Hague Corp, a publicly traded resource exploration company, is pleased to
announce that on September 24, 2008 Hague signed a binding letter of intent
to purchase all of the assets of Solterra
Renewable Technologies, Inc. The agreement between Hague and Solterra requires
Hague to fund Solterra a total of five million US dollars within sixty days
of signing a final Asset Purchase Agreement. Greg Chapman, President of Hague,
stated, "We are extremely pleased to be working with such a company as
Solterra. Their vision of capturing renewable solar power is truly on the cutting
edge of alternative sources of energy."
Solar power is currently one of the most important segments in energy
investment right now and Solterra will be producing and distributing a Thin
Film Quantum Dot PV Solar Cell, which is differentiated from other
traditional PV cells by a unique disruptive technology that will result in
lower cost, higher efficiency, and broader spectral performance.
Solterra's Quantum Dot Solar Cell can achieve a dramatically lower
manufacturing cost per watt in part, because Solterra will be manufacturing
quantum dots using a patent pending, revolutionary process developed by
world renowned quantum dot expert Dr. Michael Wong and his team at Rice
University. This process results in the production of extremely desirable,
high quality tetrapod quantum dots at a cost savings in excess of 95% when
compared to existing production processes. In addition to the cost savings
as compared to other quantum dot production methods, Photovoltaic quantum
dots, which are the type Dr. Wong is working with, are exciting because
they have the potential to convert more than 90% of the solar energy
collected into electricity, which represents three times the theoretical
limit of silicon-based solar cells. They can also be tuned to deliver
either high voltage or high amperage, something that's difficult with
conventional silicon cells. They can be placed behind a protective shell,
thus ensuring greater longevity and a greater ROI for end users. Solterra
Renewable technologies has secured the world wide exclusive license for
this leading edge technology and is about to enter the commercialization
stage of development on this extremely exciting Solar Cell.
Hague also announces that on October 9, 2008, Solterra concluded a
worldwide exclusive license with the William Marsh Rice University for
intellectual property which includes the "Synthesis of Uniform Nanoparticle
Shapes with High Selectivity." The licensing agreement field of use broadly
covers the manufacture and sale of photovoltaic cells and the manufacture
and sales of quantum dots for electronic and medical applications.
Rice University's breakthrough discovery has been the highlight of
numerous scientific journal articles and has gained the attention of
mainstream news media. This new chemical method for making low cost,
four-legged cadmium selenide quantum dots, which previous research has
shown to be particularly effective at converting sunlight into electrical
energy, knocks down a major barrier in developing quantum-dot-based
photovoltaics as an alternative to the conventional, more expensive
silicon-based solar cells.
"The lack of low cost, high-quality tetrapods of the cadmium selenide
kind has been a major roadblock in developing tetrapod-based solar cell
devices. With this breakthrough technology that is no longer the case,"
said Stephen B. Squires, CEO and President of Solterra Renewable
Technologies, Inc. Squires continued with, "We believe that we are now
positioned to revolutionize the solar panel industry in offering the most
cost effective and efficient panels ever produced at a time that they are
more in demand than ever before."
The Rice process produces same-sized particles, in which more than 90
percent are tetrapods; previously even in the best recipe less than 50
percent of the prepared particles were tetrapods. Furthermore, the Rice
process uses much cheaper raw materials and fewer purification steps
reducing the production cost by 80% or more. A positively charged molecule
called cetyltrimethylammonium bromide provides this drastic improvement in
tetrapod manufacture. This compound, found in some shampoos, also happens
to be 100 times cheaper than alkylphosphonic acids and is far safer,
further simplifying the manufacturing process.
In addition to photovoltaic applications low cost high quality quantum
dots are widely thought to be the enabling factor for a variety of other
emerging technologies including high performance QD based lasers, color
displays, solid state lighting, bioimaging , quantum computers and
solar/hydrogen generation.
Solterra is scheduled to begin scale up of this revolutionary
technology in early November 2008 with commercial production anticipated to
begin in the second half of 2009.