Solar Junction, a company that develops high efficient multi-junction solar cells, has declared that the Department of Energy (DOE) has granted a SUNPATH award to the company.
The award, which is part of a $21.5 million SunShot program, was given to enhance Solar Junction’s concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) production capacity. The company has aimed to achieve 42% of average cell efficiency on the substrates measuring 150 mm. This aspect will reduce the solar cell cost and enhance the module power output of the solar cell.
Jim Weldon, who serves as the CEO of Solar Junction, stated that the company is honored to be an awardee of the SUNPATH program and added that this award allows the company to shift into the next level of business and to focus on volume production.
A part of DOE’s SunShot Program, SUNPATH stands for Scaling Up Nascent PV at Home. The objective of the SunShot Program is to improve solar cell production in the US by investing in sustainable technologies that offer better performance at a reasonable price. The investments of SunShot are modeled to acquire $1/W by 2020.
In February 2012, Solar Junction announced a contract with IQE for solar cell production. The grant is helping the company to produce large volumes of A-SLAM (adjustable spectrum latticed matched) cell.
Solar Junction was established in 2007 and its head office is based in San Jose, California. Companies such as Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Advanced Technology Ventures, and New Enterprise Associates have invested in Solar Junction.