treehugger.com — After receiving a $3 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy's SunShot Incubator program in 2007, Colorado-based thin-film manufacturer PrimeStar commercialized thin-film photovoltaic (PV) panels based on technology pioneered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Last year, the company was acquired by GE, which now plans to construct a large-scale manufacturing plant in Colorado that will employ more than 350 workers.