NanoSolar, which has raised more than 150 million dollars from investors, claims to have the technology to make solar panels hundreds of times more cheaply and more efficient than anything the world has ever seen.

 And as it ramps up production of its paradigm-breaking new invention this month at massive plants near San Jose, California and Berlin, Germany, NanoSolar says that its systems will achieve the Holy Grail of green energy: cost parity with the outdated electrical production systems of coal, oil and nuclear.

 Few other companies have made such claims in the past - and none have delivered.

 But NanoSolar chief executive R Martin Roscheisen says that his company has ironed out all the kinks in its product and that utility companies from around the world are banging on his doors with massive orders. There's already a three-to-five year back order, even before production begins, the company says.

 The company's main product is thin film solar panels that are printed with highly efficient semiconductors for converting sunlight into electricity on a massive scale.

 "It's a hundred times thinner than existing solar panels and we can deposit the semiconductors 100 times faster," Roscheisen says. "It's a combination that drives down costs dramatically."

   It's also much faster than constructing a new coal or nuclear- powered station, cutting the lead time from 15 years to less than two. Hydropower doesn't even enter the equation anymore since all the world's major rivers are already maxed out, Roscheisen says.

 "Solar is more rapidly deployable than any other source," he says. "For the first time major utilities are waking up to the huge opportunities in solar."

   Roscheisen does not claim to have invented any magic device that sets Nanosolar apart. In fact he approached the entire business from a reverse angle in 2002 when he was a graduate student at Stanford University, seeing the huge potential in solar energy and then researching the best ways to make it real.

 "We just said 'let's make solar electricity 10 times less expensive,'" he says. "We identified a set of innovations and recruited the right technical experts and brought them all together."

   While electricity from other solar panels can cost 6 to 7 dollars a kilowatt-hour to produce, NanoSolar projects costs will fall to 2.50 dollars/Kwh with its panels, making it more competitive with other power sources.

 Not surprisingly, Roscheisen is a little reluctant to reveal too much about the company's secret technology. He won't allow visitors to photograph any of the strange looking printers that fill the office corridors and storerooms.

 But he will say that the new techniques are based on Copper Indium Gallium Diselenide (CIGS) semi-conducters that have been optimized using specially developed nanoparticles and organic dispersion chemistry.

 It's still a bit too early to tell whether NanoSolar can really deliver the goods, but there are several important factors pointing in its favour.

 Among its earliest investors were the two Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who like Roscheisen formed their company while pursuing PhDs at Stanford University, the intellectual heart of the high-tech region.

 The two young billionaires don't take an active role in running the company but they are very focused on making sure the technology works, Roscheisen says.

 They no doubt also take an occasional glance at the potential bottom line - which could be enough to dwarf even their 20-billion- dollar stakes in Google.

 "The energy market is worth 1 trillion dollars a year," says Roscheisen. "If we only capture 1 per cent of that it's 10 billion dollars. It may take several years, but fundamentally it's going to happen. Our product works."//dpa