Miasolé

Miasolé
Miasolé
Type Private
Industry Solar Energy
Founded 2003
Headquarters Santa Clara, California, U.S.
Key people

Joseph Laia (CEO)
Merle McClendon (CFO)

Stephen Barry
Paul Shufflebotham
Atiye Bayman
Jason Corneille
Products Solar panels
Employees

315

[1]
Website miasole.com

MiaSolé is a solar energy company developing Copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) thin-film photovoltaic products. MiaSolé's manufacturing process lays CIGS on a flexible stainless steel substrate. MiaSolé produces all layers of photovoltaic material in a continuous sputtering process.[2]

Based in Santa Clara, California, the company is focused on large-scale commercial and utility projects,[3] and is looking to incorporate its flexible stainless steel substrate. MiaSolé has customers in five countries, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Portugal and the United States.[4]

Industry research expects the market for solar panels that use thin-film technology instead of traditional silicon-based materials to more than double by 2013. Thin-film now represents 20% of the solar market.[3]

To date, the company has raised $350 million in investment from investors including Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers and VantagePoint Venture Partners.[5]

Contents

Company history

MiaSolé was founded by veterans of the hard disk industry who leveraged their expertise in hard disk manufacturing to introduce new manufacturing processes into the thin-film solar industry.[6]

In December 2006, the company's CEO, Dave Pearce, announced that 50MW of manufacturing capacity as well as an imminent IPO but failed to deliver on those milestones. Pearce was replaced in September 2007 and has since moved onto startup Nuvosun.[7] Semiconductor equipment executive Joseph Laia was brought in as CEO to move the company from R&D stage into volume production.[8] Under Laia, MiaSolé worked on re-engineering the manufacturing process to improve efficiency and cost.[9][10] In 2010, the company plans to expand capacity to 140 megawatts from about 60 megawatts.[9] The company projects it will have shipped 20 to 30 megawatts of capacity by December 2010.[11]

Laia spent much of his career figuring out how to deposit chemicals very carefully on substrates, first at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and later at semiconductor machinery companies Novellus and KLA-Tencor. He brought former KLA-Tencor colleague, Paul Shufflebotham, into MiaSolé specifically to address the key process of sputtering.[12]

Currently, MiaSole has a manufacturing factory in California and plans to open a second, larger factory in the United States.[13]

Investment History

MiaSolé initial raise was in 2004 and led by VantagePoint Venture Partners. The B round raised $16 million in venture capital investment in June 2005, in a round led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, [14] and raised a further $35 million in October 2006. [15] The company raised $50 million in a fourth round of financing in September 2007, bringing total financing to $100 million. [16] MiaSolé currently has roughly $350 million in investment from investors from VantagePoint Venture Partners,Kleiner Perkins, Garage Technology Ventures and Firelake Capital Management.[5] In addition, the company received about $100 million federal tax credit from the United States Department of Energy.[13]

Technology

Miasolé's development of a new production process leverages its executives’ experience in the hard disk and semiconductor industries. In this unique process, MiaSolé lays Copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS), on a flexible stainless steel substrate entirely through a continuous sputtering process.[2] [17] Sputtering is used in volume thin-film production, and is used by high volume manufacturing companies in the disk drive and architectural glass industries. Sputtering deposits a thin film of material onto a surface in a vacuum. MiaSolé claims it uses a continuous desposition process in one tool to deposit all layers of the CIGS solar cell on a lightweight stainless steel substrate.[2][18]

CIGS is among the most efficient solar cell materials with a maximum solar conversion efficiency of 20.2% in the laboratory – better than the best lab cells using amorphous silicon or cadmium telluride,[5][19] but manufacturing it in volume has been a problem. Despite these difficulties, CIGS are expected to surpass cadmium telluride, used by companies like First Solar, in efficiency.[20] Thin-film technology is inherently less expensive than market leading crystalline silicon because of the cost of the silicon substrate.[21]

The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory has since independently verified two 10% Miasolé CIGS modules.[22]] MiaSolé’s 100 and 107 watt CIGS thin film solar modules were certified to UL 1703 and IEC 61646 and 61730 standards on October 30, 2009 – the first CIGS thin film module to be simultaneously certified by UL to the three most critical certification standards. MiaSolé panels average 10.2% and 10.5% efficiency.[19]

Production

In 2010, the company plans to expand capacity to 140 megawatts from about 60 megawatts.[9] The company projects it will have shipped 20 to 30 megawatts of capacity by December 2010.[11]

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ a b c MiaSole Web site
  3. ^ a b "U.S. solar startup aims to match First Solar's cost". Reuters. 2010-02-10. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1017639820100211. Retrieved 2010-03-17. 
  4. ^ "MiaSolé Announces Commercial Shipments to Multiple Customers". BusinessWire. 2009-11-17. http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20091117006775&newsLang=en. Retrieved 2010-03-17. 
  5. ^ a b c Fahey, Jonathan (2010-02-11). "A Second Chance For Novel Solar". Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0301/energy-cigs-solar-technology-miasole-sun-doesnt-shine.html. Retrieved 2010-03-17. 
  6. ^ BizTech Magazine story
  7. ^ Miasolé's Chief Researcher Defects To Solopower - Greentech Media
  8. ^ Company news release
  9. ^ a b c "U.S. solar startup aims to match First Solar's cost". Reuters. 2010-02-10. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1017639820100211. Retrieved 2010-03-30. 
  10. ^ "MiaSolé Announces Kevin Eassa as Vice President of Manufacturing". Businesswire. 2009-11-09. http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20091109006700&newsLang=en. Retrieved 2010-03-30. 
  11. ^ a b Fahey, Jonathan (2010-02-11). "A Second Chance For Novel Solar". Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0301/energy-cigs-solar-technology-miasole-sun-doesnt-shine.html. Retrieved 2010-03-30. 
  12. ^ Fahey, Jonathan (2010-02-11). "A Second Chance For Novel Solar". Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0301/energy-cigs-solar-technology-miasole-sun-doesnt-shine.html. Retrieved 2010-03-31. 
  13. ^ a b "Dan Walters: Is California green tech salvation or a pipe dream?". Sacramento Bee. 2010-02-01. http://www.sacbee.com/2010/02/01/2503406/dan-walters-is-california-green.html. Retrieved 2010-03-31. 
  14. ^ "Nanosolar, Miasolé stir up solar cell market". SiliconBeat. 2005-06-09. http://www.siliconbeat.com/entries/2005/06/09/nanosolar_miasole_stir_up_solar_cell_market.html. Retrieved 2008-01-21. 
  15. ^ "Solar start-up snags $35 million as CIGS ignites". ZDNet. 2006-10-27. Archived from the original on 2007-08-25. http://web.archive.org/web/20070825175459/http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-6130312.html. Retrieved 2008-01-21. 
  16. ^ "Solar cell company Miasolé raises $50M". VentureBeat. 2007-09-26. http://venturebeat.com/2007/09/26/solar-cell-company-miasole-raises-50m/. Retrieved 2008-01-21. 
  17. ^ "Startup Miasolé has big designs on the growing solar panel market". Biztech Magazine. 2007-09-01. http://www.biztechmagazine.com/print_friendly.asp?item_id=304. Retrieved 2008-01-21. 
  18. ^ The Fraser Domain
  19. ^ a b "MiaSolé Breaks the SIlence, Moves Into Production". Greentech Media. 2009-12-16. http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/miasole-breaks-the-silence-moves-into-production/. Retrieved 2010-03-02. 
  20. ^ "Nanosolar Hits 16.4 Percent Efficiency in Lab". Greentech Media. 2010-01-15. http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/video-nanosolar-hits-16.4-percent-efficiency-in-lab/. Retrieved 2010-04-02. 
  21. ^ "Solar Cell Technologies". Solarbuzz. 2010-01-15. http://www.solarbuzz.com/Technologies.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-02. 
  22. ^ Miasolé Clears the Air - Greentech Media "Miasolé Clears the Air". Greentech Media. 2010. http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/miasol-clears-the-air-883/ Miasolé Clears the Air - Greentech Media. Retrieved 2010-03-31. 

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