Tandem PV has raised an additional $6 million to build its first manufacturing facility for perovskite solar panels and for continued research and development of the solar technology. With the new funding, the company has now raised a total of $27 million in venture capital and government support.
The recent funding round was led by an existing investor, Planetary Technologies, and was accompanied by Uncorrelated Ventures and executives from multiple corporate sectors, including Tom Werner, former president and CEO of SunPower.
Tandem PV develops durable, high-efficiency solar panels that incorporate layers of perovskite, a synthetic material sensitive to wavelengths of light that conventional, silicon solar panels are unable to efficiently convert to electricity. According to the company, this makes its panels about 25% more powerful than the average silicon solar panel.
"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 Scott Wharton, CEO of Tandem PV. "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. Perovskite solar panels promise the kind of powerful and cost-effective solutions we need to combat climate change.”
With the completion of successful durability lab tests, the Tandem PV panels are to be evaluated for industry-standard validation later this year, the company said
This funding round brings Tandem PV’s solar panels a step closer to commercialization, joining other solar companies in an important milestone for perovskite solar cell technology. In August of 2023, Caelux also announced its close of a $12 million funding round to advance its perovskite solar panels.
Perovskite-silicon solar cells were first introduced in 2013 and at first exhibited what researchers considered a modest performance. After years of improving the technology, its power conversion efficiency is reportedly higher than the limit of any other single-cell junction technology.
Solar is expected to continue as a major driver of the clean energy transition as the world aims to triple renewables by 2030. With these highly efficient panels expected to come to market within the next few years, the potential for solar may further expand.
