Nanosolar
"The technological grand experiment - being able to master incredible innovation in green energy technology - basically worked out fine. Smart engineers put behind the right goals and equipped with good funding can truly move mountains...
Our team had accomplished in 6 years what heavily subsidized groups did not get anywhere close to achieving in 20 years."
the most efficient printed solar cells (16.4% active-area efficiency);
three times the efficiency of any other cell ever produced on low-cost aluminum foil;
an order of magnitude thinner films;
the first back-contact thin-film solar cell based on simple high-throughput roll lamination;
the highest-current thin-film solar cell;
the most capital-efficient solar manufacturing process.
Popular Science named Nanosolar the green technology innovation of the year in 2007 (the Apple iPhone was the gadget winner.)
However, prices for Chinese-made crystalline silicon solar panels dropped.
Nanosolar went bankrupt in 2013 as did other CIGS manufacturers Solyndra (2011), Heliovolt (2014) and Solarion (2014). Dow stopped manufacturing POWERHOUSE shingles (2016).