Swiss solar energy startup Flisom has received $10.7 million from a group of investors, including Tata Industries, in the fourth round of funding.
The company specializes in manufacture of flexible thin film copper-indium-gallium(di)selenide (CIGS) solar modules.
CIGS thin film modules are known for faster energy payback than the mainstream silicon wafer technology. Besides economic benefits CIGS modules also offer significant reduction in the release of carbon dioxide.
Flisom’s photovoltaic modules find application in Building-Integrated Photovoltaics such as residential solar tiles, and Building-Applied Photovoltaics such as roofs and facades. The modules also find applications in automobiles and marine development.
In 2013, the company received funding of $45.6 million from Tata and group for the pilot production plant with an annual capacity of 15 MW at Niederhasli, Zurich, Switzerland.
In 2014, Flisom improved the design of roll-to-roll manufacturing machines for processing. The machines were equipped to produce rolls of with width of 1 meter, which was double the then prevailing width of 50 cm.
The company used the funds to refurbish an old factory building and install the machinery it needs for solar module manufacture.
The innovation promised high performance and low cost roll-to-roll manufacturing.
Flisom was founded in 2005 as a spin-off of the Laboratory of Solid State Physics. The lab is part of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich, or ZETH).
Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa) and Flisom have been working together for years to develop an industrial-scale production platform for CIGS solar modules.
And Tata Industries, which was founded in 1945, has been spearheading investments in new business areas, particularly in technology-intensive sectors such as life-sciences, alternative energy, advanced materials, emerging services and aerospace.
Ajith Kumar S