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Alternative Energy - Monday, November 30, 2009

Organic Solar Cell Maker Heliatek Raises $27M

Sporting solar cells on your roof will earn you green cred but call them organic solar cells and you really have something.

Heliatek out of Dresden, Germany has raised $27M (€18M) in second-round funding led by Wellington Partners with Bosch, RWE Innogy Ventures, BASF Venture Capital, the High-Tech-Gründerfonds, eCAPITAL entrepreneurial Partners, the Technologiegründerfonds Sachsen Start-up GmbH & Co. KG and GP Bullhound Sidecar.

Founded in 2006 as a spin-off from the Universities of Dresden and Ulm. Heliatek is starting off targeting mobile applications, such as handbags that can power cell phones. It also plans to operate in the solar building space. The company didn’t say when its production facility or its first commercial products would be ready.

Organic solar cells could be a low-cost alternative to silicon-based cells which have been dominant, but their biggest shortcomings to date are low power conversion efficiencies which range from 6-7%. Silicon-based cells range from12-20$ and have a reputation for poor durability. Heliatek says its cells have been third-party certified as reaching an efficiency of 6.1% and says that will improve to 8-10% within three years.

Among its competitors, Heliatek has a few big boys to content with. Lowell, MA-based Konarka Technologies has raised $45M in funding last year and is ahead of Healitek as Konarka is in production. El Monto, Calif.-based Solarmer is developing organic solar cells that could be attached to the back of cell phones to extend their battery lives. Solarmer says it has hit 6.7% efficiency.

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