Solar panel developer Sol Voltaics, a spin-out of Lund University, receives $6m from Swedish Energy Agency.
The Swedish Energy Agency (SEA) has provided a $6m loan to Lund spin-out Sol Voltaics to further the commercial development of its Solink product.
The solar panel technology utilises an economical nanomaterial which the Sweden-based spin-out believes would increase energy efficiency in the renewable fuel source by up to 25%. In addition, Solink is relatively inexpensive to utilise as it can be applied to traditional solar panels using standard equipment towards the end of a panel’s production cycle.
Prior to the loan, Sol Voltaics had raised $7.5m in venture backing. During a series A in 2008, the firm raised $1.2m in series A backing from venture firm Teknovest. The remainder came from a venture round held in 2011 led by Industrifonden, another Sweden-based venture firm, which was the sole participant in the round.
Viveca Johansson, program manager at the SEA, said: “Solar will play an increasingly important role in global energy markets, but the industry right now is struggling. The technology developed by Sol Voltaics holds the potential to simultaneously make solar competitive with fossil fuels at market prices while increasing the business case for developers and manufacturers.”