Perovskite solar startup Tandem PV announced it has raised $27 million in venture capital and government support and will use the funds to advance R&D and build its first manufacturing facility.
The latest $6 million funding round was led by existing investor Planetary Technologies, an early-stage venture capital firm with deep expertise in climate tech. Other institutional investors participated, including new investor Uncorrelated Ventures, as well as executives from a variety of corporate sectors and such solar industry leaders as Tom Werner, former chairman, president and CEO of SunPower.
“We have been consistently told by some of the world’s foremost solar industry experts that Tandem PV has the best combination of high efficiency and durability of any perovskite panel in commercial development,” said CEO Scott Wharton. “The new investments validate that leadership position in the global perovskite market and will help us bring in customer agreements to begin building our first plant.”
Investor Tom Werner said, “Perovskite solar panels promise the kind of powerful and cost-effective solutions we need to combat climate change. I have been impressed with Tandem PV’s team and the progress they’ve made to take their innovations out of the lab and into the market.”
Tandem PV’s design boosts the output of conventional silicon solar cells by stacking them with thin-film perovskite materials that absorb different wavelengths of sunlight. The company claims it is producing tandem perovskite panels with 26% efficiency.
Tandem PV has demonstrated the equivalent of decades of projected durability in the lab. The company plans to obtain independent industry-standard validation of efficiency and durability, expected to rise further, during 2024.
Tandem PV was founded by its CTO, Colin Bailie, who published the first peer-reviewed studies on perovskite-silicon tandem solar panels as a Stanford University doctoral candidate. Tandem co-founder Chris Eberspacher is an industry pioneer who has led technology at some of the world’s largest solar companies. Bailie and Eberspacher launched the company while at Activate (formerly Cyclotron Road), the U.S. Dept. of Energy startup accelerator at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory supporting entrepreneurial innovations with potential for global commercial impact.
News item from Tandem PV
