Could be other possible things in play.
Natcore's approach really is a serious attempt to solve the incidence angle problem without the need to track the sun with a panel. The idea of close to zero reflected light is of course tied into that result. As is the idea of black silicon, all of it results in the same thing, more effective power collection in probably most locations / situations over most weather conditions with no need to track the sun in a physical manner. Nobody else probably has done anything close to it in real World panel production yet. Just this development could be huge for solar farms development on a large scale.
And Natcore seems to be saying with this second AR-Box design it all can be done with this one method and apparently at some fairly fast / cheap production rate.
And couple in the idea of they might also be able to effect / influence how electrons move / get collected within the panel materials structure by whatever adds to the value. Maybe in this generation of AR-Box???? How close are we to some announcement on this second AR-Box abilities, got to the fairly close??
But to my mind, you also have to consider the 600 pound Gorilla waiting in the wings. Did GE forget about the solar game? I don't think so. Got their fingers burnt jumping into approaches where the technology probably was not there and could not be pushed to desired levels. And GE probably understands it is all about technology and where can they get some of the most cutting edge stuff that can actually work in production scenarios right now or maybe very close to doing it. GE probably also don't want to share very cutting edge technology but has been extremely clear in corporate objectives about being in the solar business.
They have talked about where they would like to manufacture and market panels. Like most things, they have a World view. They see South America as a prime market and have moved other manufacturing there, for starters.
Would Natcore be willing to take the solar game so far and then sell all the development in solar to GE??? Stranger things do happen. Could Natcore remain as a research entity in some fashion but remain an independent company pursuing other areas listed on the Website for their expertise with a lot more money. Solar is not the only game in town.
I would sort of like to see it in something along this line. Some way to raise a ton of money and then apply their technology to many other areas. Solar is nice but also a very tough nut to crack.
You can speculate till the cows come home. Chuck has said it is about share holder value. If you can sell out the solar interest now or in a not too distance future that might be one way to get value quick. Could have a great debate about how much it might be worth.
Anywho, I think there are many potential things in the wind. Something a bit out of the ordinary would not surprise me. They have taken an applied technology approach to being able to apply it to the real World. At some point it got to pay off.
At some point GE has to try to figure out how to get into the solar game for real. That means get hands on the technology that can be applied / demo'd for the right price. Some of the other big boys have walked away from solar but I would still bet GE would love to be a player with the right techology. What they might have to pay Natcore might be chump change to them for starters. Would not only get technology that could be applied now pretty quick but a series of other potential developments that with more like unlimited funds could be into fruit within a reasonable time frame.
What would a rumor of GE talking to Natcore do to the SP??? At some point they got to be a visitor to the lab. They tried buying a sort of production company approach, common sense sezs you want to be looking at the applied research type companies, especially if they are geared to being able to demo it in something close to real production standards.
