The company's Website says it can achieve efficiencies of 13 percent, which is higher than is currently being made by companies already making CIGS cells like Nanosolar. Telio uses thin-film deposition technology to deposit the chemicals. The above picture is a shot of their equipment. (note: we spoke to Peter Kim, vp of operations, later in the day. See more details here.)
It also has strong connections Stanford. The advisory panel includes William Miller (former Stanford Provost, CEO Emeritus of SRI, and active in the very intriguing startup Nanostellar), David Kreps (professor of economics) and Alan Fahrenbruch (longtime researcher at Stanford.). In that area code, Miller's name alone is probably good enough to attract piles of VC money. I'm not sure who has invested in Telio, but I have a good guess and will try to tell you soon.
Although South Korea hasn't been a strong player in solar yet – it will be. Solar panels are similar in many ways to LCD TVs and OLED screens and South Korea, largely due to LG and Samsung, is one of the leading centers in display research and manufacturing. LG this Summer announced that it will make solar panels while one of Samsung's subsidiaries has started building solar power plants. Expect to hear more about Samsung manufacturing panels too.
In case you were wondering, CIGS funding is officially into the billions. Five CIGS companies raised over $344 million through 2007. This year, Nanosolar raised $300 million alone while Solydra says it has raised $600 million (that total includes $72 million raised before this year.) SoloPower raised $200 million, according to some reports, earlier this year.
And let's not forget the big players like Avancis (a Shell- Saint Gobain joint venture) and BP Solar that participate in CIS and CIGS (CIS is CIGS without the gallium.) that can likely weather things like a global credit crunch better than any of the startups.
Will they all survive?
A New CIGS Company Emerges: Telio Solar
Michael Kanellos: October 9, 2008, 7:15 AM
Just when you thought the market for copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) solar panels might be overheated and overcrowded, here's another name for you: Telio Solar Technologies.
Telio is a something of a South Korean-U.S. venture. It was founded by Gapseong Noh, a chip expert, and Chriss Hwang, an expert in OLED manufacturing. Both attended college in South Korea, grad school in the U.S. and have worked at various companies with operations in one or both countries. The same goes for several other members of the management team.
The company, which is based in Los Altos, recently completed the construction of pilot line in South Korea for manufacturing CIGS cell measuring 300 millimeters by 300. It wants to have a commercial manufacturing facility up and running by the first half of 2009 that will produce 600mm x 1200mm modules. The company hopes to have 10 MW of manufacturing capacity by next year and 30 MW in 2010.
The company's Website says it can achieve efficiencies of 13 percent, which is higher than is currently being made by companies already making CIGS cells like Nanosolar. Telio uses thin-film deposition technology to deposit the chemicals. The above picture is a shot of their equipment. (note: we spoke to Peter Kim, vp of operations, later in the day. See more details here.)
It also has strong connections Stanford. The advisory panel includes William Miller (former Stanford Provost, CEO Emeritus of SRI, and active in the very intriguing startup Nanostellar), David Kreps (professor of economics) and Alan Fahrenbruch (longtime researcher at Stanford.). In that area code, Miller's name alone is probably good enough to attract piles of VC money. I'm not sure who has invested in Telio, but I have a good guess and will try to tell you soon.
Although South Korea hasn't been a strong player in solar yet – it will be. Solar panels are similar in many ways to LCD TVs and OLED screens and South Korea, largely due to LG and Samsung, is one of the leading centers in display research and manufacturing. LG this Summer announced that it will make solar panels while one of Samsung's subsidiaries has started building solar power plants. Expect to hear more about Samsung manufacturing panels too.
In case you were wondering, CIGS funding is officially into the billions. Five CIGS companies raised over $344 million through 2007. This year, Nanosolar raised $300 million alone while Solydra says it has raised $600 million (that total includes $72 million raised before this year.) SoloPower raised $200 million, according to some reports, earlier this year.
And let's not forget the big players like Avancis (a Shell- Saint Gobain joint venture) and BP Solar that participate in CIS and CIGS (CIS is CIGS without the gallium.) that can likely weather things like a global credit crunch better than any of the startups.
Will they all survive?
The company's Website says it can achieve efficiencies of 13 percent, which is higher than is currently being made by companies already making CIGS cells like Nanosolar. Telio uses thin-film deposition technology to deposit the chemicals. The above picture is a shot of their equipment. (note: we spoke to Peter Kim, vp of operations, later in the day. See more details here.)
It also has strong connections Stanford. The advisory panel includes William Miller (former Stanford Provost, CEO Emeritus of SRI, and active in the very intriguing startup Nanostellar), David Kreps (professor of economics) and Alan Fahrenbruch (longtime researcher at Stanford.). In that area code, Miller's name alone is probably good enough to attract piles of VC money. I'm not sure who has invested in Telio, but I have a good guess and will try to tell you soon.
Although South Korea hasn't been a strong player in solar yet – it will be. Solar panels are similar in many ways to LCD TVs and OLED screens and South Korea, largely due to LG and Samsung, is one of the leading centers in display research and manufacturing. LG this Summer announced that it will make solar panels while one of Samsung's subsidiaries has started building solar power plants. Expect to hear more about Samsung manufacturing panels too.
In case you were wondering, CIGS funding is officially into the billions. Five CIGS companies raised over $344 million through 2007. This year, Nanosolar raised $300 million alone while Solydra says it has raised $600 million (that total includes $72 million raised before this year.) SoloPower raised $200 million, according to some reports, earlier this year.
And let's not forget the big players like Avancis (a Shell- Saint Gobain joint venture) and BP Solar that participate in CIS and CIGS (CIS is CIGS without the gallium.) that can likely weather things like a global credit crunch better than any of the startups.
Will they all survive?
