While its never been easy to bring next generation PV technology to market, given the overcapacities and rapid price declines in recent years its been more-or-less impossible. That hasnt stopped a number of startups from trying and Solexel appears to be making progress towards commercializing its thin c-Si cell technology, raising another financing round.
Solexel has announced that earlier this month is closed another equity round of financing, attracting further funding from a group of VCs including Kleiner Perkins, Caufield & Byers, Technology Partners, DAG Ventures, Northgate Capital, GSV Capital Group, Gentry Venture Partners and Jasper Ridge Partners. A new investor in roofing materials manufacturer GAF joined the round. Fellow Californian producer SunPower is also a Solexel investor.
Solexel is attempting to bring to market its thin-c-Si technology. Its process involves a 35-micron-thick c-Si semiconductor layer being deposited in a vacuum chamber, with the resultant p-type cell requiring aluminum back contacting therefore avoiding the use of silver. The company targets 20% module efficiency at $0.42/W.
As certified by National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Solexel holds the world?record efficiency for a production?format (156mm x 156mm) thin?crystalline?silicon solar cell, Solexel wrote in a statement announcing the closing of its latest financing round.
In the statement Solexel indicates that it is moving from R&D to commercial production. It plans to integrate optimizing power electronics into its modules.
Due to the thin nature of the cells, Solexel said that its modules will be lightweight, allowing them to be deployed on residential and commercial rooftops with weight restrictions. Given this and the addition of roofing materials firm GAF to Solexels investors, potential BIPV applications for the Solexel technology may also be on the cards.
Despite the difficulties in startups realizing their commercial aspirations in recent times, it looks like the outlook for technology such as Solexels is improving. SolarCitys acquisition of Silevo shows there is an appetitive for new technology and different approaches to cell architecture and a trend towards increased high efficiency monocrystalline production capacity is simultaneously taking shape.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.