Challenge issued to lead solar and battery research

By Associate Professor Allan Blackman

This article was orignally published in the Otago Daily Times on Tuesday 6 February 2007.

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The biggest local news story in the final months of 2006 was undoubtedly the proposed wind farms in inland Otago.

There is no doubt New Zealand needs to investigate new forms of electricity production, given that our hydro dams are at the mercy of the all-too-often fickle weather, our coal-fired power stations contribute to CO₂ emissions, and there’s no way on God’s green earth we’ll ever have nuclear power stations. And yet, the suggestion of wind farms has elicited a huge negative response. (One wonders whether the Dutch got so upset when they started dotting windmills around the Netherlands in the 14th century.) However, the alternative means of electricity generation that has been overlooked by nearly all but the Green Party is solar power.

Back when I was a lad, solar power was advocated pretty much only by the unshaven few who made up the Values Party (the precursors of the Greens, for those of you under 40). And it seems little has changed over the intervening years — I doubt the Government would have recently announced it will spend $15 million over the next three and a-half years to increase the use of solar water heating were it not dependent on the Greens in parliament. At present, solar power is only a marginally viable energy option, because the silicon based solar cells in common use are at best only about 10% to 15% efficient in converting solar energy into electrical energy. In order for solar power to become a real energy option, new, more efficient materials are required. These new materials will be discovered and developed by chemists, and there is no reason why New Zealand can’t be a world leader in this field.

If we can successfully harness solar power, we also need to give thought to the means by which we can store the generated electricity so it can be used at a convenient time — in other words, batteries. New Zealanders are already involved in worldleading research into battery technology, and it is certain smaller, more efficient and longer-lasting batteries will result from this research. The Prime Minister, in her address to the Labour Party annual conference last October, said, with respect to energy and sustainability matters, “I believe it’s time to be bold in this area. Why shouldn’t New Zealand aim to be the first country which is truly sustainable — not by sacrificing our living standards, but by being smart and determined?”. I couldn’t agree more. So I would like to start 2007 by challenging the Prime Minister to live up to her words. Let’s indeed be bold in the area of electricity generation and storage. Let’s sink some serious money into solar energy and battery research. The facilities in our Crown research institutes and universities rank with any in the world. Let’s fill these laboratories with a veritable army of post-doctoral fellows and PhD students working on this problem. Let’s hire the best people to direct this research, be they Kiwis or foreigners, equip them properly and set them to work. Because one thing is absolutely certain — one day, and probably in the not-too-distant future, someone will discover a material which will make solar electricity generation practical; in so doing, they will change the world. And wouldn’t it be great if they made that discovery here in Godzone?