WROCLAW, (Poland): A Polish company on Friday launched the world's first industrial production line of solar panels based on groundbreaking perovskite technology, which could revolutionise access to solar power. Named after the Baltic goddess of the sun, Saule Technologies makes sheets of solar panels using a novel inkjet printing procedure invented by company founder Olga Malinkiewicz.

"We're scaling up, going from laboratory to production line," said Malinkiewicz, whose firm is based in the southern city of Wroclaw.

The cutting-edge technology has been in the works for close to a decade but the plant opening comes at a fortuitous time, as the EU member is experiencing a solar boom.

Poland has long relied on coal for most of its energy needs but under an EU plan to cut emissions, its mines are set to shut by 2049.

Photovoltaic panels coated with perovskite film are light, flexible and can easily be fixed to almost any surface to produce electricity even inside buildings.

Manufacturing costs are down thanks to the inkjet printing procedure for perovskites, which makes it possible to produce the panels under lower temperatures.

Malinkiewicz developed the processing method in 2013 while still a PhD student at the University of Valencia in Spain.