Spheral Solar Technology Approaching Reality

CactusMan writes: "A technology previously owned by Texas Instruments and then Ontario Hydro, Spheral Solar Technology is 'a low-cost alternative [to conventional solar cell technologies] involving flexible, lightweight solar cells comprised of thousands of tiny silicon spheres in an aluminum foil, which can be "formed and applied to virtually any curved or flat surface."' Automated Tooling Systems has just received $29.5 million (Canadian) to bring the technology to commercial viability. Read the article here or go directly to the Spheral site."

Comments

Re:Efficiency?

[Midnight Thunder]

Looking around the net with google I found this link that indicates 8 to 10% efficiency. This is fairly low when compared to standard solar cells ( see CNN article ) which indicates 40% efficiency. Although spheral solar cells aren't as efficient, since they can be used in places where regular solar cells can't, any efficiency is better than none at all.