HelioVolt Corporation, a company devoted to providing solar technology for the mass market, is building a factory to produce it's solar energy products sometime in 2008. The new Austin facility will utilize HelioVolt's FASST technology, a manufacturing process including a patented "solar skin" that claims to be many times thinner than silicon, and a faster production process. The solar skin allows commercial-scale projects to hopefully become a widespread reality. This could be huge for Texas electricity customers.

What makes this development a possible green TKO in the long-term bout against global warming, is the potential for producing more cost-effective solar technologies, a renewable energy that has remained out of price range for many. If HelioVolt can live up to it's claims of production that is 10 to 100 times faster than traditional solar processes, then Texas may see viable options for solar architecture within the next decade, possibly matching the impressive wind portfolio that the state already has.