According to the MIT-owned company, members of the TR50 list are nominated by Technology Review publication editors, who look for companies that over the last year have demonstrated original and valuable technology, are bringing that technology to market at a significant scale and are clearly influencing their competitors. Spanning energy, computing, the Web, biomedicine, and materials, the companies on the list, according to Technology Review, represent commercial innovations most likely to change lives around the world.
This year sees six clean energy firms being recognised in the energy segment, sweeping aside competition from many major conventional energy players. Indeed, clean energy firms were in the majority in this segment of ten firms.
The clean energy firms recognised by Technology Review for their innovations included three solar photovoltaic companies: Suntech, First Solar and Alta Devices.
Suntech was recpgnised for having developed a low-cost way of making better silicon solar cells. Its new panels are more efficient because they reflect less light and use thinner electrodes that block less light.
“Suntech shows why mastering manufacturing is crucial in getting energy technologies to scale,” said Jason Pontin, Editor in Chief and Publisher of Technology Review. “It is driving down the cost of solar cells and improving their efficiency”.
Suntech founder and CEO Dr. Zhengrong Shi said the company was honoured to be recognized by MIT Technology Review: "Suntech will continue to invest heavily in advanced photovoltaic research, and, more importantly, in bringing that technology to the market. All of our efforts are focused on one thing: making solar electricity affordable for everyone, everywhere".
First Solar was also praised for reducing the cost of utility-scale photovoltaic installations, through the vertical integration of everything from plant construction to the manufacture of high-efficiency cadmium telluride cells.
In January of this year, First Solar set a new world record for cadmium-telluride solar module efficiency in January, achieving 14.4 percent total area efficiency. The US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Lab confirmed the record, which eclipsed the prior record of 13.4 percent, which also was set by First Solar.
Alta Devices was also acknowledged for its high-efficiency gallium arsenide–based solar cells provide a way to lower the cost of solar power. Technology Review said Alta Devices “can economically produce robust cells that use only small amounts of the expensive semiconductor”.
Alta Devices' most recent solar panel has been verified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at 23.5% efficiency. According to Christopher Norris, Alta President and CEO: “Our goal is to optimize the production economics of solar so that it is competitive with fossil fuels without subsidies, leading to broad adoption of solar generated electricity.”
Other clean energy companies included in the TR50 list include the Chinese company, Goldwind Science and Technology for optimizing wind farms for conditions in China by specially adapted turbines for the high altitudes and low wind speeds that characterize Chinese wind resources.
Goldwind Science and Technology, one of the largest wind turbine manufacturers in China, plans to mass produce 6 MW offshore wind turbines by 2014. It assembled several of the 6 MW offshore wind turbines last year and plans to put at least one into operation in the first half of 2012.
The last two ceal energy firms recognised by Technology Review were Sakti3, which manufacturers high-energy batteries, which will first appear in consumer devices but could make electric cars cheaper and improve their range, and LanzaTech for turning carbon monoxide into ethanol .
The LanzaTech Process can convert carbon monoxide containing gases produced by industries such as steel manufacturing, oil refining and chemical production, as well as gases generated by gasification of forestry and agricultural residues, municipal waste, and coal into valuable fuel and chemical products including ethanol. The LanzaTech process provides a route from waste gases and solids to valuable fuel and chemical products, reusing carbon along the way to minimize environmental impact.
Apart from Alta Devices, the other clean energy companies also featured in the previous year’s TR50 list, proving their on-going commitment to innovation.
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