Printable, Rollable Solar Panels Could Go Anywhere

Al writes "A startup based in Toledo, Ohio, has developed a way to make large, flexible solar panels using a roll-to-roll manufacturing technique. Thin-film amorphous silicon solar cells are formed on thin sheets of stainless steel, and each solar module is about one meter wide and five-and-a-half meters long. Conventional silicon solar panels are bulky and rigid, but these lightweight, flexible sheets could easily be integrated into roofs and building facades."

Imagine that

[tyrione]

Isn't it amazing how all of these advancements show up when given a little push?

Will we actually be able to buy these?

[drinkypoo]

We all heard about how great Nanosolar is, but it's not actually possible to buy any. Will this stuff be any different?

How much will it cost?

[wjwlsn]

This sounds like a great idea, but it probably isn't the breakthrough that the summary might otherwise suggest. The efficiency of the resulting solar panels, even with triple-junction cells, is still only 8% at most (as stated in the article). At that level of efficiency, the manufacturing process will have to be very inexpensive for these to make sense for the average consumer.

Re:How much will it cost?

[Karganeth]

It'll have to be around 40% of the cost of a standard solar cell (since many are around 20% efficient). It doesn't seem much when you consider that these solar panels are extremely thin. The amount of materials needed to create them will be very small and these solar panels are printable. If only they showed us a price we'd know if they were the future or not.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Will we actually be able to buy these?

[Jeremi]

The quality of their business plan is completely irrelevant to my reaction to my inability to purchase their product.

Also, your reaction to your inability to purchase their product is completely irrelevant to the quality of their business plan.

Re:Safety

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, it's by far the most dangerous. It is completely unshielded, and its ionizing radiation is responsible for thousands of cancer deaths each year.

Sigh, another technology that will make it someday

[barfy]

Where are the Stanford 10x Li-ion batteries???

http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2008/january9/nanowire-010908.html [stanford.edu]

This ALONE will change everything. From an All day Iphone and netbook. To a Chevy Volt that costs 1/2 as much.

WHERE IS IT?

Re:Slowly becoming cost-effective

[fractoid]

It's because of scale. A decent photovoltaic set can power your house and, combined with a battery bank, make you completely independent from the grid. A solar fired steam plant with a molten salt heat reservoir is only really practical at large (multi-megawatt and up) scales. The other problem with using it in a desert is that you need a good cold source to run an efficient steam turbine, which is why power plants (regardless of source) are generally built near bodies of water. You can get past that with cooling towers etc. but it's probably still a factor.

Overall, though, I agree - solar fired steam is as close to perfect as you can get for a solar power plant. The problem is that greenies want solar panels on their roof to *prove* they're doing something. Damn preachy greenies.

Re:Safety

[Jeremi]

Actually, it's by far the most dangerous. It is completely unshielded, and its ionizing radiation is responsible for thousands of cancer deaths each year.

Of course, there is the small detail of it being equally dangerous whether you harvest the power, or not. So we might as well....

Re:Options and Choices. Good signs.

[jeffb (2.718)]

( Next item we need to add to the list of critically needed tech. Water purification and desalination that can be applied in the residential markets. Imagine how much land would open up for crops, settlement, and carbon sinking if we just had cheap and easy to deploy water desalination. )

You live in California, don't you?

I can say with some confidence that my residential area, well over 100 miles from the nearest ocean, is not in any sense bottlenecked on water desalination capacity.

Re:Imagine that

[feepness]

Isn't it amazing how all of these advancements show up when given a little push?

It really is amazing how they founded a company, got a grant, looked into an area of research, and made a breakthrough all in less than three months.

I gotta hand it to the administration. I used to think government was inefficient. Now I know better.

Re:Imagine that

[Rei]

Second, quite frankly, the technique means crap, because they are inefficient, cheap panels, which makes no sense unless you have a huge roof.

1. There's no shortage of unused roof space in the world right now. What matters is cost per watt. Make it cheap enough, and it'll be installed everywhere.

2. Home-scale inverters would be a heck of a lot cheaper if their volume went up 1,000-fold. And that's what'd happen if solar panels that were easy to install on new (or especially existing) homes could be made cheaply enough.

3. Solar panels aren't only used on roofs. I actually have a flexible solar panel. It's only 12V/5W -- not exactly a roof-scale installation. I use it for backpacking. I wired it up to a car lighter socket->USB converter, and when it's sunny, I can charge AAs and AAAs (two at a time, in a couple hours), a cell phone, or run other USB accessories.

Re:Safety

[mcvos]

If that dangerous radiation hadn't been there at all, nobody would ever have died from anything.

Re:Safety

[mcvos]

ummmm, I'm sure the magnetosphere shields us from the suns radiation.

Imperfectly though. Otherwise the sky would be dark during the day.