Nanosolar has an ambitious goal: to “design, engineer, and manufacture solar power technology that sets the standard for cost and capital efficiency.” Their goal has been to come up with a way to produce thin-film solar panels that would be extremely cheap to make and easy to handle.

On September 9, they announced that they’re finally finished their panel factory in Germany—a factory that uses automation 24/7 to produce their new thin-film panels at a rate of 640 MW annually or about one panel every 10 seconds. These panels are made by “printing” the solar cells onto a flexible metal foil using a nanoparticle solar ink (see video for a demonstration).

They also announced that they’ve already begun to produce the same solar panels through serious production in their San Jose, California factory earlier this year. They already have $4.1 billion worth of contract orders to complete.

The same day, the unveiled their first product Nanosolar Utility Panel™ which is panel designed specifically for utility-scale power systems.

The panel effectively eliminates the “balance-of-system penalty” that medium-efficient thin panels have conventionally carried relative to higher-efficiency (yet far more expensive) silicon panels.

It is said to be the industry’s highest-current thin panel by a factor of six and is certified by TUV for a system voltage of 1500V, which is 50 percent more than the previously highest certified. They’ve also published a white paper on the subject of utility technology.