Inventive Research’s Jason Oliver is credited with developing the patent-pending process to obtain and generate alternating current AC power directly from solar cells through the company’s AC Solar Generator, which works on the same principle as existing generators. It is the AC Solar Generator that has caught the interest of a number of companies who would like to develop the product for large-scale use.

When commercialized, the AC Solar Generator is expected to not only revolutionize how solar power is generated but could make it practical to input solar power into the grid system competitively and profitably.

Oliver’s patent-pending AC solar process is simple. He arrayed solar cells in a circular pattern. Above them is a spinning disc with slots that alternatively allow light to shine on the panels to produce an AC waveform. The resulting voltage produced is sinusoidal or AC that can be configured to three-phase power usable with the national power grid.

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Not only did the researchers figure out how to successfully and consistently generate AC power, they also developed and patented a sensing technology to match the phase of the power from the AC Solar Generator to the phase of the power grid.

“Practical, applicable and revolutionary, best describes our AC Solar Generator,” says Researcher Jason Oliver, who believes this product can bring about enormous power savings during peak daylight hours. “Many years of research, testing and ultimately, successful application has brought about the very real possibility of affordable, clean and renewable energy to our fingertips now.

”The AC Solar Generator is also a candidate for General Electric’s 2010 Ecomagination Challenge, a competition that awards funding to projects designed to improve energy use.For more information on Inventive Research’s novel way to generate alternating current from solar panels go to: acsolargenerator.com.

via New AC Solar Generator Invention Could Revolutionize Solar Power Production.

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We hear people talking all the time about storing renewable energy. You know the deal - clean energy will never be viable until we can make it storable for those times when production is low due to inclement weather. Well, one company in California, SolarCity, was just awarded $1.8 million by the California Public Utilities Commission to research storing residential solar energy in Tesla Motors’ car batteries. The owner of SolarCity, Pete Rive, already has a system rigged up in his garage that he says is working like a charm.

Rive’s system consists of a 3 kilowatt solar array on the roof of his San Francisco home and a Tesla Motors lithium-ion battery pack in his garage that connects the array to the grid. When the sun goes down — or doesn’t come out — the battery has already stored up excess solar energy to either feed to his home or to the grid, if his home is at capacity. Rive will be teaming up with Tesla and the University of California to study how to integrate off the shelf batteries into residential solar arrays.

“We think in the years ahead this will be the default way that solar is installed,” Rive told the New York Times. “Getting the costs down, though, is not going to be an easy task.” Currently lithim-ion batteries are pretty pricey and until those costs go down this program might not be financially viable. However, the team will be outfitting 6 homes courtesy of the cash they’ve just received to research whether this is a feasible route for home energy storage. The $1.8 million is just a small share of $14.6 million grant that the California government shelled out for companies to study solar energy storage.

via Cali. Gives $1.8 Mill. To Store Solar Energy in Tesla Batteries | Inhabitat – Green Design Will Save the World.

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They’re also usually silver. Yet they also come in colors, not just for looks, but for efficiency.

A Jerusalem company called GreenSun has developed bright-colored panels. Officials say the hues capture different parts of sun’s spectrum, and don’t need direct sunlight to work, according to National Geographic News.

The colored collectors are still in development, but the company says its panels will cost less than a buck per watt to manufacture, compared to more than $4 a watt for conventional solar.

The technology is based on concentrating visible and ultraviolet light without concentrating heat, which reduces the performance of conventional cells. GreenSun also says its panels only require 20 percent silicon, with a conversion rate of up to 20 percent, or up to twice as much as commercial panels now on the market.

via GreenSun Develops Colorful Solar Panels that don’t need Direct Sunlight : CleanTechnica.

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