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Following-on from the investment and production partnership with leading semiconductor foundry TSMC, CIGSS thin film start-up Stion has said it will go ahead with a 100MW capacity expansion at its plant in San Jose, California. The company said it had raised US$70 million in Series D financing to bring its total fundraising to date to over US$114 million. Stion expects to bring more than 500 direct and indirect jobs to the region in 2010 and 2011.
“In the crowded field of thin-film solar with mostly undifferentiated technology, Stion has distinguished itself with the highest-efficiency, production-ready technology on one square meter, 120W to 130W monolithic panels,” remarked Vinod Khosla, partner at Khosla Ventures, a major backer in the start-up. “Stion will show how a PV start-up gets to positive cash flow with a US$100M equity investment.”
Stion claimed that its panels are produced using monolithically integrated circuits and are not made from individual cells, which it claims enables streamlined high-yield production with flexibility in product design.
The module form factor is (2 ft. x 5ft) and benefits from improved performance in partial shading, according to the company.
Stion's product is monolithically integrated and not made from individual cells. This enables streamlined high-yield production, flexibility in product design
The company has yet to reveal actual performance data of its thin-film modules that could be verified by a trusted third party.
Chet Farris, Stion’s president and CEO, added, “Beyond our 100 MW production facility, the strategic partnerships [ with TSMC] result in a very capital efficient production model as we will gain access to a certain amount of capacity without additional capital commitment from Stion.”
