Update on Thin Film Solar Panel Factory Planned for Western Cape

Urban Sprout has recently reported on how Sasol holds a 45% interest in the public private partnership which will see the building of a pv solar panel manufacturing plant in Paarl (we reported on this SA-developed thin film pv solar panel technology in an earlier post). The technology boasts substantially greater efficiency and lower production costs than crystalline PV panels while the only negative trait is that the panels contain a thin layer of cadmuim. It is hoped that an alternative material will be found to substitute the cadmium layer. It was reported that the plant should be operational by 2012.