Solar Power for rural Africa

A UK-based start-up is developing printable, thin-film plastic solar cells aimed at providing affordable electricity to individual dwellings that have no grid connection, such as those in rural Africa.

Eight19, a Cambridge University spin-off firm, is named after the eight min, 19 s it takes sunlight to reach the Earth. The company believes that sheets of the lightweight plastic thin film will slash the cost of transporting and installing solar panels compared with conventional silicon-based solar panels or glass-based thin-film solar cells. This should make it more affordable for farmers and villagers in remote areas, who can fix the sheets to their roofs to power homes that do not have electricity.

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2012/mar/13/reeling-in-cheap-plastic-solar-film