Intersolar is happening in San Francisco this week.

I went last year and learned A LOT:

About the business climate.
About how the current manufacturers see themselves in the solar panel eco-system.
About how pressed the manufacturers are on costs as the prices continued to crash.

There were even some folks showing hybrid photovoltaic thermal solutions. (the very subject eventually, I promise, of this blog.)

I was carrying around a copy of my white paper on my research into a high temperature hybrid design and how high temperatures are possible and why they are desirable. I handed off a few. I wrote a bunch of follow-up emails. NOTHING.


well. almost nothing.  (spoiler alert: moral of this post? write thank yous TO EVERYBODY! EVERYBODY means everybody)

One came back with a big big clue as to where I might peddle my wares. For now lets just say "not solar energy companies." They have clamped their jaws around flat panel collectors and are riding the cost curve to the ground (the metaphor mixer is in fine shape dontcha think?) Most of the novelty in that business is directed at coming closer to the approximately 24% theoretical limit, shaving costs and economic/finance manipulations to make the market soak up and adopt solar systems faster. That and long shot plays in thin films and novel alternatives to Silicon. Not efforts to thumb one's nose at.

So I got no takers on "can we talk about research?" but a good bunch of practice on quickly outlining what I am up to.

Do I go back? Or finally put some fresh time in on the prototype? Stay Tuned.