The U.S. manufacturer, which just last month reached 40.9 percent cell efficiency, announced it is also one of the finalists short listed for post-selection due diligence for the Department of Energys (DOE) Loan Guarantee Program (LGP).
If chosen, the company will receive an undisclosed amount of funding to commission its 250 megawatt capacity manufacturing facility, co-located with its headquarters in San Jose, California.
When asked if it will still go ahead with its expansion, should the funds not be awarded, a spokesperson tells pv magazine: "Solar Junction has made it through the first two cuts of the DOE Loan Guarantee Program, and now is in the final diligence pre-term sheet with the DOE. If Solar Junction doesn't receive DOE Loan Guarantee, we will look into various forms of financing as Plan B. The company will still go ahead with expansion plans whether or not we get the DOE loan." It is, however, unclear what the other forms of funding are.
Solar Junction adds that it expects to begin shipping commercial cells, with "world record efficiency" this year.
"As the debate over PV versus CPV continues, we contend that with double the efficiency of traditional photovoltaics, the CPV sector is entering a high-growth period," said Jim Weldon, CEO of Solar Junction. "These recent NREL results reflect our continued commitment to efficiency gains and validate the advantages of our A-SLAM technology for the CPV sector."
In response to how the efficiency increase will affect the wider CPV and PV markets, the spokesperson comments: "Efficiency increases of multi-junction solar cells is a key driver to get CPV to grid parity. This is also an enabler for DOEs Sunshot Program."
In a statement, Solar Junction explains that its cell "incorporates the proprietary adjustable spectrum lattice-matched, A-SLAM technology," which "accelerates the multi-junction cell annual efficiency increase in a customer-integrable and commercial form factor."
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