New Solar Cells Offer Sunlight Harvesting From Any Angle

A new breed of solar being installed at a California plastics factory could prove to light a new way forward for future solar installations.

The new solar cells, shaped like long fluorescent light bulbs, allow harvesting of the sunlight from any angle, as opposed to others that must be angled toward the sun, or put on tracks that follow the sun’s angle.

The new cells are being installed at Plastic Package Inc., a North Sacramento company, and were built by Solyndra Inc., Fremont, Calif., according to the Sacramento Bee.

The 208 kilowatt system should supply about a third of Plastic Package’s needs.

Construction of the $1.3 million system is being supported by a 30 percent federal subsidy. Additionally, the Sacramento-area utility will pay 30 cents for every kilowatt-hour of energy produced from the system for five years, according to the article.

Plastic Package says it expects the system to pay for itself in less than six years.