Material and module costs coupled with a lack of prime solar irradiance are major barriers for solar power in cloudy climates like New York. In Germany, the solution was lucrative solar rebates, and while those are essential in North America as well, Prism Solar is incentivizing through its unique technology.

Prism panels are comprised of strips of silicon photovoltaic (PV) cells between Prism’s patented Holographic Planar Concentrator (HPC) thin-film strips. Those strips focus direct, diffused and reflected light onto the PV strips, vastly increasing the amount of light striking the solar cells. This enables the same or more electricity to be generated with as little as one-third the amount of silicon used in standard panels. That, combined with the inexpensive thin-film strips, brings manufacturing costs down to $1 per watt.
The double-sided panels also use light from all directions, making them an ideal match for cool roofs and highly productive, even from sunlight at low angles. The thin-films contain Holographic Optical Elements (HOE), which are embedded with a grading formula that guides only usable light into the PV cells, increasing efficiency and keeping the cells cool. According to a PDF from Prism Solar, the benefits of HPC technology include:

• 50-72% less silicon provides an efficient, low-cost solar panel
• Passive Tracking: Holographic thin-films collect light from a wide variety of incident angles, increasing productivity at all times of day
• Ability to collect light from back and front of panel
• Panels operate at a lower temperature because the HPC strips allow unusable light to pass through the panel, rather than being lost as heat in the PV cell
• Narrow strings of PV cells make for better electrical flow, increasing conversion efficiency
• More efficient cell packing
• Rugged and reliable: warranted at minimum 80% power after 25 years
• Low material costs stemming from use of less silicon and very cheap holographic strips

Prism believes their holographic thin-film/PV hybrid solar panels, illustrated in this video, are essential for northern climates, where solar power is much more expensive than in sunny deserts. Their ability to capture low-angled incident light in the morning and evening, as well as reflected light at all times, is vital to their performance. Those sort of claims have been heard before, but the combination of increased light collection and panel efficiency with low-cost production is a rare find on the solar market.
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