About 970 trillion kWh of solar energy reaches the earth every single day, which is equivalent to almost 300 times the annual electricity needs of the United States. An area of 150 kilometres x 150 kilometres covered with solar cells would supply the total current electricity needs for the entire United States of America. (J.A. Turner, Science 285, 1999, p. 687). Moreover, this assumes these solar cells are only 15% efficient. Currently, multi-junction gallium arsenide solar cells that are used in 500+ times concentrating panels have an efficiency range of 36% to 41%.

The US Energy Policy Act of 2005 provides a 30% tax credit for solar systems purchased for both residential and business applications. The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) estimated that a long-term credit extension would create approximately 55,000 solar industry related jobs by 2015 and encourage states to invest billions of dollars in renewable energy infrastructure. Under this bill, solar energy would displace four trillion cubic feet of natural gas, saving American consumers US $32 billion over equipment lifetimes. Research conducted by the SEIA states that “the United States has the best solar resources in the industrialized world and [the US] should be a world leader in developing technologies that put these resources to work for all Americans.” A number of states, such as Connecticut, have provided a state cash rebate of up to US $5.00 per watt of installed solar energy capacity.

On March 21, 2006, the Provincial Government of Ontario, Canada announced a new Standard Offer Program for electricity generated from renewable energy sources. The goal is to generate 2,700 MW of electrical power from renewable sources by 2010. Under this plan, the Ontario Power Authority will purchase electricity produced by biomass, wind and waterpower at a base price of $0.11 per kWh and $0.42 per kWh for Solar PV (Photovoltaics) Energy. These guaranteed prices are well above the current average provincial rate of $0.055 cents per kWh. Solar concentrators using highly efficient photovoltaic solar cells will reduce the cost of electricity from sunlight to levels very competitive with oil and gas.

According to authors, Ron Pernick and Clint Wilder in “The Clean Tech Revolution: The Next Big Growth and Investment Opportunity,” solar energy companies will be competing for US $69 billion in sales by 2016 compared to the US $16 billion in 2006.

On July 16, 2007, the US Government received a draft report from the US Petroleum Industry cautioning that world oil and gas supplies from conventional sources are unlikely to keep up with rising global demand over the next 25 years.

IBK Capital raised US $19.0 million for OPEL International Inc. in a series of private placements of units of common shares and warrants, and advised OPEL to obtain a listing on the TSX Venture Exchange through the reverse take-over mechanism.

OPEL designs, manufactures and markets high performance concentrating photovoltaic products to transform solar energy into electricity for worldwide application. OPEL’s high performance photovoltaic concentrating products generate up to 40% more kilowatt-hours than conventional fixed silicon solar panels, resulting in more cost effective electricity generated from the sun. OPEL also expects to operate on premise generating facilities that provide customers with solar generated electricity at competitive prices without the need of capital investments on the customers’ part.

Significant customer activity has been generated in the US, Canada and Europe for OPEL’s concentrating products. Several different products have been developed in order to maximize the solar power output for customers depending on their location. Some of this design activity has been done in conjunction with the Canadian Photonics facility in Ottawa which is part of and on the campus of the Canadian National Research Centre.  Through the use of solar concentrating systems, the operating efficiency of the solar cell is increased while the cost per output watt of electricity is significantly reduced, particularly when compared to present fixed flat plate solar panel technology in silicon.

OPEL’s Planar Optoelectronics Technology, or POET, is a technological breakthrough because POET provides the first and only true chip-level integration of photonic (light-based) devices such as lasers and detectors with electronic (electron-based) devices such as transistors.  With POET, all electrical and optical elements of an IC are built in one serial manufacturing process. OPEL’s POET monolithic ICs have the lowest cost and the smallest size, consume much less power, have higher reliability and increased functionality and are faster than the best hybrid module competition. OPEL’s POET has raised the current performance ceiling by a factor of more than 1000. 

OPEL is now focused on the development and building of this new addition to the solar energy industry based on POET technology starting in Ottawa at the Canadian Photonics Fabrication Centre.  This facility in addition to POET will produce a significant technological breakthrough for the solar energy industry.