QuantaSol Limited ("QuantaSol") has achieved the technical milestones required by the seed investors, triggering the second tranche of investment totalling £500,000.
QuantaSol received in June 2007 as part of an overall £1.35 million seed funding round £850,000, which included investment from Low Carbon Accelerator, Imperial Innovations, Numis Securities Ltd, Netscientific Ltd, and Sheffield University Enterprise. Low Carbon Accelerator and Imperial Innovations were co-lead equity investors. In January 2008, following the successful demonstration of single junction cell efficiencies exceeding 27% efficiency at 500 suns concentration, made from wafers grown in a commercial epitaxial production reactor, QuantaSol demonstrated the scalability and very high efficiency potential of quantum-well photovoltaic (QWPV) cells, and received the second tranche (£500,000) of the seed investment.
QuantaSol will provide solar photovoltaic ("PV") cells for use in concentrating photovoltaic ("CPV") systems for the fast growing utility-scale solar power generation market. Quantasol used the original funds to produce prototypes of its QWPV cells and to engage with potential customers for such cells and will use the additional funds to continue their product development.
CPV systems use relatively inexpensive optics such as mirrors or lenses to concentrate or focus light from a broad collection area onto a much smaller area of active semiconductor PV cell material. Since the PV semiconductor material usually dominates the costs of a solar PV system, reducing the amount of PV material required to capture a given amount of sunlight leads to substantially lower system cost and cost per watt of output.
QuantaSol's "third generation" cells are based on gallium arsenide and other semiconductor materials. These materials are more expensive than silicon, which is commonly used for flat panel PV cells, but have more than double the photovoltaic efficiency. QuantaSol plans to manufacture single and multi-junction concentrator solar cells with efficiency levels of up to 40% as opposed to silicon and thin film cells whose efficiencies are below 20%.
Currently, the world efficiency record for single junction cells, held by the US company Varian, stands at 27.8% and has been unequalled for 20 years. However, QuantaSol's cells are consistently recording efficiency levels of 27.5% and the management team are confident of reaching levels equal to or in excess of the world record during 2008.
Kevin Arthur, CEO of QuantaSol, said: "The world record for solar efficiency was a real one-off and our results consistently come very close to equalling that. With the new round of funding in place we are confident of setting a new efficiency record for single junction cells during 2008. The quantum wells also make it possible to enhance the efficiency of multi-junction cells and, during 2008, QuantaSol also aims to set a record 35% tandem (dual junction) cell efficiency."
Dr Tom Tibbits, Product Engineering Director, said, "We are justifiably proud of our achievements in such a short time, and look forward to developing very high efficiency QWPV tandem cell concepts for our customers in 2008. We have shown the inherent volume scalability of the technology and are developing relationships with strategic partners to assist us on our path to mass production."
Notes to Editors:
CPV is the technology of using focussing optics to drive the cost of photovoltaic electricity down by dramatically reducing the quantity of expensive semiconductor components in the system, replacing them with relatively cheap optical components. QuantaSol's cells are developed to cope with the much higher thermal and photon fluxes experienced by the cells in these systems. They are also more efficient than typical silicon based solar cells, further reducing cost.
QWPV cells were invented by company Founder Prof. Keith Barnham at Imperial College in 1989 and research into the concept has continued there ever since. The advantage that the quantum wells bring is the ability to 'tune' the cells to maximise the energy harvest in concentrator systems. This in turn reduces the cost of the electricity produced, helping make PV power cost-competitive with conventional electricity sources.