MIT solar spin off rakes in venture cash

Two fledgling solar materials companies with new approaches to solar cell manufacturing have netted tens of millions of dollars in venture funding.

MIT spinoff 1336 Technologies has secured $12m for a technology to help connect solar cells that loses less light than conventional methods, while Toronto-based 6N has hooked $20m for its new approach to purifying silicon.

Traditional solar cell manufacture uses a wire or flat ribbon to connect the cells together. 1336 Technologies uses a grooved ribbon inside the glass covering the cell, which reflects incoming light back at an angle, causing it to reflect from the inner surface of the glass back onto the cell. Along with technologies to alter the surface texture of cells, the company claims to increase the efficiency of a solar cell from 15 to 19 per cent.

1336 Technologies secured $12.4m in first round of financing co-led by North Bridge Venture Partners and Polaris Venture Partners. It plans to build a pilot plant, and to license the technology to others in a bid to achieve cost parity with coal.

6N, which received its second round funding from a team led by venture capital firm Good Energies, uses molten metal instead of the traditional vapour deposition process normally used to create solar-grade silicon.

"Traditional methods for making metallurgical silicon use the silicon refining process," explained Michael Ware, managing director of Good Energies. "But that requires very expensive plants that take a long time to get them up and running, as well as needing a lot of energy to run the reactors."

He added that the 6N process takes a smaller scale, modular approach to create the silicon. "The 6N process uses smaller electrical furnaces, and so has a lot less industrial infrastructure around it," he said, adding that you're also "using a lot less energy than you're using at the other plants".

It was also a good week for larger, established solar ventures as energy giant PG&E announced it has commissioned 500MW of solar thermal energy plants from Brightsource Energy, with an option for a further 400MW. Solar thermal energy works by focusing solar heat using arrays of mirrors. The heat is then used to create steam to turn a turbine.