Does Solar Power Need a Revolution?

Some argue that major technical breakthroughs are needed to make electricity from sunshine cheap. Are they right?

Do the photovoltaics that can transform sunshine into electricity require a revolution? Our current Secretary of Energy and Nobel Prize–winner Steven Chu thinks so.

But Subhendu Guha, chairman of PV maker Uni-Solar, disagrees: “People say we need a revolution to get to grid parity. The revolution has already happened.”

Uni-Solar manufactures thin-film solar cells made from amorphous silicon. The company has built a machine in Auburn Hills Michigan that churns out nine miles of such photovoltaics in 62 hours—and Guha hopes to make the revolutionary machine even bigger soon.

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