AUSTIN, TX, July 20 – HelioVolt Corporation has completed a round of angel investor funding to finance the development of prototype solar cells using its patented thin film photovoltaics technology.
HelioVolt will build the devices during its Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the National Renewable Energy Laboratories in Golden, Colorado, where they will also be measured to document their electrical efficiency.
“We will overcome a long identified obstacle to widespread adoption of solar electricity – the lack of standardized low cost manufacturing systems for thin film compound semiconductors”, said Dr. BJ Stanbery, CEO of HelioVolt, who added, “standardized manufacturing systems were the key to high volume production of integrated circuits in the 1980’s, and we will provide them for solar cells.”
HelioVolt’s unique FASST™ production technology and manufacturing systems, protected by 5 issued and 2 pending patents, will be made available through licenses to manufacturers who want to produce a new generation of solar power modules at cost far below that of the crystalline silicon modules in the current power generation market.
HelioVolt recently received a Phase I SBIR contract award from the Missile Defense Agency to explore the use of FASST™ to produce photovoltaics for high attitude airship use.