NREL just announced a huge breakthrough in making solar
electricity competitive with fossil fuels as they unveiled the
Amonix 7700 Concentrated Photovoltaic or CPV Generator. We cover
a lot of solar technologies at Inhabitat, but what makes this
system so special is the technology behind it – Amonix has
basically taken space grade solar cells and put them under a
lens here on earth. The resulting system tracks the sun and
produces nearly double the power of traditional solar electric
arrays at utility-scale installations. The technology has the
added benefit being the least land-intensive form of solar power
in the world. CPV solar-electric cells use a complex triple
junction technology based on gallium cells. They have long been
used in space for their robustness — while traditional silicon-
based cells wither in the heat, this technology is nearly immune
to high temperatures, so sunlight can be concentrated on the
cells to dramatically improve their efficiency — up to 42% in
the lab. The 7700 CPV uses low-co