Several weeks ago MSNBC published an article Origami boosts solar panel productivity, which discusses the design of 3D solar panels. A genetic algorithm is used in the discussed work to find the optimal shape of the 3D solar panels. From the original article:
Assuming a roughly 1,075-square-foot area (100 square meters), flat solar panels would generate roughly 50 kilowatt-hours daily. In comparison, the best 3-D structures the researchers came up with — jagged clusters of 64 triangles — could harvest more than 60 kilowatt-hours daily if the devices were 6.5-feet high (2 meters) and up to 120 kilowatt-hours daily if the designs was roughly 33-feet high (10 meters).