CubicPV, a solar technology company, has secured an equity commitment of over $100 million in support of its U.S. factory plans and tandem product roadmap. The investment was led by SCG Cleanergy (a wholly owned subsidiary of SCG) with contributions from Hunt Energy Enterprises and Breakthrough Energy Ventures.
The investment will be split into two tranches, with the first $33 million released initially. The second tranche of investment is tied to specific project milestones. CubicPV plans to use the funds to scale up its wafer production capacity and accelerate its tandem module development.
CubicPV aims to build 10 gigawatts (GW) of wafer production in the United States. The company is also developing innovative tandem solar modules offering more than 30% greater efficiency than the highest efficiency conventional modules.
Tandem solar modules work by stacking two solar cells made of different semiconductor materials on top of each other. CubicPV uses silicon as the bottom cell and perovskite as the top cell. Silicon is the most widely used material for solar cells, while perovskite is a new material that has shown remarkable potential for high efficiency, low cost, and broad applicability in solar.
The company has developed a process called Direct Wafer Manufacturing, which eliminates the ingot and sawing steps from wafer production and produces a high-performance wafer directly from a bath of molten silicon, reducing silicon wafers’ cost and carbon footprint.
Solar wafer manufacturer NexWafe recently secured €30 million (~$32 million) from investors, including Reliance New Energy, to accelerate the construction of its first commercial-scale green solar wafers production facility in Germany’s Bitterfeld. In parallel, NexWafe will work with one of its other investors Aramco Ventures, on a green solar wafer production facility that will be built in Saudi Arabia with participation from the latter’s $1.5 billion Sustainability Fund.
According to Mercom’s Q1 2023 Solar Funding and M&A Report, Global VC funding for the solar sector in Q1 2023 came to $2.1 billion in 18 deals, a 40% increase compared to $1.5 billion raised in 18 deals in Q4 2022. Year-over-year funding was 75% higher compared to Q1 2022.
