If you were hunting for the future of solar power, Wales might not seem the most obvious place to look. Yet in a factory in Cardiff, technology that could finally harness the energy of the sun in an affordable way is quietly rolling off the production line. G24i's technology is based on a coloured dye and tiny crystals of titanium oxide - a common pigment in white paint. It exploits a discovery made in 1991 by a Swiss chemist called Michael Graetzel, who found that the combination could be used to copy photosynthesis. It also claims its technology will "put an end to dead batteries". There is still some way to go - the Cardiff factory's entire annual output of solar cells currently generates just 30MW, about the same as a handful of modern wind turbines (although it plans to expand to 200MW capacity next year). But Betzel insists that solar power is now a viable mass-market future technology. If he is right, then Wales may soon have an unlikely new export. |
What would the oil & gas companies do if this ever took off? I'd be surprised if they aren't doing something about it right now.
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