TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - CERAMICS AND GLASS - Preferred Materials: The crossbeams may be formed of ceramic or glass. The insulating support may be formed of borosilicate glass or ceramic. The rigid curved support may be glass.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ELECTRONICS - Preferred Method: Preferred Method: The method includes mounting the structure to a rigid curved support to provide a curved solar cell module, or conformally mounting the structure to a rigid planar support and deforming the resulting assembly to provide a non-planar solar cell sub-module; and processing portion(s) of at least one face of each solar cell in the solar cell sub-module. Processing includes depositing a coating, e.g. anti-reflection coating, passivation coating, and/or metallization on portion (s) of the faces. Alternatively, formation of solar cell sub-module includes dispensing elongated solar cells from an elongated substrate-dispensing unit into respective slots of an alignment jig, and attaching the solar cells to a substrate, crossbeam, or electrical interconnects to form the solar cell sub-module; or engaging a length of electrical interconnect with an engagement tool having mutually spaced engagement sections so that only mutually spaced regions of electrical interconnect are engaged by the tool, and applying a cutting tool to locations of electrical interconnect between the engaged regions to cut the engaged electrical interconnect into corresponding lengths of electrical interconnect.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ELECTRICAL POWER AND ENERGY - Preferred Components: The elongated solar cells and conductive pathways form the structure. The elongated solar cells are mounted to a thermally compatible support to prevent damage to the solar cells or conductive pathways during a change in temperature. The solar cells are electrically interconnected in series to increase the output voltage of solar cell sub-module or in parallel to reduce the effect of shadowing on output of sub-module. The solar cells may be electrically interconnected as groups electrically interconnected in parallel, with the solar cells in each group being electrically interconnected in series. The solar cells abut one another or are mutually spaced. Each solar cell has two active faces, and the spacing between solar cells is selected based on the illumination of active faces and the number of solar cells in the sub-module. Each solar cell includes electrically conductive contacts on its two adjacent surfaces, and the conductive pathways are planar electrically conductive regions mounted to the electrically conductive contacts, electrically interconnecting the solar cells. The structure includes support(s) or crossbeam(s) (102) to which the solar cells are mounted. The support is compliant to accommodate thermal expansion of the solar cells. The structure may be encapsulated within a transparent encapsulating material. The solar cells may be mounted on an electrically insulating continuous or semicontinuous support, and the conductive pathways are formed on the electrically insulating support. The insulating support is mounted to a heat sink. A sheet of pliant material may be mounted to the structure to provide a resilient solar cell sub-module, or the structure may be conformally mounted to a rigid curved support, e.g. curved extruded aluminum receiver for a linear concentrator. Preferred Dimensions: The size of the structure is selected to be the same as the size of a standard solar cell.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - METALLURGY - Preferred Materials: The crossbeams are formed of silicon or metal. The insulating support is formed of silicon.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - POLYMERS - Preferred Materials: The crossbeams may be formed of polymer. The insulating support may be formed of plastic.