Being made in a factory is important but I think to get a steep learning curve you need both ongoing manufacturing and design improvements. For example, today's solar panels are not just less expensive. They produce more power per unit area and last longer than ones made just a few years ago.
Being made in a factory is important but I think to get a steep learning curve you need both ongoing manufacturing and design improvements. For example, today's solar panels are not just less expensive. They produce more power per unit area and last longer than ones made just a few years ago.
- High enough volume to justify tooling and automation
- Profitable enough to pay for R&D
- Base technology implementation is immature enough to provide room for improvement (from the start we knew the theoretical efficiency limit of silicon PV was nearly 30%)
- Design improvements can be fit into existing production flow so you don't need to recapitalize and relearn your manufacturing lessons.
- Regulatory and safety do not prevent ongoing changes and improvements to the design and manufacturing (will regulators let modular nuclear designers continuously improve their designs?)
Being made in a factory is important but I think to get a steep learning curve you need both ongoing manufacturing and design improvements. For example, today's solar panels are not just less expensive. They produce more power per unit area and last longer than ones made just a few years ago.
- High enough volume to justify tooling and automation
- Profitable enough to pay for R&D
- Base technology implementation is immature enough to provide room for improvement (from the start we knew the theoretical efficiency limit of silicon PV was nearly 30%)
- Design improvements can be fit into existing production flow so you don't need to recapitalize and relearn your manufacturing lessons.
- Regulatory and safety do not prevent ongoing changes and improvements to the design and manufacturing (will regulators let modular nuclear designers continuously improve their designs?)