On 14 Jan 2007 19:39:23 -0800, "Bret Cahill"
wrote in .com:

There is a new ultra thin [light weight] copper alloy PV that
supposedly will cost only $1/watt and has a somewhat higher efficiency
than conventional Si PV. Some even believe it will be cheap enough to
shut down the grid, even in the Pacific NW. The Google guys -- we
really need to stop calling them the "Google guys" and get their names
-- are building a big plant in downtown S.F. to produce dozens of
megawatts/year.


http://www.nanosolar.com/history.htm
May 2002: Nanosolar is founded by Martin Roscheisen and Brian
Sager to make solar electricity much more cost-efficient through
much better technology. The approach taken is to develop
medium-efficient but ten times less costly solar cells -- and do
so with a Silicon Valley style team of the best and brightest
engineers. The company is incorporated in Palo Alto, California,
and receives initial financing from the founders. Initial
laboratory work commences focused on technology to produce much
thinner (100x) solar cells with much simpler (printing) processes.



http://www.informationweek.com/indus...leID=193303376
The project [the solar electrification of the entire Google
corporate campus] will involve 9,212 solar panels provided by
Sharp Electronics. A majority will be placed on the rooftops of
some of the buildings in the "Googleplex" and parking lots. The
solar energy will be used to power several of Google's Mountain
View office facilities.

Google has a strong interest in solar. A startup originally funded
by Google in June announced a $100 million financing package and
set plans to build what the company claims as the world's largest
solar-cell manufacturing facility in California.

Presently in pilot production in its Palo Alto, Calif.-based
facility, the solar-cell startup — Nanosolar — has started
ordering volume production equipment for use in a factory said to
have a total annual cell output of 430-megawatts (MW) once fully
built out, or approximately 200 million cells per year.



http://www.nanosolar.com/
Nanosolar has developed proprietary technology that makes it
possible to simply roll-print solar cells that require only
1/100th as thick an absorber as a silicon-wafer cell (yet deliver
similar performance and durability). Watch the CNN video.