PV Gap

Anne Said:

On average, How many kWh per month will Nanosolar's 1 kW solar panel produce in an area with 4 kWh/m2/day?

We Answered:

I have never heard of a solar panel with an output of 1 kW. It takes 6 of my panels to do that. You might check your figures again. It would not surprise me if it would take a panel of 15 to 20 m2 to develop 1 kW.

Hugh Said:

NanoSolar Technology Used On An Airplane?

We Answered:

The wing area of a Boeing 737-900 is 125 m^2. Fuselage length is 42 m and width is 3.8 m; so overall, the area that could be illuminated at any time would be a maximum of 280 m^2 or so.
Solar constant is 1366 W/m^2, but that assumes no attenuation due to the air nor being 100% transparent, no cloud and high noon, so the absolute maximum solar energy that it could capture would be 382 kW.
But solar cells are not 100% efficient, far from it actually. The technology you refer to is about 15% efficient, so the actual electrical power released (again, high noon, perfectly clear day) is 57 kW, about 76 hp. That is roughly 1/2 the power of a typical APU for an aircraft of that size, which will put out its power reliably no matter what the lighting conditions is, as long as there is fuel available.

Free energy is always attractive, but what the aerospace world is after is _reliable_ energy.
By the way, if you check your source, it does state that the "nanoparticle ink is coated onto a specially-prepared proprietary alloy of metal foil". Do we know if that foil is compatible with the material used for aircraft wing and fuselage panels?