Clean Energy Patent Growth Index

Shine-On Solar Patents 2010 Results -CLEAN ENERGY PATENT GROWTH INDEX -

The Shine On Solar edition of the CLEAN ENERGY PATENT GROWTH INDEX (CEPGI), published by the Cleantech Group at Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C. provides an indication of the trend of innovative activity in the Solar energy sector. In 2010 Solar patents were second only to Fuel Cell patents in the Clean Energy area. Solar Photovoltaic patents spiked in 2010 to a record level of 339 (up 232 %) with third generation solar PV patents topping the other generations of PV technology. Applied Materials led the other Solar PV patent owners in 2010 over Sunpower and leaving behind overall PV leader Canon. Fu Zhun Precision Industry and Foxconn Technology Co., Ltd. led solar thermal patent owners. Solar thermal patents were granted to 23 other separate entities with only inventor Pitaya Yangpichit even receiving two and Wal-mart Stores being one of the 22 with one patent.

 (Downloadable Copy of This Post)

The Shine On Solar edition analyzes the solar sector and illustrates where patents are being granted within the solar arena. This edition of our Shine On Solar edition analyzes solar energy trends in general with an emphasis on solar patenting trends in 2010.

As depicted below, solar technology patents in 2010 built on big gains of the previous year to reach levels over twice that of 2009 and vastly out performed the other non-fuel cell sectors after hitting a record low in the third quarter of 2008.

(click the image for a larger version)

Solar patents in 2010 reached a level second only to Fuel Cell patents which had led the other sectors since the beginning of 2002. Solar patents reached and exceeded the level of wind patents in 2009 which had been in second place to fuel cell patents in the CEPGI since 2006 as per the trends in the quarterly components of the CEPGI below:

(click the image for a larger version)

As presented in our previous article (located here ) we have subdivided the solar patents uncovered into Solar thermal and Solar PV categories, along with a hybrid designation. Solar thermal is further divided into technologies directly using collected thermal energy and those that do so indirectly (e.g., for the generation of electricity).

Solar PV includes the following subsectors:

1. first generation (e.g.,silicon based) PV
2. second generation (e.g., thin film) PV
3. third generation (dye-sensitized, quantum dots, nano-modified, organic) PV
4. PV enhancement (e.g., multi-junction, CPV, anti-reflective coatings)
5. Enabling technologies (e.g., racking systems, power conversion, heat sinks, bypass diodes, sun tracking)
6. PV applications (e.g., use of PV technology in a product)

Solar hybrid systems may use both solar thermal and photovoltaic technologies, or one of these solar technologies combined with another type of generation process (wind, hydro, etc.).

Thermal vs. Photovoltaic

As depicted below on an annual basis, granted patents in photovoltaic technology increased dramatically to 339 from 146 in 2009 over the prior year after an increase of 90 in 2009 over 2008. Solar thermal patents were also up 14 patents after only a five patent increase the year before.

(click the image for a larger version)

According to the quarterly graph below, Solar PV patents jumped to 60 in the first quarter of 2010 and each quarter after that posted an even larger increase. The fourth quarter of 2010 at 10 patents was the biggest result for solar thermal since 11 in the first quarter of 2004. Comparing the solar energy patent graph (far above) as a whole to the quarterly solar thermal vs. solar PV graph (immediately below), the entire solar technology field closely follows the photovoltaic trends without much pull from the thermal technology trends.

(click the image for a larger version)

The Thermal Technologies

As depicted below, 2010 brought a record year for solar thermal direct technology patents with 14 patents, up 10 over 2009. In fact, the direct patents tied indirect patents in the fourth quarter and approached the number of indirect patents for the year which were at 16. Generally speaking, indirect solar technology (e.g., the conversion of thermal energy into mechanical or electrical energy) has consistently seen more patents and thus innovation than its direct counterpart.

(click the image for a larger version)

The solar thermal race in 2010 was won by Fu Zhun Precision Industry and Foxconn Technology of China with five solar thermal direct patents in solar air conditioning, vaulting to fourth place overall. Each of the remaining nine solar thermal direct patent grantees in 2010 had one patent each. Foreign entities outnumbered US entities 6 to 4. United Technologies and Walmart (for an air heating system) were the only household names. Other solar thermal patent owners (not mentioned above) for 2010 included:

• Diehl AKO Stiftung & Co. KG - Wangen, DE
• European Organization for Nuclear Research-CERN - Geneva, CH
• Polk, Steven - West Bloomfield, MI, US
• Queen's University at Kingston - Kingston, ON, CA
• SolFocus, Inc. -; Mountain View, CA, US
• Staschik, Udo - Winnipeg, MB, CA
• Christensen, Hans Jurgen - Hadsten, DK

The solar thermal indirect patent grantees were predominantly American with a ratio of 4 to 1. Pitaya Yangpichit of Bangkok was the leader with two solar thermal indirect patents while the remaining 14 patent grantees had one patent each in the solar thermal indirect area. United Techologies had one as did its corporate cousin, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, and Livermore National Lab. California was the big U.S. winner with 5 patents. The remaining unmentioned patent holders in this area for 2010 are listed below:

• Fujisato, Tetsuhiko; Miyao, Shunsuke - Yamaguchi, JP
• Tsao, Jason - Torrance, CA, US
• Primlani, Indru J. - Renton, WA, US
• Marshall, Robert A. - Georgetown, TX, US
• Markon Technologies, LLC - Los Alamitos, CA, US
• Lin, Wen Chang - Taipei, TW
• Le, John O.; Le, Christopher M.; Le, Thomas T. - Anaheim, CA, US
• Johnson, Robert Paul - Glendale, AZ, US
• Hansen Jr., Howard Otto - Orlando, FL, US
• Green, Timmy - Smyrna, TN, US
• Solar and Environmental Technologies Corporation - Staten Island, NY, US

If we look at totals since 2002, as depicted in the chart below, the top 10 patent owners in the Solar Thermal area is dominated by Boeing (14), which has patents directed to indirect solar thermal technologies including aspects of generating electricity via the heating of fluids and solar molten salt technologies. In second place Mario Rabinowitz holds 7 patents with 6 directed to indirect technologies. United Technologies tied for second with 7 patents in the indirect area relating to the heating of fluids via solar thermal to create electricity. Schott’s patents are divided two to one in favor of indirect technology. (The addition of one patent to Shott’s portfolio in 2010 put it in the top four, tied with The Sun Trust LLC.) Fu Zhun Precision Industry and Foxconn’s patent in 2010 moved it to a fourth place finish since 2002 as described above. In contrast to Solar PV, and many other clean energy technologies, the absolute number of solar thermal patents is low and the concentration in the top 10 patent holders is not very high relative to the total number (185) of patents in this area. Of the patents granted since 2002 in the solar thermal area, it is interesting that the top four solar thermal patent owners account for only 31 (or less than 17 percent) of the patents with the rest of solar thermal patent owners owning only 3 or fewer patents each.

(click the image for a larger version)

As will also be evident, the top holders of U.S. solar thermal patents are U.S. entities except for Fu Zhun Precision Industries, Norio Akamatsu, the holder of 2 patents, and Schott AG of Germany.

The Three Generations of Photovoltaic

 

As depicted in the graphs below, second generation technologies led the first and third in 2010 with 52 granted patents (up 34 over 2009) beating out third generation technologies which was the winner in 2009 with 25 patents. Third generation solar followed with 38 patents (up 13) with first generation technologies trailing behind at 26 patents (up 14) . All three generations of technology jumped significantly over 2009 and the first and second generations had particularly strong fourth quarters foretelling potential future gains.

(click the image for a larger version)

(click the image for a larger version)

(click the image for a larger version)

Additional PV Technology

As depicted below, granted patents for PV Enhancement technologies jumped 430 % to 69 up 53 patents in 2010 easily setting an annual record. Enabling PV technology topped all the other sectors at 119 granted patents in 2010, up 62 over 2009, also at a record high. Meanwhile the use of PV in applications jumped 17 patents in 2010 to 35 with 18 of those in the last quarter alone which was the highest quarter on record for PV applications by 11.

(click the image for a larger version)

(click the image for a larger version)

(click the image for a larger version)

As depicted below, Canon continues to lead the other solar PV patent owners since 2002 with over twice the number of patents held by Sharp, its closest competitor ,but was an also ran in 2010.

(click the image for a larger version)

Applied Materials as depicted below was first in PV in 2010 over Sunpower by three patents. Du Pont edged out Emcore by one for third place with eleven patents. Konarka and Sharp tied with nine for fifth place. Samsung had six solar PV patents and another tie existed in eighth place with Boeing, Sanyo and Solopower at six patents. Twin Creeks was in eleventh place at five PV patents. Forty five other entities had at least two solar PV patents in 2010 including Honda, Canon, Miasole, Mario Rabinowitz, GM, and GE.

(click the image for a larger version)

Relative to total granted solar PV patents since 2002, Canon has patents in almost all PV categories, led by enabling (61), second generation (19), and first generation (9) technology patents. Sharp spreads its patents out among various subcategories including enabling (16), first (6), second (8), third (7) and enhancement (5). Kanegafuchi (13), Boeing (9), and Sanyo (10) also include large numbers of patents in enabling technologies. Mario Rabinowitz has concentrated his efforts in solar enhancement technologies with 14 of such patents. Sunpower has concentrated on first generation PV technologies with 11 patents in this area. Emcore has 5 patents in PV enhancement and 6 in enabling technologies. Konarka has all its patents in third generation technologies. Samsung has 8 of its 10 patents in 1st and 3rd generation technologies. Nanosolar has 7 of 9 patents in third generation technologies. Outside the top 11 patent owners depicted above, BP has half its 8 patents in second generation technologies while GE has 5 of its 8 in third generation PV patents. Honda has its patents spread through the solar technologies with the most (3 of 10) in first generation technology. TDK has most of its 8 patents in second generation and enabling technologies.

Among the leaders in 2010, Applied materials’ patents last year ran the gamut of the different PV generations with 4, 5 and 1 patents in the first, second and third generations, respectively, along with five patents in PV enhancement and one in PV applications. Ironically, Applied materials didn’t have a granted patent in the largest PV subsector in 2010, i.e., enabling technologies. Sun Power’s patents also were spread among the subsectors excluding PV applications with three each in first generation, enhancement and enabling and two or less in the remaining subsectors. Dupont and Emcore had the largest individual total with seven patents each in PV enhancement. Dupont’s other patents were in spread among second generation, third generation (2), enabling and PV applications with all but third generation at one patent each. Emcore also had one patent in first generation technologies and two in enabling technologies. Sharp and Konarka tied at nine patents but got to that level in very different ways. Sharp was spread out among all the subsectors except PV applications with all but the second generation (at one) being at two patents. In contrast, Konarka had patents only in third generation (5), PV enhancement (2) and enabling (3) technologies. Samsung edged the remaining solar PV patent grantees in 2010 by one patent and was granted 3 patents in third generation and PV enhancement technologies, along with one patent in second generation, enabling and application technologies. Boeing, the overall solar thermal patent leader, tied Sanyo and Solopower at six PV patents. Solopower’s patents were all in second generation technologies while Boeing’s were mostly in PV enhancement (4) followed one patent each in first generation, enabling and application technologies. Sanyo had three in enhancement followed by two in second generation and a sole patent in application technologies.

Of the top 11 PV patent grantees for 2010, two are based in Japan and one in Korea while the rest are based in the U.S. However, as is evident from the totals chart, especially the showing by Canon and Sharp, Japanese patent holders dominate the top 11 in absolute numbers of patents since 2002.

 

Hybrid Systems

As depicted below, patents in hybrid technologies have hovered in very low numbers during the tracking period.

(click the image for a larger version)

The CEPGI is updated quarterly and is occasionally supplemented with related articles posted on www.cleanenergypatentgrowthindex.com or http://www.cepgi.com/ 

Please contact us at info@cleanenergypatentgrowthindex.com if you have any questions or would like us to email you when we have updated this the Shine On Solar Edition or the CEPGI.

 

CLEAN ENERGY PATENT GROWTH INDEX.COM 

Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C.

cleantechintellectualproperty.com

© 2011 Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CLEAN ENERGY PATENT GROWTH INDEX - Shine-On Solar Edition Fall 2010

The Shine On Solar edition of the CLEAN ENERGY PATENT GROWTH INDEX (CEPGI), published by the Cleantech Group at Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C. provides an indication of the trend of innovative activity in the Solar energy sector. Results from 2009 and early 2010 reveal Solar patents to be second only to Fuel Cell patents in the Clean Energy area. Solar Photovoltaic patents spiked in 2009 to a best showing since 2003 with third generation solar PV patents topping the other technologies. Samsung led the other Solar PV contenders during this period pushing aside overall PV leader Canon. Solar thermal patents were granted to 22 separate entities with none even receiving two and Wal-mart Stores being one of the 22.

( Downloadable copy of this post)

The Shine On Solar edition analyzes the solar sector and illustrates where patents are being granted within the solar arena. This edition of our Shine On Solar edition analyzes solar energy trends in general with an emphasis on solar patenting trends during 2009 and early 2010.

As depicted below, solar technology patents continued a dramatic rise in fits and starts through 2009 to reach a record high in the first quarter of 2010 after hitting a record low in the third quarter of 2008.

(click the image for a larger version)

Solar patents in the first quarter of 2010 reached a level second only to Fuel Cell patents which had led the other sectors since the beginning of 2002. Solar patents reached and exceeded the level of wind patents in 2009 which had been in second place to fuel cell patents in the CEPGI since 2006 as per the trends in the quarterly components of the CEPGI below:

(click the image for a larger version)

As presented in our previous article (located here) we have subdivided the solar patents uncovered into Solar thermal and Solar PV categories, along with a hybrid designation. Solar thermal is further divided into technologies directly using collected thermal energy and those that do so indirectly (e.g., for the generation of electricity).

Solar PV includes the following subsectors:
1 first generation (e.g.,silicon based) PV
2. second generation (e.g., thin film) PV
3. third generation (dye-sensitized, quantum dots, nano-modified, organic) PV
4. PV enhancement (e.g., multi-junction, CPV, anti-reflective coatings)
5. Enabling technologies (e.g., racking systems, power conversion, heat sinks, bypass diodes, sun tracking)
6. PV applications (e.g., use of PV technology in a product)

Solar hybrid systems may use both solar thermal and photovoltaic technologies, or one of these solar technologies combined with another type of generation process (wind, hydro, etc.)

Thermal vs. Photovoltaic

As depicted below on an annual basis, granted patents in photovoltaic technology increased dramatically to 146 up 60 in 2009 over the prior year after being relative flat for the previous four years. In contrast solar thermal patents stayed relatively constant up five relative to 2008.

(click the image for a larger version)

According to the quarterly graph below, Solar PV jumped 60 in the first quarter of 2010 alone while solar thermal reached almost half its total for the entire prior year reaching 7 solar thermal patents in the first quarter. Comparing the solar energy patent graph (far above) as a whole to the solar thermal vs. solar PV graph, the entire solar technology field closely follows the photovoltaic trends without much pull from the thermal technology trends.

(click the image for a larger version)

The Thermal Technologies

As depicted below, 2009 and the first quarter of 2010 brought a marked increase in solar thermal direct technology patents. In fact the direct patents even exceeded those of the indirect patents in the fourth quarter of last year for the first time since the second quarter of 2007. Generally speaking, indirect solar technology (e.g., the conversion of thermal energy into mechanical or electrical energy) has consistently seen more patents and thus innovation than its direct counterpart.

(click the image for a larger version)

In 2009 and early 2010 United Technologies and Mario Rabinowitz (scientist and CEO of Armor Research) each received a solar thermal indirect patent while Schott AG was granted a direct solar thermal patent. The rest of the granted solar thermal patents during this period were granted to 19 separate entities with each receiving one patent. None are household names with the notable exception of Wal-mart Stores (for a air heating system). Five of the 22 grantees during this period are non-U.S. based with the rest being located in California, Massachusetts, Florida, Connecticut, Michigan, Texas, Louisiana, and Washington.

Since 2002, as depicted in the chart below, the top 10 patent owners in the Solar Thermal area is dominated by Boeing (14), which has patents directed to indirect solar thermal technologies including aspects of generating electricity via the heating of fluids and solar molten salt technologies. In second place Mario Rabinowitz holds 7 patents with 6 directed to indirect technologies. United Technologies tied for second with 7 patents in the indirect area relating to the heating of fluids via solar thermal to create electricity. Schott’s patents are divided two to one in favor of indirect technology. The addition of one patent to Shott’s portfolio put it in the top four, tied with The Sun Trust LLC. In contrast to Solar PV, and many other clean energy technologies, the absolute number of solar thermal patents is low and the concentration in the top 10 patent holders is not very high relative to the total number (172) of patents in this area. Of the patents granted since 2002 in the solar thermal area, it is interesting that the top three solar thermal patent owners account for only 28 (or 16 percent) of the patents with the rest of solar thermal patent owners owning only 3 or less patents each.

(click the image for a larger version)

As will also be evident, the top holders of U.S. solar thermal patents are U.S. entities except for Norio Akamatsu, the holder of 2 patents, and Schott AG of Germany.

The Three Generations of Photovoltaic

As depicted in the graphs below, third generation technologies led the others in 2009 and early 2010 with 32 granted patents. Second generation solar followed with 25 patents with first generation technologies trailing behind at 16. Third and Second generation technologies are trending upwardly in the patent sense while first generation technologies appear to be headed downwardly after a highpoint in 2008.

(click the image for a larger version)

(click the image for a larger version)

(click the image for a larger version)

Additional PV Technology

As depicted below, granted patents for PV Enhancement technologies spiked considerably since 2009 and set a record in the first quarter of 2010. Enabling PV technology also was at a record high in the first quarter and in 2009 reached levels not seen since 2004. Meanwhile the use of PV in applications continued it gradual sinuous rise.

(click the image for a larger version)

(click the image for a larger version)

(click the image for a larger version)

As shown in the chart below, Canon is far and away the leader in Solar PV patents with over twice the number of patents held by Sharp, its closest competitor. However, over the last five months tracked the leader was Samsung with 5 patents followed by four entities tied for second place with 4 patents including Canon, Sharp, Emcore and Mario Rabinowitz. Other notables recently granted Solar PV patents include Sunpower (3), Boeing (2), Honda (2), Konarka (1) and Sanyo (1).

(click the image for a larger version)

Relative to total granted solar PV patents, Canon has patents in almost all PV categories, led by enabling (61), second generation (19), and first generation (9) technology patents. Sharp spreads its patents out among various subcategories including enabling (16), first (6), second (8), third (7) and enhancement (5). Kanegafuchi (13), Boeing (9), and Sanyo (10) also include large numbers of patents in enabling technologies. Mario Rabinowitz has concentrated his efforts in solar enhancement technologies with 14 (up 1 in 2009 and early 2010) of such patents. Sunpower has concentrated on first generation PV technologies with 11patents in this area, up 1 in 2009 and early 2010. Emcore has 5 patents in PV enhancement and 6 in enabling technologies. Konarka has all its patents (11, up 1 in 2009 and early 2010) in third generation technologies. Samsung has 8 of its 10 patents in 1st and 3rd generation technologies. Nanosolar has 7 of 9 patents in third generation technologies. Outside the top 11patent owners depicted above, BP has half its 8 patents in second generation technologies while GE has 5 of its 8 in third generation PV patents. Honda has its patents spread through the solar technologies with the most (3 of 10) in first generation technology. TDK has most of its 8 patents in second generation and enabling technologies.

Of the top 11 PV patent holders, 5 are based in Japan while the rest are based in the U.S. However, as is evident from the chart, Japanese patent holders dominate the top 11 in absolute numbers of patents. In fact, the top three patent holders, all from Japan, hold over 16 percent of all PV patents.

Hybrid Systems

As depicted below, patents in hybrid technologies have hovered in very low numbers during the tracking period.

(click the image for a larger version)

Please contact us at info@cleanenergypatentgrowthindex.com if you have any questions or would like us to email you when we have updated this page or the CEPGI.

Shine On Solar Patents.com

CLEAN ENERGY PATENT GROWTH INDEX.COM

Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C.

cleantechintellectualproperty.com

© 2010 Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C. 

CLEAN ENERGY PATENT GROWTH INDEX - Shine-On Solar Edition

In 2008, Clean Energy patents reached an all time annual high and the second quarter of 2009 was the biggest quarter so far for these patents according to the Clean Energy Patent Growth Index (CEPGI) as depicted quarterly in the first chart below.  The CEPGI provides an indication of the trend of innovative activity in the Clean Energy sector and is composed of several clean energy sectors including solar energy - which is the subject of this post. 

(Download Copy of This Post)

(click the image for a larger version)

As depicted below, solar technology patents have trended upwardly for the last four quarters and are beginning to regain ground lost since 2002, when tracking of the Clean Energy Patent Growth Index (CEPGI) began.

(click the image for a larger version)

Solar patents in the last quarter tracked approached the level of wind patents, which have been in second place to fuel cell patents in the CEPGI since 2006. Further, solar patents are poised to overtake wind patents in the coming year as per the trends in the quarterly components of the CEPGI below:

(click the image for a larger version)

The solar technology field includes a broad spectrum of technologies from small scale to utility scale and photovoltaic to solar thermal. A detailed analysis of the Solar technology portion of the CEPGI, and the technologies within it, provides a more precise depiction of solar patenting trends. The broadest categories in the solar energy field are photovoltaic technology and thermal solar technology. These categories may also be further divided into distinct subsets, which we have analyzed below.

SOLAR TECHNOLOGY

Solar “thermal energy” technology is defined exactly as one would expect, i.e., it is a way of harnessing the radiation received from the Sun to provide heat where it may be useful.  The Energy Information Administration (EIA), which produces official energy statistics for the U.S. government, classifies the collection of the sun’s radiation for thermal energy into three categories – low temperature (less than 110° F), medium temperature (less than 180° F), and high temperature (greater than 180° F).[1]  Typically low temperature collectors can be used for heating swimming pools or low-grade water and space heating, and medium temperature collectors can be used for domestic hot-water heating, solar cooling, or even solar cooking.  Both low and medium temperature collectors are typical examples of the “direct” use of the thermal energy to accomplish a desired task, and are often passive technologies – which involves little or no moving or active parts, and instead a thermal mass material is often utilized to store heat from the sun and release it as necessary.

High temperature collectors are more typically used to create electricity by operating generators (e.g., steam turned turbines). This is accomplished by concentrating solar radiation through the use of parabolic dishes and/or reflective mirrors to superheat water or often a type of molten salt. This is an “indirect” use of the sun’s radiation - as it first creates electricity, which then is used to perform a task.  Such use of solar radiation is defined herein as a type of “indirect” thermal technology, which refers to the conversion of thermal energy into mechanical energy (e.g., rotating a turbine), instead of the direct use of solar radiation as discussed above.  High temperature solar thermal is generally the solar technology used for large-scale electricity generation as it has much higher conversion efficiency than Photovoltaic technology (see below) (near 41%).[2] 

Thus, for the purpose of tracking technology trends, solar thermal technologies are divided into direct solar thermal and indirect solar thermal.

Photovoltaic (PV) systems use solar radiation to create electricity directly, and is performed through the use of semi-conductors.  They are often referred to as solar cells, and complete solar cell modules are described as solar panels.  PV systems are generally used on a smaller scale, such as rooftops of homes and businesses, and typically has an efficiency of between 5 and 15%.[3]  Concentrating PV systems are of course an exception to this generality.

PV technology can generally be classified into three generations.[4]  These generations are utilized to track the PV patents as further described below.  The first generation is based on crystalline semiconductors, largely silicon wafers.[5]  Improvements continue to be made in this area though the widespread adoption of this technology has been constrained until recently  by price and availability of raw silicon.[6]  The second generation consists of thin film technology.[7]  Thin film is usually processed from amorphous silicon, cadmium telluride, or copper indium gallium di-selenide (CIGS) and has gained popularity because it requires less semiconductor material than the first generation.[8]  Though more economical to provide, second generation PV (i.e., thin film) generally has a lower efficiency than that of the first generation.[9]  The third generation includes newer more experimental technologies that are further from the market[10] than the first and second generations.   Technologies such as dye-sensitized solar cells, quantum dots, nano-modified materials, and organic cells fall into this category.

In addition to the three generations of PV technology, a further Solar PV subcategory is defined as PV enhancement which spans the photovoltaic generations and is directed at the technological improvement of the efficiency of PV cells. Examples include technologies such as multi-junction cells (mjc), concentrated PV (cpv), and anti-reflective coatings.

Enabling technologies is defined as the innovations that must necessarily come with improved PV, but don’t directly impact the working of the PV cell. Such technologies include power conversion technologies, heat sinks, protective layering, roofing and panel connection components, bypass diodes, sun tracking devices, and other such technologies.

PV applications refer to the use of PV technology in an invention without actual innovation relative to PV. Common examples include technologies that use PV as a power supply for its operation – such as a solar car, an electrolysis process or a solar-pumped device.

Finally, solar hybrid systems may use both solar thermal and photovoltaic technologies, or one of these solar technologies combined with another type of generation process (wind, hydro, etc.).

Although rare, there are certain instances in the following analysis where a patent is classified and counted in more than one category. For example, sun concentrators are sometimes directed at both concentrated PV (under PV enhancement) and solar thermal energy generation (under indirect solar thermal). In addition, hybrid systems by their very definition involve technologies that can be put into one or more category. As such, the hybrid patents are simultaneously placed in the multiple categories. Because the hybrids are properly tracked in their corresponding categories, the hybrid systems category is not included as a subset of the larger photovoltaic or thermal group, but stands alone.

Thermal vs. Photovoltaic

As depicted below on an annual basis, granted patents in photovoltaic technology dropped sharply from 2002-2005 before flattening out and rising slightly, and jumping significantly in the most recent four quarters. The number of granted U.S. patents on the thermal technology side of solar energy increased slightly from 2002 to 2005 before slowly declining.

(click the image for a larger version)

As the graph by quarters show, however, thermal technology in general has been much less volatile than its photovoltaic counterpart and accounts for a much smaller percentage of solar technology innovation. In fact, the plot of the entire solar technology field appears to closely follow the photovoltaic trends without much pull from the thermal technology trends.

(click the image for a larger version)

The Thermal Technologies

As depicted below, quarterly indirect thermal patents outpaced direct thermal patents in all years tracked but one. Both the direct and the indirect thermal technologies have declined in the past four to five years. Generally speaking, indirect solar technology (e.g., the conversion of thermal energy into mechanical or electrical energy)  has consistently seen more patents and thus innovation than its direct counterpart.

(click the image for a larger version)

As depicted in the chart below, the top 10 patent owners in the Solar Thermal area since 2002 is dominated by Boeing (14), which has patents directed to indirect solar thermal technologies including  aspects of generating electricity via the heating of fluids and solar molten salt technologies. In second place Mario Rabinowitz ( a scientist and CEO of Armor Research) holds 8 patents with 7 directed to indirect technologies.  United Technologies comes in third with 6 patents in the indirect area relating to the heating of fluids via solar thermal to create electricity.  Of the 160 patents granted since 2002 in the solar thermal area, it is interesting that the top three solar thermal patent owners account for only 28 (or 17 percent) of the patents with the rest of solar thermal patent owners owning only 2 or less patents each.

(click the image for a larger version)

As will also be evident, the top holders of U.S. solar thermal patents are all U.S. entities except for Norio Akamatsu, the holder of 2 patents.

The Three Generations of Photovoltaic

As depicted below, the newer technologies did not lead the increases in PV technology. Instead, the first generation PV technology, after steep decline for four years running, began just as steep a rise in 2006. In fact, the first generation PV technology is the only technology whose most recent numbers exceed its 2002 starting point – meaning that innovation in this area is almost single handedly responsible for the leveling off of the solar energy patenting decline.  The first generation solar technology is widely considered to have the theoretical best efficiency.  Moreover, more innovators have entered the field, and the cost of silicon has decreased (with some dramatic price drops as of late).  See Ben Bahavar, Perspectives on Photovoltaics: As Technologies Develop, Costs Decrease While Efficiency Increases, June 2008; see also Rick Hodgin, Cost of Solar-grade Poly-silicon Ingots Decreasing Rapidly, Apr. 15, 2009.

(click the image for a larger version)

The second generation, or thin film technologies, on the other hand has shown a fairly consistent decline through almost the entire period of our tracking. However, the most recent quarters show that the decline may be leveling off.

(click the image for a larger version)

The third generation technology made substantial gains through most of the tracked period and matched the quarterly record total in the 3^rd quarter of 2009.  All in all, more patents have been granted on second generation technologies at 129 than the first (78) or third (86) during the tracking period.

(click the image for a larger version)

Additional PV Technology

As depicted below, PV Enhancement has maintained a steady reduction in innovation over the past seven years.  In contrast, both enabling PV technology and the use of PV in applications have been on the rise as of late.

(click the image for a larger version)

(click the image for a larger version)

(click the image for a larger version)

As shown in the chart below, Canon is far and away the leader in Solar PV patents with over 2.5 times the number of patents held by Sharp, its closest competitor.  Canon has patents in almost all PV categories, led by enabling (60), second generation (19), and first generation (9) technology patents.  Sharp spreads its patents out among various subcategories including enabling (15), first (4), second (8), third (5) and enhancement (5).   Kanegafuchi (13), Boeing (9), and Sanyo (10) also include large numbers of patents in enabling technologies.  Mario Rabinowitz has concentrated his efforts in solar enhancement technologies with 13 of such patents.   Sunpower has concentrated on first generation PV technologies with 10 patents in this area.  Emcore has 4 patents in PV enhancement and 5 in enabling technologies.  Konarka has all its patents in third generation technologies.  TDK has most of its patents in second generation and enabling technologies.  BP has a predominance of its patents in second generation technologies while GE has a majority in third generation PV patents.  Honda has several patents in first and second generation technologies.

(click the image for a larger version)

Of the top 15 PV patent holders, 7 are based in Japan while the rest are based in the U.S.  However, as is evident from the chart, Japanese patent holders dominate the top 15 in absolute numbers of patents.   In fact, the top three patent holders, all from Japan, hold over 17 percent of all PV patents.

Hybrid Systems

As depicted below, patents in hybrid technologies have hovered in very low numbers during the tracking period.

(click the image for a larger version)

Please contact us at info@cleanenergypatentgrowthindex.com if you have any questions or would like us to email you when we have updated this page or the CEPGI.

CLEAN ENERGY PATENT GROWTH INDEX.COM

Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C.

cleantechintellectualproperty.com

© 2009 Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C. 

---

[1] Energy Information Administration, Solar Thermal Manufacturing Activities, www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/solar.renewables/page/solarreport/solar.html. 

[2] Charles W. Forsberg et al., High-Temperature Liquid-Fluoride-Salt Closed-Brayton-Cycle Solar Power Towers, 129 J. Solar Energy Engineering 141, 145 (2007). 

[3] The Renewable Energy Website, How Do PV Solar Panels Work, Jan. 10 2009 http://www.reuk.co.uk/print.php?article=How-Do-PV-Solar-Panels-Work.htm. 

[4] Nathan Furr & Travis Bradford, PV Innovation in North America, Greentech Media Inc. & the Prometheus Institute (Nov. 2008). 

[5] Id. at 13. 

[6] Id. 

[7] Id. at 14. 

[8] Id. 

[9] Id. 

[10] Id.