Cylindrical Solar Cells Challenge Flat Panels

A California startup is betting that cylinders can do a better job of collecting solar energy than current flat panels, even advanced thin-film panels. (Scientific American)

Solyndra, Inc. says its cylindrical solar cells can collect sunlight from all angles, making them better suited to commercial roofs, which is a large part of the potential solar market. There are about 30 billion square feet of large flat roofs in the U.S. alone, which if used for solar power could replace 38 conventional coal-fired power plants. Solyndra has raised $600 million in venture capital and has orders for $1.2 billion of its arrays, which because they don’t need to be mounted at an angle, can be installed faster than current panels.

Sources: (Scientific American, MIT Technology Review, YouTube)