Oxford PV receives $43m investment from Meyer Burger and others

Oxford PV today announced closure of its series D funding round having garnered £65 million ($81.8 million) in investment.

That total includes £31 million announced in March which saw Chinese wind turbine manufacturer Goldwind join Oxford PV shareholders Equinor and Legal and General Capital in backing the business.

The investment generated since includes funding from a deal signed with Swiss equipment supplier Meyer Burger. Under the terms of the arrangement, Meyer Burger acquired an 18.8% stake in Oxford PV and will supply the British-German company’s production line in Brandenburg an der Havel, just outside the German capital, with a 200 MW heterojunction cell manufacturing line.

Perovskite production next year

“We now have the funds to move into manufacturing and accelerate market introduction,” said Oxford PV chief executive Frank Averdung.

The German manufacturing facility is expected to begin producing perovskite-on-silicon tandem cells from the end of next year. Oxford PV has previously achieved a record efficiency of 27.3% for the technology and said it is targeting 27% for the initial phase of production.

As part of a research project with Oxford University, the company is also targeting 37% efficiency with multijunction perovskite thin film technology. Research into perovskites has accelerated in recent years and there is plenty of commercial interest in the technology, given its well documented potential for producing low-cost, high efficiency solar cells.

Oxford PV, established in 2010 after being spun out of Oxford University, appears furthest along the road to commercialization as other research institutes have estimated commercial production is at least three to five years away.