You may be right Jones, let's hope not, the good news is that we only have a few months to wait before we know. About the former chief scientist leaving, plausible reasons are given in the interview and it doesn't mean much, people leave successful companies all the time.
> Where is the factory? San Jose: http://www.nanosolar.com/pr7.htm " Nanosolar Selects Manufacturing Sites Company Secures 647,000 Square Feet of Space in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Germany PALO ALTO, California - December 12th, 2006 - Nanosolar Inc., a global leader in solar power innovation, today announced that it has selected manufacturing sites located in California and in Germany. With these two new sites, Nanosolar now has the capability to utilize up to 647,000 square feet for its cell and panel manufacturing as well as research and development and regional company headquarters. Nanosolar selected a former Cisco manufacturing facility in San Jose, California, as its U.S. site and a facility in the Berlin capital region as its European site. " Michel ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jones Beene" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 3:47 PM Subject: Re: [Vo]:Nanosolar says it's on track to start $1/W panel production this year > This is a PR release about a company that has never > shipped actual product, but has thrived on raising > capital from investors and nothing more. > > I hope and pray it is not a scam but I have an > associate in Palo Alto who knows the situation and who > is suspicious, since the actual factory where these > panels are to be made appears to be ficitious. Try to > find a spec sheet. How many products do you know of > which will be shipping soon and no spec sheet exits? > > The very same "impossible" claims for a nonexistent > product are being made by Brady/Perendev in Germany > concerning his fuelless magnet generator, yet no one > has seen prototypes and no one can find the supposed > factory. You can invest however, or prepay for a unit. > > It is concievable that Nanosolar has discovered little > more than a very sophisticated version of 'pump and > dump' -- and little else. IOW they have taken the > "hydrogen fuel cell scam" of Ballard and the others to > the next level. It is not really a true scam since > there is a product, it is just a scam in that the > assertions of marketablility are unrealistic. > > The basic unsaid problem with Nanosolar is the rare > element that they need in their panels, indium. 5 > years ago when Nanosolar started raising its $100 > million in VC - indium wasn't terribly expensive at > about $90/kg. With the advent of LCD flat panel > monitors, the demand for indium has skyrocketed, > reaching a peak of about $1000/kg. This blows the $1 > per watt out of the water, but the CEO is NOT even > mentioning that problem ! The worldwide production of > indium is really quite small and outsiders cannot even > get it excpet in small quantities. > > Ask youself this: does Nanosolar have a secret source > for cheap indium? Why did the PR release not even > mention this. Where is the factory? > > This is scarily reminiscent of the VC scene > surrounding fuel cells 6-7 years ago, when hunderds of > millions werre pumped into that niche on the same kind > of shallow promises. Ballard was the darling of Wall > Street. Everyone thought Ballard could make them > without platinum or palladium. Nada. The price for > hydrogen fuel cells is higher today than ever. > > Do a google search for actual prices of solar cells > which you can buy, and you will find nothing even > close to these pomises now- and then try to find out > where this factory is located... the one where > Nanosolar will be producing these panels "later this > year." If it is in silicon valley, I will volunteer to > go down there and try to get a tour. Do a google > search for [Nanosolar "Chris Eberspacher"] and ask > youself 'why would the chief scientist leave now ?' > > I hope that this is cynicism on Nanosolar and printed > photocells in general is unwarranted, but in this case > ... like Cervantes, I smell a rat. > > Jones > > > > > --- Michel Jullian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> > http://earth2tech.com/2007/07/30/10-questions-for-nanosolar-ceo-martin-roscheisen/ >> >> >> Quote: >> >> Q). In the thin film industry there are several >> players like Miasole or SoloPower that are looking >> to build the next CIGS thin film technology. What >> will make the difference in which technologies win >> the deals? >> A).An IEC-certified panel product available in >> near-term 100MW volume at a fully-loaded cost point >> in the sixties [cents/Watt] or less so that one can >> profitably sell at a $.99/Watt wholesale price >> point. >> ... >> Q). Will Nanosolar begin production this year? >> A). Yes, we're on track with this. Do not expect an >> Apple style product launch though. Our first 100,000 >> panels are already set to go into closed, private, >> utility-scale deployments, with a tall fence around >> them and not much accessibility to the general >> public. >> >> End quote >> >> -- >> Michel >> >> >
