Applications
Parking Lots
The patent-pending second generation Taka panel suspends the solar tubes from two cables, like a suspension bridge. This allows us to span large open areas with a lightweight support structure, particularly over parking lots where you cannot have posts where cars need to drive. This breakthrough in what a solar panel can be will open up vast markets around the world. Just the open parking lots in the US could host 1,600 GW of Taka panels!
Agricultural
Taka's solar tube architecture has been proven at UC Davis to work with many kinds of plants. Unlike flat panels which cast large shadows that can reduce plant growth, the even illumination below Taka panels actually boosts yields. We will soon be doing pilot tests at a vineyard and a nursery for tree saplings to quantify the benefits while producing zero-carbon electricity. There are a million acres of grapes in the US, capable of hosting over 200 GW of solar.
Floating
The patent-pending third generation Taka panel will use larger diameter tubes that float. This is exactly the same idea as the glass floats that fishermen have used to suspend nets for generations, but updated to create power in the 21st century. Panels simply unroll from a truck directly into the water. With no mounting structure needed at all, these will provide the cheapest electricity available to humanity.