Jan 30 2011
Producer of CIGSe/CIGS kind thin-film solar modules, Sulfurcell has received €18.8 million equity funding for the development and commercialization of its innovative second-generation thin-film photovoltaic technology for solar modules.
The CIGSe technology can produce solar modules with the same efficiency of the traditional modules, but at half of the expenditure of production.
The funding is a consequence of Sulfurcell’s recent achievement of producing thin-film solar modules with an efficiency of 12.6% in full scale. Sulfurcell’s ability to produce ultra-efficiency CIGSe-type photovoltaic modules in an industrial scale establishes the company as one of the prominent companies using CIGSe/CIGS technology. The company’s investors have financed the purchase of extra CIGSe equipment and continuing research and development efforts aiming at 14% effectiveness in the coming 12 to 18 months.
Intel Capital, the investment unit of Intel, led the funding round. Intel was included by a consortium of major United States and European clean tech investors, who granted an equity funding worth €85 million to Sulfurcell in July 2008. The investors were Copenhagen-based Bankinvest Group, London-based Zouk Ventures and Climate Change Capital Private Equity, Paris-based Demeter and New York-based Masdar Clean Tech Investments. The long-term investors headed by GdF Suez and Vattenfall Europe, who backed the company since the first funding round in 2002 have also invested significantly.
Sulfurcell has a 35-MW production plant that mass-produces its high-efficiency CIGSe-type solar modules, which was introduced into the market in 2005. Since then, the company has established its position as an innovative and complete solutions provider for the commercial rooftop, building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) and solar development market segments.
Source: http://www.sulfurcell.com