Solar PV Growth
1366 Technologies, a new MIT start-up aiming to make silicon solar cells competitive with coal, today announced it has secured $12.4 million in a first round of financing co-led by North Bridge Venture Partners and Polaris Venture Partners.
MIT Professor, 1366 founder and CTO, Ely Sachs, noted that 1366 Technologies will be combining innovations in silicon cell architecture with manufacturing process improvements to bring multi-crystalline silicon solar cells to cost parity with coal-based electricity.
Sachs added, "The science is understood, the raw materials are abundant and the products work. All that is left to do is innovate in manufacturing and scale up volume production, and that's just what we intend to do." The company has just taken space in Lexington to build its pilot solar cell manufacturing facility.
1366 Technologies' roadmap includes a new cell architecture that uses innovative, low-cost fabrication methods to increase the efficiency of multi-crystalline solar cells. This architecture, developed at MIT, improves surface texture and metallization to enhance silicon solar cell efficiency by 25% (from 15 - 19%) while lowering costs. 1366 Technologies will partner with solar companies and government agencies, licensing its technology to accelerate the ongoing global transition to solar. In addition, the company plans to build industrial, 100 megawatt plants around the world.
"Once the pilot plant has proven itself, we'll work with governments and energy agencies worldwide to build a string of factories," said Carmichael Roberts, general partner at North Bridge Venture Partners who is joining 1366 Technologies board of directors as chairman.
Also joining the board is Bob Metcalfe, general partner at Polaris Venture Partners, who added, "By driving down the cost-per-watt of silicon solar cells, 1366 Technologies will drive continued development of the solar industry. Solar electricity will be central long term to meeting the world's accelerating needs for cheap and clean energy."
Professor Sachs previously invented the String ribbon� wafer technology being commercialized at Evergreen Solar, a leading developer of solar energy products. Both a founder and investor in 1366 Technologies, Sachs is taking a leave of absence from MIT to help build the company based on research developed at and licensed from MIT. Sachs is joined by 1366 Technologies co-founder and investor, Frank van Mierlo, who serves as the company's president. Harvard Business School professor Joseph Lassiter rounds out the board of directors, all of whom hold degrees from MIT.
About 1366 Technologies
1366 Technologies is making silicon solar cells competitive with coal. Our goal is to build on the success of multi-crystalline solar cells and manufacturing capacity to accelerate the transition to solar. Our products and technologies improve on the multi-crystalline solar cell by lowering manufacturing costs and increasing efficiency. For more information please visit: www.1366tech.com.
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March 27, 2008
Sharp Corporation Invests in Thin-Film Solar Plant
Sharp reveals its thin-film solar cell plant investment in Sakai, Japan and its expectations for rapid market growth as PV becomes a staple of future generation
Press Release March 27, 2008
Horizontal Deployment of Thin-Film Technology for TFT LCDs Annual Production Capacity on 1 GW Scale
Sharp Corporation has made a total capital investment of approximately 72 billion yen to build a thin-film solar cell plant in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture that is capable of boosting annual production up to a scale of 1 GW per year.
Production will begin by March 2010 with a 480 MW initial production capacity for solar cells. Combined with the 160 MW capacity of the Katsuragi Plant (Nara Prefecture), this will expand Sharp's global total production capacity for thin-film solar cells to 1 GW in April 2010.
The market for photovoltaic (PV) solar cells is expected to expand rapidly. And as the number of large-scale solar power generation systems around the world increases, it is said that solar power will become a staple of renewable energy in the future.
With the introduction of the new manufacturing facility in the Sakai Plant that utilises large-size glass substrates, jointly developed together with Tokyo Electron Limited, Sharp will dramatically improve production efficiency and be able to respond more efficiently to booming demand. The Sakai Plant will also serve as a model for thin-film solar cell plants to be developed around the world.
Main Features of the New Thin-Film Solar Cell Plant in Sakai
1. Manufacturing complex for the 21st century
Through horizontal deployment of TFT LCD thin-film technology, a cutting-edge LCD panel plant and a thin-film solar cell plant will be established next to each other, allowing infrastructure facilities and materials manufacturing plants, etc., to all be concentrated within the same manufacturing complex.
2. Enlarging glass substrate size
Production efficiency will be improved through the enlargement of the glass substrate size to 1,000 x 1,400 mm, which is approximately 2.7 times larger than the area of previous substrates (560 x 925 mm).
http://solar.sharpusa.com/solar/home/0,2462,,00.html