Blueberries are some of the most healthy foods on the planet, according to many naturalists and holistic health practitioners. The berry itself has flavors that range from mildly sweet to tart and tangy, and in addition, blueberries can help with a range of health problems. And now, blueberries may be able to help with our energy problems, too.

Researchers at Tufts University analyzed 60 fruits and vegetables for their antioxidant capability -- and blueberries came out on top, rating highest in their capacity to destroy free radicals. All of the benefits of the blueberry are now being added to with a neat and modern technological twist, as scientists from the University of Tor Vergata in Rome announced that they developed a new type of solar panel made with the pigment of blueberries.

The research team concluded that they could make a solar panel that was completely devoid of all silicon, and the end result was a solar panel that is much cheaper and more efficient, because the panels are more flexible. In fact, future solar panels based on the blueberry pigment could even be made into transparent sheets.

The research team's technology is based on the idea that organic semiconductors could significantly reduce the cost of producing solar panels -- a main drawback of this alternative energy source. Solar panels that are currently in use have an efficiency rate of 15 percent -- which means that the electric energy produced is 15 percent of the solar energy captured.

Newer solar panels using only organic materials -- such as the pigments of blueberries -- are achieving an efficiency of 4 percent in the lab setting, but the hybrid panels created with a mixture of organic and inorganic material are already presenting efficiency rates of 10 percent or more, which is close to what current commercial panels offer.

The blueberry-enhanced solar panel technology may start competing with traditional solar panel technology soon if it continues to show the promise it has recently.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law this past September that accelerates the timetable for 20 percent of electricity to come from solar, wind and other clean power sources like solar power by using solar panel. The move to renewable energy is gathering steam in several states as voters and governors push electric utilities to generate a set percentage of electricity from clean sources such as wind and solar power.

According to the Department of Energy, 20 states and the District of Columbia have approved similar measures that require various percentages of electrical power come from renewable sources by the year 2020.

In fact, more and more states are forcing utilities toward wind, solar power and other renewable energy sources in order to curb the consumption of coal and natural gas and spur greater U.S. energy independence along the way.

The burning of coal produces greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide that contribute to climate change and global warming, and power plants fueled by natural gas pollute the air with sulfur dioxide as well.

Opposition to these measures is coming mostly from utilities and fossil fuel industries. They say the switch will be costly for consumers and businesses. In fact, the National Association of Manufacturers opposed a proposed federal requirement to use renewable energy during a Senate hearing last year -- because it would reduce the flexibility of utilities in choosing fuels and damage businesses by increasing costs.

In 2004, Colorado voters approved a referendum requiring that the state draw 10 percent of its electricity from renewable sources. In October, the state's largest utility -- Xcel Energy -- announced it would meet the 10 percent target by 2007.

Colorado's Xcel -- which serves 1.3 million customers -- is now studying how it could attain a higher percentage of renewable energy. The company is "looking at it" according to an Xcel spokesperson, who pointed out the intermittent reliability of wind and solar power.

Solar Power EnerTech Corp. (OTCBB: SOEN) (the Company) will celebrate this week with the news that California's Million Solar Roofs bill, SB1 authored by Senator Kevin Murray, has finally passed on the Senate Floor by a vote of 36 to 4, and that the solar industry has at last gained bipartisan support for the nation's largest and most comprehensive solar program in the United States.

The bill was signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger at a ceremony held at the new solar powered CalTrans building in downtown Los Angeles last week.

Throughout the past months after the original Million Solar Roofs bill was defeated by legislature, Solar EnerTech Corp., a California-based company, kept busy building its solar cell production plant in Shanghai, with the firm belief that the bill, or a similar act would someday become law and that the Company would become a supplier for the million solar roofs in its home state.

That day finally came last Tuesday. The new legislation dovetails with the existing Solar panel Initiative program established by the California Public Utilities Commission in January and moves the State rapidly towards the goal of building a million solar roofs within the next ten years. The primary components of the bill allow for increasing the cap on net metering thereby allowing solar customers to get credits on their electric bill for excess power generated by their personal solar system. SB1 increases the cap from 0.5% of a utility's total load to 2.5% enabling approximately 500,000 new solar system owners access to the net metering program.

Solar panels become a mandated standard option for all new homebuyers, thus empowering new home buyers the choice to add solar panels during new home construction. The bill also directs the California Energy Commission to asses and determine if and when solar power should be mandated on new construction as a standard, non-optional feature.

The law also requires that the state's municipal utilities create a solar rebate program, totaling $800 million in rebate funds to drive municipal utility ratepayers toward solar power and further directs the California State Licensing Board to review current licensing requirements for solar installers in order to determine if they have been adequately trained to install the large numbers of solar roofs expected to be purchased as a result of this program.

The overall effect of the law which is scheduled to come into effect January 1, 2007 is simply stated as having created the largest solar program in the nation and is aiming to build 3,000 MW of solar power -- the equivalent of 6 large power plants -- on homes, businesses, farms, and schools throughout the state.

Solar EnerTech developed its business model and soon-to-be-operational manufacturing facilities in Shanghai founded on the overall growth of the industry with the knowledge that many influential individuals and legislators both in the United States and abroad have shown unyielding commitment to alternative energy sources that have resulted in a number of highly effective programs and initiatives becoming enacted in a relatively short period of time. As a natural result of the increased demands brought about by these new acts, solar cell production supply will become the key for a successful outcome for manufacturers, integrators and consumers alike.

In China, with its sustained annual growth of 10% for more than 20 years and its relatively inexpensive labor and rich natural resources, the Company identified an extraordinary opportunity for a foreign renewable energy company to locate its manufacturing facility there, and Solar Enertech wasted no time grasping this opportunity. Leo S. Young, founder and CEO of the company, was a senior member of a California trade mission to the country last November and along with the participation of Governor Schwarzenegger managed to organize an Energy Round Table in Beijing, at which Schwarzenegger, key business leaders and Chinese high officials met for a series of discussions. During the round table, policies for renewable energy by both governments were discussed, favorable incentive packages were outlined, and a mechanism for communication and cooperation between California and China was established.

Less than two months later, China inaugurated its Renewable Energy Act (in January 2006), and Solar Power Enertech launched construction of its solar cell manufacturing plant in Shanghai beginning in February. As of today, the Company's infrastructure and production facility are on schedule to begin producing solar cells in late November at the anniversary of the Energy Round Table in Beijing.

About Solar Energy Tech Corp. (OTCBB: SOEN)

Solar Power EnerTech is a photovoltaic (PV) solar energy cell manufacturing enterprise based in Shanghai, China where the Company is establishing a sophisticated 42,000 square foot manufacturing and research facility in Shanghai's Jinqiao Modern Science and Technology Park. Solar EnerTech plans to invest in PV cell research to develop higher solar power efficiency cells and put the results of that research to use immediately in its manufacturing processes. Led by one of the industry's top scientists, the Company's R&D program will work to bring Solar power EnerTech to the forefront of advanced solar power technology research and production. The Company has also established a marketing, purchasing and distribution arm in Northern California's Silicon Valley.

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for statements of historical fact, the information presented herein may contain forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, solar power performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, solar power performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include general economic and business conditions, the ability to acquire and develop specific projects, the ability to fund operations and changes in consumer and business consumption habits and other factors over which Solar Power EnerTech Corp. has little or no control.