The “Break it Down” Blog

Ripped straight from Slashdot, it looks like improvements in solar panel design (with 11-13% efficiency) is going to allow for some mass commercial roll-outs starting very soon.

For the folks living in the South West or other crazy-sunny areas that have been waiting for solar tech to stop costing a mint for a small array setup, this looks like it might end your wait.

For the techies in the group:

Sampath has developed a continuous, automated manufacturing process for solar panels using glass coating with a cadmium telluride thin film instead of the standard high-cost crystalline silicon.

Sampath has been refining this technology for 16 years now and it looks like his hard work is going to benefit a whole slew of people. It looks like AVA Solar will be producing the panels, and the cost to consumers will be around $2/watt, or roughly 1/2 the price of existing solar panels. In another interesting note it looks like the solar industry is already a $6 billion/year industry with growth on the rise at 40% per year for the last 5 years. A trend I’m happy to see.