Nanosolar now has their $1 per 1W cells in production. Their first eighteen months of output is already spoken for.

They have made the advances through manufacturing process improvements rather than solar technology itself. Nothing wrong with that. Through microprocessors our cars have become more efficient and safer. Most of the advances in batteries in the last decades have been because of improvements in manufacturing rather than chemical technology.

Nanosolar is going after the MegaWatt market so you won't see these cells on your roof next year. There is a lot of money in installation and integration of UPS systems into datacentres. The Engineering for it is huge. I suspect this is true for the installation and integration of power systems as well.

As a friend commented:

So not this xmas, nor next, but someday... the solar pup-tent, for that off-the-grid hippy on your gift list

When we can make a decentralised grid where the urban apartment and suburban home become the main sources of production for energy then we will see some amazing innovation in social organisation as the centralised and capital intensive energy structures are deprecated.

Cam Riley: South Sea Republic. Freedom, liberty, equity and an Australian Republic.

Comments
  • adam . # . 1/1
    Never heard of these guys before but there is some serious private capital behind them.

    June 2006: Nanosolar secures $100,000,000 from a global group of top investors

    http://www.nanosolar.com/history.htm

    Wonder what this means for their competitors like Dyesol ...