By ReutersInformationWeek
Alternative energy such as solar power is hot in Silicon
Valley, where funding for new ideas is available and technology
companies are finding their products adaptable to the new
market.
So far National Semiconductor has no solar business. But
Chief Executive Brian Halla told the Reuters Global Technology,
Media and Telecoms Summit in New York that he dreamed of solar
accounting for a quarter of the company's revenue.
"Oh I certainly hope so," he said, when asked if such a
percentage of revenue from solar was possible. "That would be a
fantasy fulfilled of mine, but I'd like to see that in the next
couple of years. We made a major bet on it and I think we've
got some winning technology."
Halla cautioned that the technology, dubbed "Solar Magic"
was just beginning field trials and was six months away from
certification. "We'll see what kind of a response we get," he
said.
Halla declined to give many details of the project, which
National Semiconductor expects to announce with field test
partners in a couple of weeks.
But he said that the key was to use microchip technology to
increase efficiency of solar panels by about 10%.
"It will make existing panel technology much more
efficient. It will solve for shade," he said, explaining that
arrays of solar panels can be affected by relatively minor
amounts of shade. "When one of the panels goes bad, the entire
strip goes bad," he said.
The technology could be ready for sale after certification,
Halla said.
"In six months you should be able to put an array up there
that can continue to give good power even in shade or a
rainstorm, or even if a flock of birds fly over and hit the
same panel all at once," he said.
(For summit blog: http://summitnotebook.reuters/)
(For more on the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms
Summits see [ID:nL1919425]
(Reporting by Peter Henderson and Sinead Carew, editing by
Carol Bishopric)
(peter.henderson@thomsonreuters, +1 213 380 2014)
Copyright 2008 Reuters. Click for Restrictions
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