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Sharp invests in solar despite downturn

30 November 2008

Electronics company Sharp is aiming to increase production of photovoltaic panels by licensing its technology to outside firms.

This goes against the group's traditional in-house policy and comes at a time when most global organisations are tightening their purse strings due the global financial crisis, reports the Times.

It is hoped that the $2.6 billion (£1.69 billion) gamble will move Sharp level with its rivals from other parts of the world.

The proposal involves Sharp teaming up with Italian company Enel and other electricity producers around the world to construct solar-powered generating plants.

Earlier this week, Greenbang reported that physicists and engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US have boosted the potential output from solar photovoltaic cells by up to 50 per cent.

The team at the MIT has used computer simulations in their work, which consequently caused light to bounce inside the silicon layer for longer and create more time to deposit energy.
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