U.S.-based wafer maker 1366 Technologies and U.S.-based solar technology company Hunt Perovskite Technologies (HPT) have merged their respective business into a new company called CubicPV.
The two companies said in a joint statement that the move is aimed at combining the best of their technologies, to achieve multi-junction solar cells with efficiencies of around 30%. “In a tandem structure, the bottom layer produces one-third of the device's energy but still carries 100% of the production cost,” they stated. “It is here where the direct wafer cost advantage is essential.”
1366 Technologies has developed a kerfless wafer production technique that does not require silicon ingots to be sawn into wafers and forms wafers directly, using molten silicon. HPT has so far been granted 18 patents by the United States Patent and Trademark Office and 30 additional patents by various foreign patent offices. These patents relate to a manufacturing process to produce printed metal halide perovskite photovoltaic (PV) devices.
The new entity will receive $25 million in funding from Texas-based investor Hunt Energy Enterprises LLC (HEE), U.S. thin-film manufacturer First Solar Inc. and Bill Gates-owned Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV), among others. “Our singular direct wafer process is the crucial advantage in making tandem modules a reality and with the HPT merger we have the blueprint for achieving economically-viable tandem solutions for terawatt-scale,” said 1366 Technologies CEO, Frank van Mierlo.
More details on how the two technologies will be integrated were not provided.
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