Breakthrough in Solar Power Nanotech?

For years, the price of solar energy has been so high that, without some form of subsidy, it has been unable to compete with power from the electrical grid. Now Nanosolar, a Palo Alto, California, start-up claims it has developed a "commercial-scale technology" that cuts the cost of delivering solar power by 75 percent and makes it competitive with juice generated by fossil fuels.

According to a report in The Hindu, a national newspaper in India, Nanosolar maintains that its technology can deliver solar electricity at five cents a kilowatt-hour (kWh). That compares to today's solar industry average of about 20 cents per kWh, according to Atakan Ozbek, director of energy research at ABI Research in Oyster Bay, New York.

A Spectacular 'If'

The average cost of electricity off the grid varies widely but on average is around 10 cents per kWh, noted Tom Djokovich, CEO of XsunX, of Aliso Viejo, California, a maker of glass that produces electricity from sunlight. "If they [Nanosolar] can come in there at 50 percent of that, that's obviously spectacular," he told TechNewsWorld.

"But if they're using math in which they're amortizing the cost per kilowatt hour over some extended period of time, just about anyone could come up with something that can be viewed as attractive," he added.

When TechNewsWorld requested by e-mail an interview with Nanosolar CEO Martin Roscheisen, the executive responded, "We will keep you posted regarding upcoming announcements and our official launch ... at which time we'll be happy to send you detailed information."

Roscheisen added in another message that the "official launch" of his company's product would occur in "two weeks."

Sounds Fishy

"This is somehow fishy, isn't it?" said Nabil M. Lawandy, president, chief executive officer, chief technology officer and chairman of the board of directors of Solaris Nanosciences Corporation in Providence, Rhode Island.

"Instead of letting the Wall Street Journal know or publishing it in Science or Nature or Physical Review Letter or something like that we're hearing about it through The Hindu," he told TechNewsWorld.

Solaris is developing molecule-sized antennas to improve the efficiency of solar cells used to produce electricity. It is working closely with a company, Konarka Technologies, of Lowell, Massachusetts, that some see as a major competitor of Nanosolar.

Doesn't Make Sense

"I don't believe their claims," an executive at one solar energy company, who asked to remain anonymous, told TechNewsWorld. "It doesn't make sense what they're saying."

"It's certainly possible at some point in the distant future," the executive added. "People announce breakthroughs that they've made in the laboratory, and they project costs, but they haven't made any commercial product and that's very difficult to do."

Rona Fried, editor and publisher of the Progressive Investor newsletter , which recently released a report on the solar energy industry, "Investing in Solar Photovoltaics: A Market at the Tipping Point," told TechNewsWorld that Nanosolar isn't expected to have a commercial product available until 2007 at the earliest.

Hot Company

"Nanosolar is one of the up-and-coming privately-held companies in the field," she said. "They've got a technology that they're working on now and they plan to enter full production in the next couple of years."

If Nanosolar's technology can produce electricity at five cents per kWh, "that would be really great," she noted. "That would make it [solar] very competitive with fossil fuels."

"That's the beauty of solar using nanotechnology," she added. "They are going to be able to bring the price of solar way down."

Manufacturing Key

The use of nanotechnology allows very thin solar panels to be created. "They'll be very lightweight, and they'll be able to mass print them onto rolls like newspaper and then just roll it out on rooftops," Fried explained.

The big challenge for the makers of these products, though, will be manufacturing, according to ABI's Ozbek.

"What's imperative is developing a cost efficient manufacturing process, which companies such as Nanosolar need to provide," he told TechNewsWorld via e-mail .

"A recent defense contract will provide a significant opportunity to Nanosolar to develop and showcase its technology, but it will be competing against other start up companies such as Konarka and Nanosys and large companies such as GE in developing printable cells," he added.