Solar Technology

Once again, California is on the cutting edge of a technology that could change the way the world lives. Except for nuclear power plants, everything that generates electricity uses sunlight that nature has stored in some fashion. Even windmills are beholden to the sun for the movement of air from cooler to warmer areas.

On a dirt plot near Bakersfield where a massive refinery once churned out gasoline and asphalt, one of the world's largest oil companies is looking for something more green. On Monday, Chevron Corp. plans to reveal that it has transformed the 8-acre site into a sprawling test facility with 7,700 solar panels. The panels, in various sizes, represent seven cutting-edge photovoltaic technologies from seven companies that Chevron is checking out as possible candidates to power its operations worldwide.

Intel Corp. plans to spin off its solar technology business, creating a company called SpectraWatt Inc. and contributing to a $50-million investment in the venture. SpectraWatt will open a plant in Oregon in the second half of the year that will make photovoltaic cells and develop ways to cut the cost of solar technology, Intel said. Shipments will probably start in the middle of 2009, Intel said.

Intel Corp. plans to spin off its solar technology business, creating a company called SpectraWatt Inc. and contributing to a $50-million investment in the venture. SpectraWatt will open a plant in Oregon in the second half of the year that will make photovoltaic cells and develop ways to cut the cost of solar technology, Intel said. Shipments will probably start in the middle of 2009, Intel said.

Atlantic Richfield acknowledged Friday that it is looking for a buyer for Arco Solar Inc., the subsidiary that Arco built into the world's leading producer of photovoltaic cells after buying a small solar firm amid much hoopla in 1977. Describing the growth of the solar market as unacceptably slow because energy prices haven't climbed nearly as high as some had projected in the 1970s, Arco said it is discussing the sale of all or part of Arco Solar with "a number of companies."

Employees of the South Coast Air Quality Management District will get more of a charge out of driving to work this summer-if they happen to drive an electric car. Using a promising new solar-cell technology developed by Southern California Edison Co. and Texas Instruments, Irvine-based Fluor Corp. is working with Edison to build a "solar carport" at the AQMD's headquarters in Diamond Bar. Like conventional solar cells, the new Texas Instruments cells convert sunlight directly into electricity.

Robert A. Felburg is not your ordinary real estate developer. He'll tell you that. His friends will tell you that. His enemies will tell you that. At 64, Felburg has earned a reputation as one of the most eccentric businessmen in Ventura County. After all, how many other developers would send reporters a letter spelling out their substantial financial troubles? Or write articles advocating a quarantine of victims of AIDS?

Over the years, the Palo Alto Research Center has developed numerous electricity-gobbling innovations. Now the storied lab that gave the world laser printing and graphical user interfaces is trying to harness the sun to power its inventions. The Xerox Corp.

On a dirt plot near Bakersfield where a massive refinery once churned out gasoline and asphalt, one of the world's largest oil companies is looking for something more green. On Monday, Chevron Corp. plans to reveal that it has transformed the 8-acre site into a sprawling test facility with 7,700 solar panels. The panels, in various sizes, represent seven cutting-edge photovoltaic technologies from seven companies that Chevron is checking out as possible candidates to power its operations worldwide.

So Arco, the giant oil company, is turning a quick profit by selling its advanced solar energy technology abroad! Here is a company that used $4.5 million of U.S. funds and $900,000 of California funds, plus uncounted millions in state and federal tax breaks on energy, to develop the first commercially competitive solar energy system. Then, after building and putting into operation two solar power plants in California, Arco sells this technology to a West German corporation, pocketing along the way the money contributed by California and U.S. taxpayers.

Over the years, the Palo Alto Research Center has developed numerous electricity-gobbling innovations. Now the storied lab that gave the world laser printing and graphical user interfaces is trying to harness the sun to power its inventions. The Xerox Corp.

High above Earth, more and more satellites are being powered by gallium arsenide solar cells--cells that are lighter, longer-lasting and more efficient than any made from silicon, the industry standard. Ninety-nine percent of the market for gallium arsenide solar cells belongs to Applied Solar Energy Corp., a solar and optical technologies firm based in the City of Industry, which has placed its business future behind the compound semiconductor material.

Employees of the South Coast Air Quality Management District will get more of a charge out of driving to work this summer-if they happen to drive an electric car. Using a promising new solar-cell technology developed by Southern California Edison Co. and Texas Instruments, Irvine-based Fluor Corp. is working with Edison to build a "solar carport" at the AQMD's headquarters in Diamond Bar. Like conventional solar cells, the new Texas Instruments cells convert sunlight directly into electricity.

Once again, California is on the cutting edge of a technology that could change the way the world lives. Except for nuclear power plants, everything that generates electricity uses sunlight that nature has stored in some fashion. Even windmills are beholden to the sun for the movement of air from cooler to warmer areas.

President Bush's proposed National Energy Strategy, released Wednesday, warms the hearts of the oil, nuclear and auto industries. But the plan is cold comfort to companies that install conservation equipment and firms that generate solar or other alternative forms of energy. "There seems to be an emphasis on conventional fossil fuels as the future energy supply," said Kathleen Flanagan, director of government relations at Luz International, a Westwood-based solar energy company.

On a recent rainy day, J. Edward Sunderland stood next to a weedy field here, pointing to the site of a project he hopes will help the nation in its quest for energy independence. If all goes well, the drab-looking field, on the campus of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, will one day contain an array of solar collectors capable of supplying heat and hot water year-round to a future 12,000-seat sports arena, along with an existing gymnasium building.

One of the holy grails of solar cell technology may have been found, with researchers at UCLA announcing they have created a new organic polymer that produces electricity, is nearly transparent and is more durable and malleable than silicon. The applications are mind-boggling. Windows that produce electricity. Buildings wrapped in transparent solar cells. Laptops and phones - or even cars or planes - whose outer coverings act as chargers. It might even be sprayed on as a liquid. The promise of cheap and easy-to-apply site-generated solar electricity might now be a lot closer to reality.

I must also echo Representative Elton Gallegly's sentiments ("Siemens Wins Bidding for Pioneering Arco Solar Unit") that the sale of Atlantic Richfield Company's Arco Solar Inc. to Siemens of West Germany is not "in the best interests of the country's economy or national defense." In this case, we are not only talking about U.S. technology that can positively build the U.S. competitive edge, provide reliable domestic energy, lower environmental degradation, strengthen national security, lessen Third World debt and aid the U.S. balance of trade.