breakthrough in printed solar tech sheets in Australia

Final trials of printed solar panels on sheets of plastic are underway at the University of Newcastle in the New South Wales Hunter region. Using conventional printing technology, electronic ink is printed onto clear plastic sheets with the finished product incredibly lightweight.Dr Vaughan said cost has been one of the main drivers in developing the technology.... "We are trying to develop a solar technology that doesn't require government assistance, no feed-in tariffs, no subsidies, anything like that," Dr Vaughan said. "What we want to develop, what we are developing is a solar technology that stands on its own two feet in terms of the economics, so you can print these devices at a level where the cost is very low, where it just makes good economic sense to use it on your roof of your home or your business." Dr Vaughan said the next stage of development is to take the new technology to a full industrial scale. "Instead of printing on something here which is 30 centimetres wide, we can start printing on things that are half a metre or a metre wide, two metres potentially wide," he said. "That's where you can get the real economies of scale of this roll-to-roll technology because you're able to produce an enormous amount of material for low cost." http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-15/printed-solar-trials-helping-energy-crisis-in-australian-first/8526868 ................................................................................ Germany kick-started the solar energy revolution but lost the market of solar panels to the Chinese. https://deepresource.wordpress.com/2014/09/22/what-became-of-germanys-solar-industry/ ......................................................... The once largest solar cell production firm in the world, Q-Cells has gone bust. https://deepresource.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/the-end-of-the-german-solar-cell/ ...............................................................