Solar cell pioneer hits Las Vegas jackpot
AFTER six years of intensive research, Britain’s most advanced solar cell company, G24 Innovations, has won its first major order – powering the blinds in one of the world’s biggest gambling hotels in Las Vegas.
Anyone staying at the MGM Grand Hotel – a backdrop to the film Ocean’s Eleven, starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt – will soon be able to blot out the sun in their rooms with blinds powered by the high-tech cells.
And the $1million (£638,000) order will be followed this week by a first order to help power computers. G24 has been working with Swiss-based Logitech, which makes computer accessories. The deal means G24 will produce one of the world’s strongest lightpowered computer keyboards, to be used as part of an Apple iPad or iPad 2.
Precise details of the multimillion-pound deal are secret but, given the popularity of iPads and iPhones, G24 is expecting ‘millions of pounds’ of revenue from the first production run.
The cells produced by G24 Innovations do not need direct sunlight. In a process similar to photosynthesis, they use nano-sized titanium crystals to turn light into electricity and can be powered, even when artificial light is dim.
The contracts will be the first revenue in six years for the firm, which was founded and is funded by Bob ‘Huggie’ Hertzberg, a former Democrat politician in California and twice Speaker of the State Assembly, and his partner, Edward Stevenson, using the $75million they made from selling a previous solar company. The business employs 60 in Cardiff in a factory powered by a giant wind turbine.