As we have written before, Ontario in Canada is working hard to become a hub of alternative energy.
Since 2003, the province has added more than 1,200 MW of installed alternative energy, including 150 solar projects. In 2010 alone, the region added 168 MW of solar power capacity, beating New Jersey as the second leading North American jurisdiction for new solar projects during that year. This is good news for investors interested in renewable energy as the race towards a clean energy economy has spawned new opportunities for renewable energy generators and manufacturers of renewable energy products.
The province’s official website this week published a press release highlighting the progress made by one solar power start-up called Morgan Solar, which has received financial backing from one of the world’s largest wind and solar energy firms. The company was founded in 2007 by John Paul Morgan and its breakthrough technology is poised to start delivering competitively priced solar power soon.
“Economical solar power is more than just liberating us from fossil fuels and delivering clean energy. It’s also an opportunity to provide less expensive energy that will take millions of people out of darkness. It’s a force for positive change,” says Morgan, who decided to found the company after working for a year as hospital administrator for Médecins Sans Frontières in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Morgan is a University of Toronto engineering graduate with a specialty in optics and has a life-long interest in solar power.
Upon his return to Canada, he embarked on a self-taught immersion into solar power and within months he began securing patents for his unique way of concentrating sunlight. Morgan had developed a special optic lens that catches incoming light and directs it in a concentrated form to a high-efficiency solar cell. The lens and accompanying system is so powerful that the energy efficiency rate is 25 per cent, almost double the industry standard of about 14 per cent.
“We are producing solar energy cheaper through vastly lower raw material costs, and the panels can be made through simple, automated processes at existing manufacturing facilities,” he said. Besides, the panels are fully recyclable after their 20-year lifespan.
