Three of the largest PC companies are now turning to the growing market of photovoltaics (solar cells) with the hope of developing a mass market for alternative energy.

Over recent years the demand for alternative energies has gradually increased, however the high costs and lack of efficiency have prevented alternative energy from making inroads to replace fossil fuels. With the major commitments of some of the biggest players in the hi-tech market, IBM, Intel and Hewlett-Packard (HP), there is hope that soon there will be an economical, mass marketed solution for those who want to decrease their dependence on oil and coal-fired electricity.

IBM has recently announced that they plan to make solar panels which are covered with a thin film of chemicals in the hope that the film can produce solar energy more efficiently than the current silicon technology. It is with a touch of irony that a computer company is trying to get consumers away from silicon, the same material that is used in computer chips.

Intel has also joined the solar energy game by creating a spin-off company called SpectraWatt. This $50 million dollar company is the joint venture of Intel, Cogentrix, Energy LLC, PCG Clean Energy and Technology Funds and Solon AG.

Not to be outdone HP has begun licensing technology to a company called Xtreme Energetics Inc. Its aim is to help the start-up company with its plan to deliver rooftop solar energy systems with the hope that they can provide twice as much energy as current technology, but at half the cost.

According to a McKinsey and Company report published last June, with the cost of generating electricity from conventional sources rising, along with the skyrocketing cost of natural gas, now appears to be a good time to get into the growing market of solar energy.

However, with the increase in competition in this market these companies will be under pressure to cut costs and improve their manufacturing processes. They will also need to make significant investments in research and development as well as move their manufacturing to low cost countries. Fortunately IBM, Intel and HP are well versed in these methods, having already experienced these processes while competing in the fierce market for computer equipment.

With their huge R&D budgets and well-established manufacturing plants in China and India these new players in the solar energy market are set to help improve the performance of solar technology while cutting costs. These advancements are certainly a plus to consumers, most of which are still put off by the high cost of solar cell technology.

Today’s typical solar cells offer an efficiency of about 15%, meaning that only 1/6th of the sunlight striking the solar cell actually is converted into electricity. Meanwhile silicon-wafer cells, which make up about 90% of solar cells offer up to 20% efficiency. It is predicted that the more economical, thin-wafer cells will soon start to make up ground and rival silicon-wafer cell efficiency.

The more widely-used photovoltaic solar panels are made from crystalline silicon which is able to produce energy for about $2.25 to $3 per watt. Newer CIGS thin film panels (copper, indium, gallium and selenide) are able to drop the cost to $1.50 per watt, but it is unlikely that solar energy will be able to compete with fossil fuel driven electricity until the cost reaches $1 per watt.

IBM is hoping they can help cut costs by developing a process to make a dissolved semiconductor material that can be adhered with heat to a glass or metal sheet. This will make the need for the vacuum-chamber that is currently used obsolete, which will significantly reduce the cost of production.

IBM is planning to partner with Tokyo Ohka Kogyo Co, Ltd who manufactures computer chips, LCD televisions and other devices that like the new solar technology require to be surface treated with chemicals to develop the cells. It is hoped that this new technology will hit the market by 2011.

Meanwhile, Intel and their new spin-off company SpectraWatt are building  a manufacturing facility in Oregon and hoping to ship the first crystalline silicon thin-film solar cells to solar panel makers mid-2009.  They are also spending a lot of research and development funds on researching ways to reduce costs of the overall system, not just the solar panel itself.

HP has been working since 2002 with researchers at Oregon State University to develop see-through transistors, which are made from a zinc and tin oxide semiconductor which is then baked into glass or plastic. The technology was originally designed in order to create computer displays on train and car windows, but by 2010 Xtreme Energetics is hoping to include it in solar panels to improve efficiency.

The new panels will be much less intrusive, and can hopefully be incorporated into the design of new offices and residential buildings. This will cut down on the loss of power from transportation, which is what currently occurs as the solar energy panels are set up in the desert and the resulting energy is transferred to cities where the power is needed.

It is hard to determine whether any of these companies will be as successful with creating a mass market for solar energy as they are with computers, but it is hopeful that with the advances in thin-film technology that the utility costs for solar power will be reduced to become more competitive with traditional electricity generating sources. Possibly with some government funding the end consumer cost can be further reduced to make solar energy more palatable for the general public.