SolFocus, the leading developer of Concentrator Photovoltaic (CPV) systems, today announced that it has raised $47.5 million in a first close of Series C financing to accelerate expansion of its manufacturing operation.
The company said it aims to grow deployments from .5 megawatts (MW) in 2008 to approximately 100MW by the end of 2010.
The funding round was led by Apex Venture Partners with follow-on investment by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), NGEN Partners and others. The company anticipates a second close later this month.
Mark Crowley, who was named president of SolFocus in August 2008, will assume the role of CEO to guide the company in its transition from small scale demonstration installations to large scale commercialization. The previous CEO and founder, Gary D. Conley, will continue as chairman of the board.
The SolFocus CPV design employs a system of reflective optics to concentrate sunlight 500 times onto small, highly efficient solar cells. The SolFocus 1100S system is said to achieve over 25% efficiency, and uses 1/1,000th of the active, expensive solar cell material compared to traditional silicon-based photovoltaic panels.
SolFocus integrates CPV panels with a tracking system that continuously aligns the solar array with direct sunlight throughout the day as the sun moves across the sky.
SolFocus is headquartered in Mountain View, California with European operations headquartered in Madrid, Spain, and manufacturing in Mesa, Arizona as well as with manufacturing partners in India and China.
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