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Konarka Raises $20M in Venture Capital Financing

Konarka Technologies, Inc. has raised $20 million in venture capital financing. The financing was led by 3i, a venture capital and private equity firm. Existing investors, including Draper Fisher Jurvetson, New Enterprise Associates, Good Energies, Vanguard Ventures, Partech International and Chevron Technology Ventures, also participated in the round. Konarka plans to use this round of funding to accelerate further growth, continue to execute on its global partnering strategy and to support ongoing research and development efforts. Concurrent with the funding, Marko Maschek, partner with 3i, and Michael Ware, managing director at Advanced Capital Markets representing Good Energies, have joined Konarka’s Board of Directors. Howard Berke, chairman and CEO, Konarka, said, “We are pleased to have 3i join our group of leading investors, as well as the continued support of our existing investors. This funding will provide long-term financial support for ongoing process and product development, as we continue to execute upon our strategy of partnering with leading global materials, printing and product application companies.” Based on its significant contributions to the energy market and the nanotechnology field, Konarka has been named a Red Herring Top 100 Company and was most recently awarded the Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award for 2005. Website: […]

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Hoku to Develop MEAs for Nissan's Fuel Cell Cars and Trucks

Hoku Scientific, Inc. has been awarded a new contract by Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. to develop advanced hydrocarbon-based membranes and MEAs for Nissan’s fuel cell cars and trucks. Dustin Shindo, chairman, president and CEO of Hoku Scientific said, “Nissan has shown a strong commitment to developing fuel cell cars and trucks, and this new contract demonstrates the strength of our continuing relationship with Nissan. We have successfully worked together since March 2004, meeting all technical goals on time, on budget and as expected. We are excited by this next step towards integrating Hoku MEA into Nissan’s fuel cell cars and trucks.” Although the contract was signed in February, Hoku and Nissan have been working together to meet the contract goals since January 1, 2006, and the companies will conduct joint testing of newer versions of Hoku Membrane and Hoku MEA at Hoku’s facility in Kapolei, Hawaii, and at Nissan’s facility in Oppama, Japan, through September 30, 2006. Website: [sorry this link is no longer available]     

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Maxwell Introduces New Line of Ultracapacitor Products

Maxwell Technologies, Inc. (MXWL) has introduced 16 new Energy-type BOOSTCAP ultracapacitor cells and multi-cell modules as part of its product family strategy for the automotive, transportation, industrial and consumer electronics markets. Dr. Richard Balanson, Maxwell’s president and CEO, said that the company is rapidly expanding its ultracapacitor product line to capitalize on its global leadership as a provider of innovative, high-performance, low-cost energy storage and power delivery solutions. Michael Everett, Maxwell’s vice president and chief technical officer, said that the company is leveraging its cell and module architecture and electrode technology to produce a line of six Energy-type cell sizes with capacitances of 350, 650, 1,200, 1,500, 2,000 and 2,600 farads, along with 10 fully-integrated multi-cell modules based on the new cells. He said that the cells with a capacitance of 650 farads or greater operate at 2.7 volts, enabling them to store more energy and deliver more power per unit volume than any other commercially available ultracapacitor products. BOOSTCAP ultracapacitors deliver up to 10 times the power and longevity of batteries, require no maintenance and operate reliably in extreme temperatures. In transportation applications, they efficiently recapture energy from braking for reuse in hybrid drive trains, reducing fuel consumption and […]

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Spire to Develop Advanced Thermophotovoltaic Cells

Spire Corporation (SPIR) has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant to develop a new type of thermophotovoltaic (TPV) power cell that produces electricity from heat. The power cells are similar to solar cells that convert visible photons to electricity, but the semiconductor material is adjusted to convert long-wavelength or thermal photons to electricity. The grant is from NASA’s John Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. The project has potential applications for NASA, to generate electricity from heat generated by long-life radioisotope sources for long duration space missions where the power generated by conventional solar cells is limited due to the large distance from the sun. Commercial applications of TPV cells include electricity co-generation using heat from wood or propane combustion. Bandwidth Semiconductor LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Spire, will develop indium-gallium-arsenide-based thermophotovoltaic cells optimized for both high temperature operation as well as for radiation hardness. Bandwidth Semiconductor has over ten years experience providing TPV cells to government customers for special applications. Website: http://www.spirecorp.com     

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