Time Magazine Article - Thin Film - Global Solar, FIrst Solar, NanoSolar.

Solar Power's New Style.

"Mike Gering, CEO of the start-up Global Solar, picks his way along his factory floor, tracing the convoluted path that his thin-film solar panels follow from birth to shipping truck. The raw materials the workers carry are ultra-thin sheets of flexible plastic, which are then coated with a series of chemicals--indium, gallium, diselenide--that allows the module to turn sunlight into electricity."


The article goes on to touch on First Solar, and NanoSolar. It's a little brief on Thin Film basics.

Interesting point from Nanosolar CEO:

"All things being equal, given the $/kg economics of solar panels, I don’t think the competitive end game is to be shipping them from China. The end-game winners will be optimized for net working capital days and proximity to customers. (Btw, shipping from China costs ten times as much as shipping to China these days…) The middle game will be dominated by quality issues; this is a product that people expect to last for decades."

http://www.greenbang.com/288/nanosolar-ceo-on-solar-biz-take-a-pass/

I'd never thought of it, and don't actually know it to be true, but it makes sense that they don't want empty boats traveling back from the US to China.

I count this as a good thing for US exports, even if it's a small effect...

Video showing NanoSolar Printing Tech.

Found via Ecogeek