Nanosolar, the company using a new material called CIGS to make lower cost and more flexible solar cells, has received $20 million more in financial backing, this time from the U.S. Department of Energy.
The award was part of the Solar America Initiative, which provides financing to companies to further solar power. The award is important for Nanosolar because the Silicon Valley company is in the critical phase of building production plants to produce its new solar cells, and it’s up against a host of competitors. Many of them are well funded, but are suffering setbacks as the production phase of the technology proves more difficult than they’d realized.
Other companies also got DOE awards. They include larger, more established companies,such as SunPower, First Solar and General Electric. However, Nanosolar, of Palo Alto, Calif., won the largest amount.
