Vancouver BC company Day4 Energy [1] says they have developed a design and manufacturing process for a new line of solar cells with efficiency up to 19%. The company says the new design also lowers production costs by up to 25% using existing manufacturing infrastructure.

Sanyo Electric Company [2] of Japan says they have developed new technology that boosts their solar cell efficiency to 23%. It is still in the research phase, but the company expects to begin mass production of 22% or better efficiency solar cells in 2010.