Very cool story and video about Nanosolar's solar cell mass production facility in Germany. Unfortunately they are privately funded otherwise I'd buy some stock. They have achieved 16% efficiency on solar cells (11-14% median) that are printed onto a metal foil (not silicon) with nanoparticle solar ink. They can supposedly produce solar cells that will generate 640 megawatts per year and have $4 billion of outstanding orders already.

What exciting about this is that they can produce an amazingly large number of cells with a very low material cost. They are concentrating on utility grade panels right now (which is exciting enough) but I can't believe that this is just the first step towards low cost, decent, panels for residential use. Their tagline from their company website is "Technology for Profitable Solar". Other sources: MIT Tech Review. Univ. of Texas has also developed a spray-on solar cell production process.

At 16.4% efficiency, our foil cells represent two world records in one: It's the most efficient printed solar cell of any kind (all semiconductor and device technologies) as well as the most efficient cell on a truly low-cost metal foil (with a material cost of only a cent or two per square foot and mil thickness).