Physicists at the University of Johannesburg (formerly RAU) are on the verge of commercialising the revolutionary solar technology they revealed to the market last year.
They and the university are in the final stages of negotiations with companies interested in getting licences for the technology.
"We are negotiating with SA-based international investors, and two German-based groups which are among the world's biggest producers of silicon-powered solar panels," says Vivian Alberts, the project team leader. "We may license the technology to all of them."
In April the university formed a new company, PT IP Holdco, which will house the intellectual property rights on the technology.
The university and Alberts are the only shareholders in the new entity at this stage. The University of Pretoria and the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (formerly the University of Port Elizabeth), which both collaborated in the project, and the state-run Innovation Fund may also come on board as shareholders.
The excitement generated by the project marks a milestone in the solar energy industry: the introduction of a cheaper, yet high-quality, alternative to the pricey, silicon-engineered solar technology that is the standard. "We are the first group that has produced a semiconductor material that can replace the silicon technology," says Alberts.
Solar energy is created through a reaction called the photovoltaic effect which allows specific materials - usually high-purity silicon - to convert solar radiation to electricity.
The problem is that these panels are expensive - more so than the equivalent amount of coal, petrol or gas.
At the heart of the new solar technology is a production process that produces a new, homogeneous semiconductor material that replaces silicon. It is made from a "perfect recipe" that combines five elements: copper, indium, gallium, selenium and sulphide (CIGSSe).
The breakthrough came after 12 years of research. Alberts solved the "insurmountable problem" of producing a high quality semiconductor alloy that combines all these elements.
At least for now, the technology has set the pace in the solar energy race that has been going on for the past 15 years. "Our major international competitors didn't concentrate on the most crucial aspect of this technology, which is the production of the homogeneous semiconductor absorber," says Alberts.
CIGSSe is also much more efficient than silicon at converting incident sunlight into an electric current: less than one micron of CIGSSe absorbs more than 99% of available incident solar energy, compared with 350 microns of silicon to do the same job.
The new technology can be scaled up or down, depending on its application. It is capable of satisfying the electricity needs of rural and other remote communities and farms; and a stand-alone minigrid can be erected as a primary electricity source or as a back-up system for mines, industrial firms or a community of, say, 20-50 households.
There are other benefits too. It uses cheap material, making it more affordable; and it produces high-quality electricity that is comparable to the silicon-based devices. The new technology is made up of three separate components that have a 15-year guarantee.
The physicists have gone a step further in making it a commercial prospect. They have designed and patented a manufacturing technique that smoothes out the production of solar panels. "This makes it possible to construct CIGSSe solar panels at a low cost," says Alberts.
He estimates the total cost of establishing a new manufacturing plant at R144m.
This facility will have the capacity to produce 144 000 solar panels, with 60 W in each panel, each year. He says industrial production can be scaled up, reducing costs.
According to the physicists' forecast cost models, the solar panels can be produced in huge commercial volumes at a cost of about R650/60 W panel. A silicon-produced panel costs about R2 100/50 W, says Alberts.
Thanks to the University of Johannesburg's pilot assembly facility, launched last November, the physicists have been able to ramp up the technology from a minimodule scale to commercially viable panels in less than six months, beating even optimistic expectations.
The pilot facility, built to demonstrate the viability of the technology, was set up with the help of a R13,2m grant awarded by the Innovation Fund in 2003 and R2m in financial aid from the university.
A typical 60 W panel, which measures 1,2 m x 0,5 m and provides enough electricity for lights, cellphone charger, television and radio, could transform the lives of the 10m-20m people who live off the Eskom grid.
"Millions of people have been waiting for electricity for decades and they will never get it if we don't supply them with solar energy," Alberts says.
The ultimate beneficiary, however, is the environment. Mechanisms such as the Kyoto protocol to limit greenhouse gas emissions are already making an impact in SA, though this country has been exempted from the first period of emissions reductions.
The CIGSSe technology will add solar-derived electricity to the limited range of renewable energy sources that are available in SA. Less than 1% of the electrical energy used here originates from renewable energy, according to Energy Futures, a journal published by Stellenbosch University's Institute for Futures Research. Government wants renewable sources to contribute 14% of SA's energy by 2010.
The country remains heavily dependent on fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum products. About 90% of all energy consumed in SA comes from fossil fuels, of which 73% is from coal.
Coal combustion contributes to carbon dioxide emissions, the main greenhouse gas linked to climate change.
What excites Alberts most is that, as a result of the team's technology, new industry will be created, job opportunities will follow, SA can earn carbon credits, and aspirant entrepreneurs will benefit by starting up "solar shops" across Africa.
