ナノソーラーが３００ｍ、ミアソーレが１３０ｍもＣＩＧＳ薄膜で
投資集めています。
出荷した製品はどうなってるんでしょうねぇ。
まだ、劣化とかばれないんでしょうねぇ。
http://media.cleantech.com/3311/nansolar-grabs-300-million-utility-solar-thin-film
Nanosolar grabs $300 million for utility solar-UPDATE
August 27, 2008 - Exclusive
By Emma Ritch, Cleantech Group
Manufacturer joins pack of thin-film companies securing big bucks to take innovations to production stage.
San Jose, Calif.-based Nanosolar has raised $300 million in equity to expand production of its thin-film panels for solar power plants, Nanosolar CEO Martin Röscheisen told the Cleantech Group today.
The financing—a combination of supply deals, partnerships and funding—pushes Nanosolar to nearly half a billion dollars of capital, securing the six-year-old company’s position as one of the leading thin-film producers.
But other thin-film companies are nipping at Nanosolar’s heels.
Competitor Santa Clara, Calif.-based Miasole is reportedly in the process of raising more than $200 million to ramp production of its thin-film technology.
Hayward, Calif.-based Optisolar has raised more than $130 million this year. In July, Berlin-based Sulfurcell Solartechnik raised $134 million from investors including Intel Capital (see Thin film pulls in a crowd). In October 2007, Austin, Texas-based Heliovolt closed a $101 million round (see HelioVolt boosts Series B to $101M).
The investments are so large because the sector requires significant capital to build manufacturing lines and develop new technology, said Ted Lin, an associate at Menlo Park, Calif.-based Bessemer Venture Partners, which invested in Miasole in 2005.
The companies are chasing a growing market. The thin-film sector will produce an estimated $2.4 billion in revenues this year, according to Virginia-based analyst firm NanoMarkets. The field is projected to grow to $22 billion by 2015, the firm said in a recent report.
Röscheisen declined to give details of the financing deal that closed in March but said today that part of the investment comes from AES Solar, a newly formed partnership of power company AES and Riverstone Holdings that said in March it planned to invest $1 billion to build large solar power plants around the world (see AES, Riverstone in $1B solar venture). Utility EDF Energies Nouvelles, Energy Capital Partners and the Carlyle Group also participated.
Röscheisen said "a fraction" of the equity came from Lone Pine Capital and Skoll Foundation, as well as returning investors GLG Partners, Beck Energy, and Conergy founding investor Grazia Equity.
With the new money, Nanosolar plans to expand production at its 430 megawatt factory in
The source of the new equity is significant, said Erik Straser, general partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures, which has invested in Nanosolar. The majority of the $300 million comes from supply deals, which validates the cost-effectiveness of Nanosolar’s technology, Straser said. Straser declined to say whether the firm participated in this round.
“There’s big financing deals every time you see one of these thin-film companies deliver a breakthrough technology," Straser said. "Customers are thirsty for it and will buy as much as is available."
The biggest opportunity for thin-film is probably with utility companies, Straser said. Part of Nanosolar’s financing comes from EDF, the world’s largest electric utility. Earlier this month,
Still, crystalline silicon continues to dominate the solar market. Thin-film made up 13.8 percent of the solar market in 2007 and is projected to be 27.3 percent by 2010, according to the Prometheus Institute for Sustainable Development.
"The market is big enough to accommodate crystalline silicon and thin film, but thin film is really the cost-leader,” said Lin from Bessemer Venture Partners.
Nanosolar shipped its first panels to a power plant in eastern
Sector leader Tempe, Ariz.-based First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) sells thin-film for $1.14 a watt. The industry average was $2.96 a module in 2007. By 2010, thin film is expected to average $1.81 a watt, according to the Prometheus Institute.