news digest ♦ Solar
clean tech investors who invested € 85m equity funding to Sulfurcell in July 2008. These were Climate Change Capital Private Equity (London), Bankinvest Group (Copenhagen), Zouk Ventures (London), Masdar Clean Tech Investments (New York) and Demeter (Paris).
In addition, Sulfurcell’s long-term investors who supported the company since the first financing round in 2002 contributed substantially and were led by Vattenfall Europe (Berlin) and GdF Suez (Berlin/Paris). These investors were joined by Ventegis Capital AG, IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft and others.
Nikolaus Meyer, CEO of Sulfurcell, said: “The financing is the result of our great progress in 2010 in which we developed an industrial manufacturing process delivering thin-film modules with efficiencies over 12%, while also ramping up our brand new 35 MW production plant and fully automated manufacturing facility. This additional funding from our existing investors is a vote of confidence that will allow us to accelerate our technological progress and to solidify Sulfurcell’s position as a global leader in CIGS/CIGSe technology.”
“In the last 5 years, Sulfurcell has become an important provider of solutions for solar construction and building-integrated photovoltaics,” said Heiko von Dewitz, Investment Director at Intel Capital which initially invested in 2008. “The investment will allow Sulfurcell to continue the successful development of its leading edge CIGSe technology. The company’s efforts align well with Intel’s focus on investing in the design, development and delivery of new technologies to address sustainability challenges.”
In 2001, Sulfurcell was founded as a spin-off from the Helmholtz Centre for Materials and Energy, previously known as the Hahn-Meitner Institute. The company’s 250 employees develop, manufacture and sell both Sulfur-based CIGS and Selenium- based CIGSe modules and products.
Solar Junction Raises Standards with 40.9% Efficiency
NREL tested the firm’s III-V standard solar cells manufactured in Solar Junction’s California-based facility and confirmed this result.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has verified that Solar Junction’s III-V standard multi-junction concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) based solar cell has 40.9% efficiency.
The cells tested were manufactured entirely in-house on the Solar Junction production line operating in San Jose, California.
“This verification from NREL of our standard, commercial-ready 5.5 mm triple junction cell, which is the dominant cell size integrated into CPV systems, validates the results that we have been seeing in-house, as well as the reports we have received from our customers,” states Jim Weldon, CEO, Solar Junction.
The cells were submitted in September for testing at NREL as part of Solar Junction’s SAI Incubator Grant. Solar Junction is in an efficiency ramp mode with its terrestrial-optimized cells and expects to see continual cell efficiency improvements as the company tests its newest and most advanced cells with its extensive in-house test and characterization capability.
SEMI Appoints COO of centrotherm to European Advisory Board
With over 20 years of experience in the semiconductor and photovoltaic equipment sectors, Dirk Stenkamp hopes to advance cost-efficient, prompt and high-volume production and provision of new product generations. He also hopes to strengthen Europe’s position as a globally leading region for high-end and high-quality equipment.
Dirk Stenkamp, Member of the Board and Chief Operating Officer of centrotherm photovoltaics AG
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www.compoundsemiconductor.net January / February 2011
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