SoloPower

SoloPower
Private
Industry Solar Energy
Founded 2005
Headquarters San Jose, California, U.S.
Key people
 Tim Harris (CEO)
Ryan Benton (CFO)
Products Solar panels
Website solopower.com

SoloPower is a solar energy company developing and manufacturing Copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) Thin-film flexible Photo-voltaic Solar Panels. The company uses a special electroplating technology to utilize nearly 100% of its materials.[1]

SoloPower is based in San Jose, California, and has achieved the distinction of being the first company to obtain UL Certification of CIGS flexible solar panels in 2010.[2] This was lauded as a significant achievement by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.[3] Later the same year, the company also received IEC Certification (IEC 61646 and 61730) of its flexible CIGS solar panels, again an industry first.[4] In March 2012, the company's modules set a world record aperture efficiency of 13.4% for flexible CIGS Solar Panels, as measured by NREL.[5]

Company history

SoloPower was founded by Bulent Basol and Homayoun Talieh in 2005.[6] The company started its pilot manufacturing line in December of the same year.[7]

In 2010, SoloPower held talks with the town of Wilsonville, Oregon to set up a manufacturing plant there. In 2011, the United States Department of Energy approved a $197 Million Loan Guarantee to the company, enabling a 400MW manufacturing plant in Oregon.[8] In May 2011, SoloPower decided to move the manufacturing facility to Portland instead.[9] In April, 2013, SoloPower announced plans to suspend operations at the Portland plant and gut the remaining workforce.[10]

SoloPower was announced a winner of the 2012 TiE50 award in the category of Clean Energy.[11][12]

Funding

The Norwegian firms Convexa Capital, Spencer Energy and Scatec have invested approximately $30 Million into SoloPower in 2007.[13] The United States Department of Energy has also funded the company.[14] In early 2011, the company received $13.5 Million from Crosslink Capital.[15] Lead investors in the company include Hudson Clean Energy Partners, Crosslink Capital, Convexa, and Firsthand.[16]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Our Difference - SoloPower®". Solopower.com. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  2. ↑ "SoloPower trumpets certification for flexible solar modules". CNET. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  3. ↑ SoloPower, Inc. (7 September 2010). "SoloPower Is First Ever to Receive UL Certification for a Flexible CIGS... -- SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 7 /PRNewswire/ --". Prnewswire.com. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  4. ↑ "SoloPower earns pair of IEC certifications for flexible CIGS thin-film PV module". Pv-tech.org. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  5. ↑ Archived March 17, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ↑ Archived April 14, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ "Corporate - SoloPower®". Solopower.com. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  8. ↑ Ehren Goossens (17 February 2011). "U.S. Offers $197 Million Loan Guarantee for SoloPower Plant in Oregon". Bloomberg. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  9. ↑ "SoloPower to announce plans for $340 million North Portland solar panel plant". OregonLive.com. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  10. ↑ "SoloPower moves to power down Portland factory, gut remaining workforce". OregonLive.com. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  11. ↑ "SoloPower Receives TiE50 Award in Energy and Cleantech". Pv.energytrend.com. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  12. ↑ Archived August 5, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
  13. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20110405074721/http://www.solopower.com/red_herring_071207.html. Archived from the original on April 5, 2011. Retrieved April 13, 2011. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  14. ↑ Archived April 12, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
  15. ↑ "Flexible solar panel maker SoloPower raises $13.5M". VentureBeat. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  16. ↑ "SoloPower Sets Record for Flexible CIGS Solar Panel Efficiency". Eon.businesswire.com. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
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