This Will Change the Solar Industry

When it comes to any technology or industry, there are two distinctive stages of development.

The first stage is experimental — when the technology or process in question is still being developed, perfected, optimized, and standardized.

The second stage is full-scale adoption — when that same technology starts to become commonplace and ubiquitous.

It’s happened with everything, from gunpowder to the automobile all the way to jet propulsion.

The first guns, first cars, and first jet planes all had the same failings in common: They were dangerous to their users in their tendency to explode and were anything but an improvement over whatever technology they were designed to replace (bows, horses, and piston-driven aircraft).

The same thing probably happened with the wheel and the first razor-sharp obsidian blades.

The first prototypes are always clunky and imperfect, but they prove that a concept has viability and open the door to more experimentation and, eventually, practicality.

Solar Hits Puberty

Today, solar technology is transitioning from that first stage to the all-important and potentially world-changing second stage.

Since the advent of the first practical solar cell back in the 1950s, solar energy generation has been somewhat of an interesting novelty.

It’s powered calculators, watches, and basic household devices, and it eventually found its way into semi-mainstream acceptance when solar panels began appearing on commercial and residential rooftops and solar farms began springing up to provide power to entire neighborhoods.

However, the problems with solar persisted. It was inefficient. Solar panels were expensive to build, expensive to maintain, and expensive to dispose of or recycle.

Compounding this problem was the fact that more mainstream energy generation methods, supported by the multi-billion dollar fossil fuel industry, tended to sweep this novelty aside.

Right now, however, all of that is about to change… and rapidly.

You see, there’s a company that’s developed and patented a new kind of solar cell — and the innovations it’s brought to this now decades-old technology will finally push solar into the mainstream and the crucial second stage of technological adoption.

Forget Everything You Knew About Solar

So what makes this new solar cell so different?

Well, for one thing, it’s at least twice as efficient as anything that came before it.

Second of all, it’s almost 100% transparent — so much so, in fact, that to the naked eye, these solar panels are almost impossible to distinguish from standard glass, making it possible to replace windows with energy-generating elements.

They’re also far more sensitive to various forms of light, including artificial light like the kind emitted by streetlamps.

Finally — and perhaps most importantly — this company has come up with a way to apply these solar cells in liquid form by spraying them onto a surface.

This technology has proven to be so disruptive to the existing solar industry that the Department of Defense has actually been investigating the feasibility of applying it to the canopies of military aircraft.

Putting all of these innovations together essentially redefines what solar is and, in the process, makes everything that came before it completely obsolete.

What was once a clunky, imperfect, fragile, and expensive process has been turned into something with infinite commercial viability.

Don’t Wait for the WSJ Headlines — Join the Smart Money Today

For investors, this is the sweet spot.

When a newly emerging technology reaches that all-important threshold of mass acceptance, the smart money starts to mobilize.

And that’s exactly what’s about to happen.

The company I’m talking about is still in its development stage. The reason behind this is that it doesn’t have other products to fall back on.

These new solar cells aren’t just one of a long inventory of revenue streams. They’re the company’s main thing — which is exactly what you want to be looking for in terms of aggressive investment opportunities.

As a development-stage company, it’s yet to turn a profit. In fact, all it’s done so far is invest in perfecting this advanced material.

Which means that the stock price is appropriately cheap. No revenue means no profit, which means most investors will simply not bother with the risk.

However, once the licenses and contracts start coming, all of that will change in the blink of an eye.

Now, I know what some of you are probably thinking right now: I’ll wait until this firm starts bringing in dollars, and then I’ll see if there’s potential there.

That seems prudent, but it’s also the definition of missing the boat. With the stock trading at barely $1.50 today and at a total valuation of less than $40 million, it’s as cheap right now as it’s ever likely to get.

Upside potential, on the other hand, is impossible to calculate — but I’m estimating it’s got to be in the thousands, if not tens of thousands, of percent over the course of the next three to five years.

Let’s Get Real for a Moment

I know all of this might sound like some pretty optimistic thinking, especially given the bad reputation solar has had since the Solyndra meltdown three years ago, but that’s exactly the size of it.

Solyndra failed at making traditional solar cells, and as it went belly up, it took more than half a billion in federal funds with it.

The situation unfolding with the company I’ve been talking about couldn’t be any more different — and the effects of the innovations it’s made will likely be felt for decades to come.

Earlier this week, my colleague Alex Koyfman, editor and investment director of Penny Stock Millionaire, finished a detailed report on this small tech company.

His conclusions were pretty shocking, even to an energy investing veteran like myself.

To get instant access to his report, click right here.

To your wealth,

Brian Hicks

Brian is a founding member and President of Angel Publishing and investment director for the income and dividend newsletter The Wealth Advisory. He writes about general investment strategies for Tech Investing Daily, Wealth Daily and Energy & Capital. Known as the “original bull on America,” Brian is also the author of the 2008 book, Profit from the Peak: The End of Oil and the Greatest Investment Event of the Century. In addition to writing about the economy, investments and politics, Brian is also a frequent guest on CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox and countless radio shows. For more on Brian, take a look at his editor’s page.