SunPower co-founder Dick Swanson discusses his pioneering work developing Interdigitated Back Contact solar cells at Stanford and the industry's evolution from the 1973 energy crisis to today's cost-competitive technology. Topics include Bell Labs' accidental solar cell discovery, the learning curve predicting cost declines, critical partnerships with Cypress Semiconductor, major technical pivots from concentrating to flat-plate systems, and the fortuitous circumstances that transformed solar energy into the world's cheapest electricity source.

 

Topics Covered

NorCal Solar = Northern California Solar

ASES = American Solar Energy Society

Gerald Pearson

History of Solar

Discovery of Solar

Bell Labs

John Perlin

Selenium Solar Cell

EPRI = Electric Power Research Institute

Utility

SunPower www.sunpower.com

TPV = Thermal Photovoltaic

Stanford

Silicon Cell

Semiconductor

Dick Schwartz

Thin Film

Wafer Silicon Solar Cell

IBC Cell = Interdigitated Back Contact Cell

Germanium

PVT = Photovoltaic Thermal

Stirling Engine

Concentrating PV System

Swanson’s Law

Learning Curve

Elon Musk

Cypress Semiconductor

Sharp

Silicon Valley

James Gibbons

Semiconductor Electronics Book

Jeff Spies

Solar Roots

Hippies

Grateful Dead

Sailboat

Tom Wylie

 

Reach out to Dick Swanson here:

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/dick-swanson

Website: www.sunpower.com

 

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www.heatspring.com/sean

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