With this additional cash infusion, NexWafe will move forward with further industrialization of its EpiNex green high-efficiency solar wafer technology and begin its pilot manufacturing activities. As the company moves into its next stage, it is also intensifying discussions with potential partners to commercialize the technology. The company’s CEO, Davor Sutija, has a longstanding track record in creating such partnerships and will be leading this effort. He was appointed to his position in September.
What’s cool? By minimizing waste through its direct-gas-to-wafer manufacturing, NexWafe’s Epinex wafers are fully compatible with conventional solar cell and module manufacturing with a 70 percent reduction in carbon footprint of conventional wafers and at greatly reduced production cost. Using a proprietary process, a crystalline silicon layer is deposited on a seed wafer and then detached, producing finished wafers with an optimal thinness and superior material properties. The company has a 5 MW pilot production facility in Freiburg/Germany, with qualification shipments planned to start in 2021 and plans to raise further capital to support that activity. NexWafe was spun out from Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in 2015.