On February 1st 2017, an Albuquerque, New Mexico company founded by Sandia National Laboratories, announced that they had made a breakthrough in Microsystems Enabled Photo Voltaics or (MEPV). The new product is a flexible solar panel that appears to be a cross between metallic wrapping paper and a reflective sun shield used on automobile windshields. It is just the width of a human hair, and may one day power everything from satellites to consumer devices.
MEPV technology uses micro design and micro fabrication to miniaturize solar cells that are also know as "solar glitter." The solar cells are made from high efficiency silicon just like regular solar panels, but because the cells are so small, they can be interconnected. This makes them capable of bending without breaking. Andy McIlroy, Sandia's chief technology officer said that the lab has signed a license with mPower to market their new creation, which they are calling Dragon SCALES.
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