EnerSolar Brazil Conference

I spent a fair amount of time looking through the presentation by Ecoprogetti.  Ecoprogetti is an Italian based company that sells solar panel production lines.  They are hoping to sell several manufacturing systems in Brazil, thus decreasing the country’s dependence on imported panels.  Personally I hope Brazilians invest in these production line systems, because tariffs on imported panels seem to be a major hindrance on solar voltaic development in this country. The piece of machinery on display was a quality control system used to test solar panels after manufacturing is complete.  A panel is placed face down over a series of LEDs, and a computer measures the amount of energy from the LED absorbed by the panel.  Unfortunately I was not permitted to take a photograph.

Power Inverter by Kehua Technologies

Another piece of technology that I continued to come across at the convention is power inverters.  These systems take the DC current from the solar panel and convert it to AC current.  This allows the energy to be fed into the grid, thus making net metering possible.  Net metering is a process that allows consumers to sell their excess solar energy to power companies.  Optimizing power inverters is an effective way of increasing solar panel system efficiency overall.

1KW Wind Generator for Residential Use

During our visit to CPFL Energia, we learned that the company is integrating wind power with photovoltaic power.  A few of the solar panel companies had wind turbines on display to demonstrate that they are following the same strategy.  Discovering which wind systems work best with which photovoltaic systems in what regions is a key element of optimizing alternative energy generation.