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July 02, 2006
Q-Cells Invests In Swiss Solar Startup
Solar cell manufacturer -- Q-Cells, which had one of Europe's best venture-backed IPOs last year with a current market cap of € 2.4B -- has invested €7M in Swiss startup Flexcell (formerly known as VHF Technologies) to finance the younger firm's first production line. It's a minority stake with the potential to go to 51 percent if production quotas are met.
This is a diversification move for Q-Cells whose solar cells are made from ingots of silicon, sawn finely into wafers and then cut and assembled into cells. This type of photovoltaic produces the most electricity but it relies on a steady and reasonably priced supply of so-called polycrystalline and monocrystalline silicon ingots.
Flexcell's manufacturing process is different. It uses a gas form of silicon which is applied to a surface in a thin film. They are much cheaper to make and can even be applied to non-rigid surfaces (a couple of examples from Flexcell are show here), but they are less efficient and so are targeted at apps that Q-Cells is probably not yet addressing.
Flexcell was founded in 2000 at the Ecole d'Ingénieurs du Canton de Neuchâtel, in the heart of the country's watchmaking (and wine) country. Although it has been around for a while, it had yet to find either a VC or a strategic partner that could expedite the industrialization of its innovation. So this deal with Q-Cells is a good one. The German company has quite the track record in solar cell manufacturing and business development
Read - Giant Solar company Q-Cells invests in new Swiss technology (flexcell press release)
Posted on July 2, 2006 08:08 AM | Posted to Alternative Energy | News And Updates | Venture Capital | Permalink
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