Nanosolar's head of technology Chris Eberspacher says its method of putting the alloy on a thin plastic film "overcomes the complexity, high cost, and yield and scalability limitations associated with vacuum-based processes" and "allows us to produce cells very inexpensively and assemble them into panels that are comparable in efficiency to that of high-volume silicon based PV panels."

Werner Dumanski, Nanosolar's head of manufacturing, says the company's printing process makes the fully-loaded cell cost--including materials, consumables, energy, labor, facility, and capital--"less than the depreciation expense that vacuum thin-film companies have to pay for the equipment that produces their cells." The size and cost of the facility was not released; however, Dumanski says the cost would be much less than the estimated $1 billion it would cost to develop a similar-capacity factory using conventional solar technology.

According to Clean Edge, a business research firm based in Oakland, global solar markets reached $11.2 billion in 2005, up 55% from 2004. By comparison, Global wind markets reached $11.8 billion in 2005, up 47% from 2004, while the market for biofuels hit $15.7 billion globally in 2005, up about 15% from 2004, according to Clean Edge. By 2015, Clean Edge models show solar photovoltaics (including modules, system components, and installation) growing to $51.1 billion, wind power expanding to $48.5 billion and biofuels growing to $52.5 billion.

The world's largest existing solar factories are in Japan, run by Sharp and Kyocera. At full capacity, Nanosolar's new plant wouldn't move the US ahead of Japan, but it would push it ahead of the current No. 2 solar producer, Europe.