Traditional solar cell technology of silicon is limited by it's high cost up front due to silicons manufacturing process. It takes a lot of energy and time to produce the wafers for solar cells.
A couple of inventive companies have developed some unique solutions to solve the high cost silicon issue.
One company doesn't use silicon at all.
Konarka Power Plastic
At the heart of Konarka’s technology is a photo-reactive polymer material invented by Konarka co-founder and Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Alan Heeger. This proprietary material can be printed or coated inexpensively onto flexible substrates using roll-to-roll manufacturing, similar to the way newspaper is printed on large rolls of paper. The resulting Power Plastic can then be manufactured into a wide range of end-use products.
Konarka states the current price at about $1 per watt and with large scale manufacturing bringing the price down to about $.10 per watt.
Konarka, unfortunately, doesn't make any retail products, they just manufacture the material.
This second company still uses silicon, but a lot less of it and still producing the same power as a traditional solar panel. They use a Holographic prism to move light to the silicon cells. Check out the picture at the site.
Prism Solar
Prism Solar’s Generation II Dual Aperture HPC solar modules generate the same energy as conventional solar panels but with 50-75% less silicon, for highly efficient, economically attractive solar collection.
Prism's DA-HPC modules are based on crystalline, bi-facial PV cells. Between the cells HPC Film strips diffract and guide direct, diffuse and reflected energy to the cells.
HPC Film collects light over a wide range of incident angles, concentrating energy on the cells to keep them near peak efficiency through the day and season. This ability enables HPC modules to operate efficiently in a range of applications including flat and sloped roof installations, vertical walls and window mountings, and large scale arrays.
Prism Solar states the current cost at about $1 per watt.
Truly great ideas from both companies.
SnickersFS
