Photovoltaic news and pv jobs

MiaSole secures $55 million in funding

CIGS thin film photovoltaic module developer, MiaSole has secured US$ 55 million in funding. The company says it will "aggressively" build the commercial part of its business.

MiaSole has used its CIGS modules in projects across the world.

MiaSole

The California-based company says it will use the funds to drive the "next wave of growth", which will specifically focus on strengthening its glass-on-glass and flexible photovoltaic products for the commercial market.

In a statement released, CEO John Carrington, said, "We have demonstrated technology leadership and are now focused on commercial performance: our investors have responded to that." He adds that the copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) company has started manufacturing modules with an efficiency of 14 percent at under $0.50 per Watt which is, he says, the industry's lowest capex.

"MiaSole is entering into an important time in its history," continues Stephan Dolezalek, managing director at Vantage Point Capital Partners, on behalf of the MiaSole board of directors. "It has the right strategy, the right technology and the right team to deliver a new benchmark in solar for cost, performance and capital efficiency with the enormous benefit of being able to compete in both the traditional glass and flexible panel markets."

The news comes just over a month after the company announced it had made staff layoffs. A spokesperson added,"In light of the current turbulent market conditions and where MiaSolé is in its lifecycle, we have taken a number of steps to right-size our business. The changes comprised a limited reduction in force of 10 percent. The majority of our full-time employee reductions were within the engineering function."

To date, MiaSole has installed over 55 megawatts (MW) worth of its CIGS modules across North America, Europe and Asia.