More Solar Innovation: Stanford’s Peel and Stick Flexible Application

Excerpted from an article in Forbes.com by Peter Kelly-Detwiler
www.forbes.com/sites/peterdetwiler/2013

In tackling the vexing problem that most solar panels are rigid and thereby limited in their applications, Stanford researchers came up with a technology to create decal-type panels that can be stuck to virtually any surface. Including window panes (you know all those stickers for expensive collage on the rear windshields of cars? It would be nice if they finally paid us back…).

The technology has other advantages. According to the Stanford Engineering “Unlike standard thin-film solar cells, peel-and-stick thin-film solar cells do not require any direct fabrication on the final carrier substrate. This is a far more dramatic development than it may initially seem. All the challenges associated with putting solar cells on unconventional materials are avoided with the new process, vastly expanding the potential applications of solar technology.” The peel-and-stick process not only provides thin-film solar cells flexibility and unprecedented ability to attach to surfaces, but it also reduces weight.

So now the hard part: how to commercialize? How to bring to real-world markets? It’s not always easy, even when the technology is promising. Some may remember Konarka, a Massachusetts-based company working on creating flexible thin-film solar that could be applied to everything from tent material to clothing to the roof of a bus. Over a decade, Konarka raised $170mn, received multiple tax credits and loans, bought the old Polaroid plant in New Bedford to produce power plastic, and ultimately failed. According to analysts, they suffered from conversion efficiency issues, and may have brought the product into the market too early.

Even good ideas sometimes die in the withering scrutiny of the marketplace. The Stanford peel and stick technology is not a slam dunk. Buy if it fails to commercialize, there will be another innovation success story waiting around the corner. And another. The prize is simply too big to ignore, and somebody will eventually take it. In making his bold prediction, Kurzweil doesn’t focus on the detail; he looks at the trends and the forces of progress. He may have something there.