With Solar Impulse plying its way around the globe, solar-powered flight is getting plenty of press, but there are dozens of other quieter projects already in service or in development. A California company called Alta Devices is building super-efficient solar panels for these, but the company recently told us that as with pure electric aircraft, battery technology remains a barrier.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/recent-updates/business-military/solar-powered-aircraft-still-hobbled-by-batteries