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.
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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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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