Solar Junction Raises $20 Million; Energy Points Gets $3 Million

Solar Junction announced it raised $19.2 million in a Series D round to scale up manufacturing of concentrating solar PV cells, which have achieved a world record cell efficiency of 43.5%.  

"In the face of all the externalities hindering solar – pricing, overseas competition, financial markets – Solar Junction has multi-megawatt orders, the financing, the manufacturing capacity and the world record for cell efficiency that will catapult CPV into newer and bigger markets," says Jim Weldon, founder and CEO.

The funding, which includes investments from New Enterprise Associates, Advanced Technology Ventures, Draper Fidher Jurvetson and IQE, will enable the company to meet demand and fulfill current and future orders. 

Energy Points Raises $3M

Another interesting company on the sustainability measurement side of the industry also got a boost from a $3 million capital infusion, led by Plan B Ventures.

Energy Points will use the funds to launch and accelerate what it calls the world’s first universal metric for measuring sustainability: combining fuel, electricity, transportation and water into a single, quantifiable metric.   

That metric – how a company’s sustainabilty ranks compared to the equivalent of the embodied energy of one gallon of gasoline – will make it understandable to consumers of their products as well as to employees and industry peers.

The EnergyPoints softward platform combines a unique analytics algorithm with GIS data that normalizes all sustainability      information to provide the true value of the natural resources being consumed.

These measurements are computed across an entire organization and are based on the local mix of energy resources and resource scarcity (such as water). The platform provides further measurement across regions, states, cities and even specific facilities to get a true account on the impact of an organization’s sustainability initiatives.   

According to a recent study, 68% have increased their focus on sustainability over the past year and say it’s necessary to be       competitive. But there’s no universal standard for measuring sustainability in an actionable way.

While some companies measure it in terms of overall cost reduction, others measure greenhouse gas emissions reductions. Taken separately, these are laudable goals, but they don’t account for many variables that can impact sustainability, including different fuel sources, geographic locations, electricity generation and more.

For instance, while LED lighting may be beneficial in a factory located on the east coast, a new water management system may be better suited for a similar factory located on the west coast given the vagaries of power generation and water scarcity. Because the financial and environmental aspects of sustainability can now be quantified, businesses no longer have to make "one-size-fits-all" sustainability project decisions.