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Nanosolar just can’t stop making news! After completing it’s $100M manufacturing plant and starting up the manufacture of nearly 500 megawatts of solar generating capacity per year, NanoSolar is taking yet more investment.

EDF Energies Nouvelles, a renewable energy provider that serves up 1.4 gigawatts of power throughout Europe, has invested $50 million in NanoSolar, at least in part in order to get access to some of the panels they’re producing. Already, NanoSolar is undercutting the price per watt of every other photovoltaic provider on the planet. They’ve done this by developing a technique whereby they can basically print solar panels. It’s fast, simple, and cheap (now that they’ve got the plant up and running) and they’ve been selling everything they can produce.

EDF’s investment ensures that they’ll be able to buy some of the highly in-demand solar panels from NanoSolar in 2009.

But NanoSolar’s vision isn’t without problems. Long-term efficiency of their cells has yet to be established, and some worry that they could degrade faster than traditional panels. Additionally, these thin-film solar cells require indium, an element that has recently become scarce due to a huge increase in use for flat-panel televisions and solar panels. The near-term shortage might force Nanosolar to increase its prices.

Other companies like Miasole and HelioVolt are working on creating similar panels using the same chemistry, but only NanoSolar has begun selling them in significant quantities.

Source: EcoGeek

Very good news for solar power. I eagerly await the day when no longer powerlines run to homes and they are self sufficient.