Irish equipment and process developer Nines Photovoltaics has secured €3m funding from European energy company InnoEnergy.
The investment will help it in bringing its novel solar PV manufacturing process – atmospheric dry etching (ADE) to market.
ADE is set to transform the economics of solar PV manufacturing by future-proofing against technology advancements. It is a universal texturing process for any type of crystalline wafer and allows seamless switch of wafer supply – making it highly cost effective.
Wafers textured using this process will provide extra low reflectivity over conventional technologies increasing the efficiency of solar cells.
The solar market is expected to grow to 489 GW by 2020 fuelled by a rise in demand for renewable energy sources. To capitalise on this rapid market growth, Nines PV – based in Ireland – will use the funding to develop and commercialise a high throughput production tool that will enable manufacturers to produce 6,000 wafers per hour.
The tool will be developed in collaboration with machine builder, NTS System for delivery to Hanwha Q CELLS.
In addition to the funding, InnoEnergy will support Nines PV in the consolidation of its business case. To do this, InnoEnergy will leverage its ecosystem to provide support such as business development and sales, fundraising, team enhancement and marketing and communications expertise.
InnoEnergy renewable energy thematic leader Javier Sanz said: “This is exactly the type of innovation that gets us excited. This technology has the ability to transform the economics of solar PV manufacturing and drastically increase solar cell efficiency.
“ADE ticks all the boxes in our mission to accelerate Europe’s energy transition towards a low-carbon future.”
Nines PV CEO Edward Duffy said: “InnoEnergy’s investment proves the transformative potential of the technology. But it’s not just their investment – InnoEnergy’s expansive network will help us find the right partners to make this project a success.
“By commercialising our tool, we believe we can play a major role in the upcoming wave of PV cell production and look forward to seeing how the market reacts.”
Nines PV is planning to rollout the new high throughput industrial tool in 2019.
Source: Company Press Release