One of the reasons solar energy still isn’t mainstream yet is the volume the panels usually have and the high costs involved in purchasing and installing the damn heavy things. Wouldn’t it be much better if thin and flexible solar sheets could be produced? Well that’s been done already, many companies produce solar panels that can be rolled up and folded, for instance for outdoor sports. But still these sheets are rather thick and by no means cheap. A solar panel as thin as a sheet of paper would be ideal, a solar panel that could be produced on the roll, in a mass production system to lower the costs. Roll it of, cut off the length you need and simply paste it on the roof or wherever you need it, now that would be some innovation, wouldn’t it?



Well, whatever you may think, the jury of the innovation contest 2007 by Popular Science Magazine thought it was innovative enough to deserve the first price. The California based firm of Nanosolar managed to develop a thin layer or coating of some kind of solar absorbing ink that simply can be printed on an metallic foil base using newspaper printing techniques. With this technique they are able to create very light solar panels or foils that cost only about a tenth of the traditional panels and still be as efficient. This sounds quite promising so maybe you are thinking about investing in the company? You are by no means the first, the founders of Google did already invest more than a fistful of dollars in Nanosolar. By the way, another plus is that for the production of these Nanosolar cells no silicon is needed like for all other type of solar panels. And since there happens to be a global silicon shortage this comes in handy. Solar ink might actually prove to be the future.

Below are some pictures of the printing process.