About 970 trillion kWh of solar energy reaches the earth every single day, which is equivalent to almost 300 times the annual electricity needs of the United States. An area of 150 kilometres x 150 kilometres covered with solar cells would supply the total current electricity needs for the entire United States of America (J.A. Turner, Science 285, 1999, p. 687). Moreover, this assumes these solar cells are only 15% efficient. Currently, multi-junction gallium arsenide solar cells that are used in 500+ times concentrating panels have an efficiency range of 36% to 41%.

The Government of Ontario enacted its Green Energy Act, with the intention of producing more energy from renewable sources, as well as encouraging more small scale production that can be fed back into the power grid. Subsidies have been introduced to encourage private investment in renewable energy generation, with attractive rates being paid for generated solar power.

IBK Capital raised $26.5 million for OPEL Solar International Inc. (now POET Technologies Inc.) in a series of private placements of units of common shares and warrants, and advised OPEL to obtain a listing on the TSX Venture Exchange through the reverse take-over mechanism.