Nanosolar

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DWrath
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Nanosolar

Came across this company in Popular Science. They won the Popular Science 2007 top innovation of the year. What makes their solar equipment so innovative is that it can be produced very inexpensively, on a large scale, and installed more easily.
Perhaps this could be the answer to replacing our reliance on coal powered plants; or at least a partial solution? www.nanosolar.com

LinkOfHyrule
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Re: Nanosolar

Cool. I've looked at the thin film panels before, but they're so expensive. If this stuff is so cheap, I'm gonna buy a bunch when it becomes available. I love solar panels. Fun things.

Project one: Make a shirt out of it. 8).

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deronmoped
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Re: Nanosolar

Wow, I read all about it the other day, they are just now up and running.

They can produce the panels for 30 cents a watt. The stuff is just printed on! Supposed to be close to 20% efficient. If this pans out, expect to see photovoltaic on pretty much everything. Cats, dogs, you name it, it's going to have a Photovoltaic panel on it. I'm going to roof my whole house with them :)

Deron.

LinkOfHyrule
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Re: Nanosolar

Dude, 30 cents a watt? Srsly? Awesome! 100 watt panels for $30! Oh, that shirt will become a reality yet, my friend :D.

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wanders
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Re: Nanosolar

The numbers I've seen for Nanosolar (and similar technologies such as Heliovolt) predict $1/watt from the factory to the distributor, and $2/watt installed. Maybe it gets to 30ยข/watt over time, when the technology is mature and competition drives it down.

IMO, the most compelling thing regarding this technology is that it applies the solution (i.e. electricity) at the place and time that it is most needed (i.e. residential sites in warm climates who need to run air conditioning). The naysayers complain that solar panels don't work at night (Yup! Those folks are correct!) but the reality is that the demand for electricity at night is much lower as well. This ignores the need to recharge your EV at night, but it does address a huge power sink.

Willie

deronmoped
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Re: Nanosolar

Guys 30 cents a watt is what they can make them for. What they sell them for is another thing, but the low cost of making them gives you a idea of how low they might be able to go in selling them to their customers. Buy a hundred thousand of them and you may get them for fifty to seventy five cents a watt.

Deron.

astar
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Re: Nanosolar

Another company with similar technology is AVA Solar, which just happens to be located in the town where I live: Fort Collins, Colo. I think they are behind Nano Solar in terms of their time line; large scale production in 2009.

http://www.avasolar.com/

Both companies are priviate, so you can't buy stock in them. :(

ZEV 7100 Alpine
Fort Collins, CO

deronmoped
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Re: Nanosolar

Anyone have a guess on how long this will take to trickle down to us average Joe's? If they are selling these Photovoltaic panels real cheap, there will be a huge demand for them all over the world. It could be a very, very long time to get up to speed.

It sounds like what they are doing right now is trying to keep the process under wraps, so they do not get ripped off by some manufacture in some other country.

Deron.

reikiman
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Re: Nanosolar

It would depend on when these companies get to large scale production. A few months ago I read an article claiming the price for photovoltaics would go up first before it goes down, because the greater availability is expected to cause a rise in demand until production levels reach production levels get high enough to meet the demand.

Yesterday I read up on this: Suniva, a solar photovoltaic maker, readies for production with $50M

They (Suniva) have a design which will cost $1/watt, when their production level rises high enough. They just got funding letting them build their plant, and in 2009 will be running and have a capacity for building 25 megawatts of capacity per year.

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