----- Original Message ---- From: Michel Jullian > "9 to 10% efficiency for Nanosolar's current production (they target 15% > ultimately). Installed cost of 1MW German plant panels $3/W"
... Well, they will tell you almost anything when, as this Company president was telling potential investors, it needs to raise $100 million in private equity ... ... and in a field which is already over-crowded; and in which the raw materials issues (indium? gallium?) have not been solved; and which raw materials problems are conspicuously absent from mention .... ... like Cervantes, I smell another rat - of the 'promise them anything' variety, especially since: In 2003, the price of indium was less than $100 per kg. which is not cheap (and you will see a price in that range mentioned by some of these high-flying thin-film companies trying to lure investors). Lately, the surge in demand for indium due to LCD computer and TV screens, has resulted in a price which broke through the $1,000/kg level and is still on the rise. There is only a limited supply. IOW - demand for indium will continue to increase if thin film solar technology gets into production. The best solution for using solar is probably algae (aquaculture). Billions of years of evolution has taught those little buggers a thing or two about converting sunlight into storable energy efficiently. The next best solution may involve titania - TiO2 - which is a common ceramic produced in largequantities, which is a factor of well over 100 times cheaper than indium will ever be. Itis used as the white pigment in house paint, for instance. Anyway, perhaps a decent solution for using "thin film" or printed solar cells would involve the following implementation of the *cheaper semiconductor* approach, which is the cell being immersed in water, and with the advantage of a storable form of energy, like H2. http://www.news.com/8301-11128_3-9894373-54.html?tag=nefd.top : ... if nothing else, it takes a lot less money to develop this technology. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2008/01/solar-hydrogen.html http://www.nanoptek.com/ I really hate to see good money from conscientious investors being poured into this kind of dead-end technology, which can be made to look pretty in a slide-show, but when far better solutions for that capital exist now.
