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SMALL & GREEN
Cheap Solar
Konarka's superthin film uses nanotechnology to generate electricity 
from the sun.
FORTUNE SMALL BUSINESS
Tuesday, February 1, 2005
By Brian Dumaine

/Lowell, Mass./Sukant tritathy, a brilliant chem-ist at the University 
of Massachusetts, gave a keynote speech at an academic conference in 
Hawaii just weeks before he was to launch a company that would produce 
cheap solar power and that would, he believed, forever change the energy 
industry. Not long after the speech, he went for a swim in the ocean and 
tragically drowned. Yet the work he left behind is now the foundation 
for one of today's hottest solar-energy startups, thanks to an 
entrepreneur named Howard Berke, who decided to commercialize Tritathy's 
work in 2001, the year after he died. The new company, named in the 
chemist's honor, is called Konarka <http://www.konarkatech.com> after a 
Hindu sun temple.

Berke's vision is to use nanotechnology to make photovoltaics—the 
process of turning sunlight directly into electricity—cheap, 
lightweight, and widely available. Imagine molecules embedded on 
material as thin and flexible as plastic wrap, converting indoor and 
outdoor light into power—and doing it all without noise, moving parts, 
fuel, or pollution. "I saw this as a chance," says Berke, "of changing 
the lives of millions of people."

Most of the photovoltaics systems sold today are made of silicon, the 
same material at the heart of computer chips. Corporate giants such as 
BP, Kyocera, and Sharp sell the systems, but they are bulky and 
expensive to manufacture (think clean rooms and highly paid technicians 
in bunny suits). It's a fast-growing business (see the chart on the next 
page), but so far it is relegated to niche applications such as 
satellites and high-end homes. The Holy Grail is to make photovoltaics, 
which are about three times more expensive than fossil fuels, more 
affordable.

Konarka believes it can dramatically lower costs by moving away from 
silicon technology. Its thin film is based on organic chemicals. 
Essentially, it prints a nano-mixture of titania (a white organic 
chemical often used in toothpaste and sunscreen) onto a thin sheet of 
film. Employing a process similar to that used by photo film 
manufacturers such as Fuji and Kodak, Konarka can very cheaply and 
quickly print huge rolls of photovoltaic sheets.

Today Berke is well on his way to achieving his—and Tritathy's—dream. 
Konarka recently landed multimillion-dollar contracts with the Pentagon 
to deliver, among other things, a tent made of material that generates 
electricity from the sun, and a thin piece of film that soldiers can 
carry on the field to recharge the batteries in their cellphones, night 
scopes, and GPS systems. It's no surprise that the military has skin in 
the game, considering that a special-ops commando today might have to 
carry as much as 70 pounds of batteries into battle. "We're extremely 
excited," says Lynne Samuelson, a chemist at the U.S. Army Soldier 
Systems Center in Natick, Mass. "Konarka's thin film could allow our 
special-ops soldiers to stay longer and go farther in hostile territory."

Berke, 50, attributes his success so far to his ability to assemble an 
alternative-energy dream team. In addition to a slew of respected 
industry veterans, Konarka has two Nobel laureates on its board. Alan 
Heeger, a physicist from the University of California at Santa Barbara, 
specializes in plastics that conduct electricity. Arno Penzias was a 
pioneer in electronics at Bell Labs.

Berke himself is no slouch. Since the late 1970s, he has started 12 
successful companies. His first big win was a medical imaging company 
called ADAC Laboratories, which sold for $1 billion. Then, during the 
Internet boom, he built White Pine Software, a web-based 
videoconferencing business, which he took public in 1996.

To finance all the talent and technology he needs, Berke has turned to 
venture capitalists. Since starting his 40-person company, he's raised 
$32.5 million from VC heavyweights such as Draper Fisher Jurvetson, New 
Enterprise Associates, Vanguard, and Zero Stage Capital. But so far the 
only revenue Konarka has collected is from the military. Dan McGahn, 
Konarka's chief marketing officer, says the company will have consumer 
products out by the end of 2005, but it's too early for him to talk 
specifics.

While Konarka's thin film will cost about a third less than traditional 
solar, it is still more expensive than fossil fuel. But as McGahn points 
out, his competition right now isn't a utility but "the Honda generator 
that the military, at great expense, has to fly into the desert, 
maintain, and refuel."

The advantage of Konarka's technology is that it is flexible enough to 
be integrated into anything, from cloth to roofing material. Berke says 
that in the lab his most efficient film translates 8% of the sun's 
energy. That's still lower than silicon, which on average is nearly 
twice as efficient, but it is remarkable for an entirely new product. 
"This technology could revolutionize the photovoltaic market 
completely," says Michael Eckhart, president of the nonprofit American 
Council on Renewable Energy <http://www.acore.org>.

Hydrogen Bomb?
Despite President Bush's inclusion of a $1.5 billion investment in 
hydrogen fuel for cars in the 2004 tax bill, widespread use is probably 
50 years away because of high costs and difficulties in converting gas 
stations. That hasn't stopped America's entrepreneurs. Both Hydrogen Car 
Co. <http://www.h2carco.com> in Los Angeles and Intergalactic Hydrogen 
<http://www.h2go.info> in Steamboat Springs, Colo., adapt cars, such as 
Hydrogen Car's Hydrogen Shelby Cobra, to run on the fuel. But demand is 
small. Conversions cost more than $11,000, exceeding fuel savings so far.

Konarka is not alone—other startups such as Nanosolar and Nanosys 
<http://www.nanosolar.com>, both headquartered in Palo Alto, are also 
working on nonsilicon thin-film technology. Competitor Martin 
Roscheisen, the founder and CEO of Nanosolar, argues that Konarka's film 
won't last long enough—at least 20 years—for mainstream uses like 
rooftop power generation. "They can't get their product lifetime beyond 
a couple of years," he says. "They'll just be a niche player." Berke 
counters by saying that Konarka is working on four chemical approaches 
besides titania and expects to develop a long-lasting product suitable 
for roofing.

One thing that gives Konarka a leg up on its competitors is that it will 
be the first to deliver a prototype to a customer. It plans to ship a 
solar tent to the Air Force this year. The 30- by 40-foot tent is made 
of a canvas material layered with Konarka's thin-film material. As it 
sits in the sun (think the deserts of the Middle East), the tent would 
generate electricity. A soldier could recharge a radio by hooking it 
into the tent's material.

The applications for Konarka's technology seem endless. The company has, 
for instance, created in its labs a thread that is a photovoltaic cell. 
The fiber could be woven into clothes or backpacks. The Army's Samuelson 
envisions detachable cloth patches that could help a soldier avoid 
friendly fire and that could detect biological weapons.

Konarka's thin film still awaits vigorous military testing before being 
approved as battle-ready. That is not a sure thing. "Every time I 
launched a new technology, people said it couldn't be done," says Berke, 
"but then we did it. I don't see why it should be any different this 
time." Given the tough odds for this tricky technology, it's a good 
thing he's such an optimist.