The latest operational update says the solar cell project is "well advanced" but still coming. November 2007 was to be the completion date and now it appears that "mid year" 2008 will stetch to November or December. Nevertheless, a completed thin-film multi-junction photovoltaic collector doped with rare earth oxides should be worth the wait. 

The objective is a relatively low cost, robust sheet of silicon film which can be laid on glass and able to capture most of the sun's radiant energy from dawn to dusk regardless of light conditions.

The immediate objective is third party ratification so that mass production can begin next year. In previous updates the photonic processor project was slated for a late 2008 release, but we are unclear whther this too will be delayed as Silex is not given to plain English announcements.

Still, the market has taken the delay of the silicon project with remarkable equanimity. There was slight dip, but during turbulent week, the market has held around $6.90- 7.00 perhaps because the nuclear enrichment project now funded by the GE-Hitachi consortium seemed to be going as planned or even ahead of shedule.  .   

The photonic processor project seems to also be on track with some advances made in materials. Silex followers tend to become befogged by the opaque language of these releases, but as we understand Silex through its Californian subsidiary and some collaborator laboraties is within a short distance of the holy grail of data processing: the use of light (photons) to drive micro-circuits, so producing a step up in speed and a sudden shrinkage in size as the cicruits will be much cooler. With heat dispersal no longer required it is a case of "Honey, I shrank the chip"

We hesitate to guess the commercial value of a both projects if succesfully commercialised,but clearly the global potential is large.  Europe is already preparing for a de-carbonised world with the French led Euopean-North African energy grid. Solar,wind and geo-thermal resources from the Sahara to Denmark are united in one system.