Sierra Solar snags $40M for cheaper thin-film
One of the major barriers standing in the way of solar power’s wider adoption is its high cost. Sierra Solar plans to address this problem by offering cheaper thin-film photovoltaic cells, and just raised $40 million in a second round of funding to do it.
The Fremont, Calif. company achieves its cost-effective prices by manufacturing its products in China. On the use side, Sierra’s cells are reportedly 16 to 17 percent efficient (the average is 15 percent for thin-film modules), and it sells excess power back to local utilities. Eventually, the company says its processes could lower the cost of solar by $1 per watt. This is pretty significant considering that it expects to generate up to 15 megawatts of energy this year.
In addition to making the cells, Sierra offers a fairly wide range of related energy products to cut down on energy consumption in the home, including long-storage batteries, refrigeration units, water pumps, solar ovens and the actual solar panels themselves. It even markets videos and books meant to educate casual audiences about solar energy and its potential.
Investors in the recent round have not been disclosed, but Sierra previously raised $7.1 million from GSR Ventures and DragonTech Ventures. Shortly after its founding in 2007, executives set a goal to raise $60 to $70 million over the course of three rounds. So far they seem to be on track. And other indicators are promising. Marquee thin film names NanoSolar and Solyndra raised big money — $300 million and $600 million, respectively — just a few months ago.
Next Story: Real estate sites like Trulia see record traffic and revenue
Previous Story: 20,000 apps under the App Store?
About the Author, Camille Ricketts
Camille is the lead writer for GreenBeat. She came to VentureBeat from Google where she worked on its traditional platforms team, particularly in TV. Before that, she was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal in New York and London. Follow her on Twitter at @camillericketts, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.
With GreenBeat 2009, VentureBeat's all-star conference on all things Smart Grid, coming up in November, Camille will be expanding coverage of this exciting space. Stay up to date by following @greenbeat2009 on Twitter or by becoming a fan of the event on Facebook here.