TWO blokes reckon that they have worked out how to make a solar panel 15 times more powerful than anything on the market. Certainly more powerful than the one that is currently on top of INQ HQ in Harrow.

According to Charleston.net, the pair, entrepreneur Andre Woods and an electrician, Nelson Mensch from California, have set up an outfit called Fre Energy to flog the gear.

It produces 3,200 watts of power versus 200 watts used in an average photovoltaic solar panel by capturing all of the light in the solar spectrum, as opposed to about 17 percent in the most efficient photovoltaic cells to date.

Woods said that it means that power will cost the same for the 30 years that the panel are guaranteed.

It will also be a lot cheaper. An average sized house will cost $19,000 to convert to solar power against $30,000 for conventional photovoltaics.