Me Likee Darpa

The people who brought you the Internet are turning their eyes towards solar power:

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A consortium led by the University of Delaware (UD) on Wednesday (Nov. 2) said that it could receive nearly $53 million in funding — with the bulk of the money coming from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) — to more than double the efficiency of terrestrial solar cells within the next 50 months.

The technology hopes to bring solar energy for soldiers on the battlefield. It is also aimed for commercial applications as well.

The University’s Consortium for Very High Efficiency Solar Cells, which consists of 15 universities, corporations and laboratories, could receive up to $33.6 million from Darpa, if all options are awarded, and another $19.3 million from UD and corporate team members.

Those corporate members may include DuPont, BP Solar, Corning Inc., LightSpin Technologies and Blue Square Energy.

The Darpa program calls upon the consortium to develop and produce 1,000 Very High Efficiency Solar Cell (VHESC) prototypes that are affordable and that operate at efficiencies of at least 50 percent. Currently, high-end solar cells operate at a peak efficiency of 24.7 percent, and solar cells off the production line operate at 15-20 percent efficiency.

Wow. 50% efficiency would be a huge leap forward in solar power. Of course, a few tens of millions of dollars is still chump change in the defense budget. I'd like to see the DoD spend some real money, but this is a great start.