Start-Up Sells Solar Panels at Lower-Than-Usual Cost:
While many photovoltaic start-up companies are concentrating on increasing the efficiency with which their systems convert sunlight, Nanosolar has focused on lowering the manufacturing cost. Its process is akin to a large printing press, rather than the usual semiconductor manufacturing techniques that deposit thin films on silicon wafers.Nanosolar’s founder and chief executive, Martin Roscheisen, claims to be the first solar panel manufacturer to be able to profitably sell solar panels for less than $1 a watt. That is the price at which solar energy becomes less expensive than coal.
Well, $1 per watt may be the price at which solar energy becomes less expensive than coal, but $1-per-watt panels are not $1-per-watt systems:
“With a $1-per-watt panel,” he said, “it is possible to build $2-per-watt systems.”According to the Energy Department, building a new coal plant costs about $2.1 a watt, plus the cost of fuel and emissions, he said.
This could get interesting.
Nanosolar has raised $150 million and built a 200,000-square-foot factory in San Jose.