Professor of photonics at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland, Michael Graetzel, won the Millennium Technology Prize of $1.07 million for his invention – dye-sensitized solar cells, which he calls “Graetzel cells.”

“The constraint of solar energy has traditionally been its price. Graetzel cells provide a more affordable way of harnessing solar energy,” said Ainomaija Haarla, president of the Technology Academy of Finland. “Graetzel’s innovation is likely to have an important role in low-cost, large scale solutions for renewable energy.”

These innovative new kind of dye-sensitized solar cells are cheap, and can work on across many avenues. Graetzel cells have no need of a big manufacturing plant to make, and are less expensive than solid-state cell designs in bulk. They are built to last and can be engineered into flexible sheets. They also require no protection from external forces.