Summary
Solar power is pitted to become the leading renewable energy sources of the future (10 TW by 2040). To achieve this solar energy revolution, however, the highest efficiency solar cells are needed. Today, manufacturing high-efficiency wafers for these solar cells is expensive and energy-intensive. This is because the conventional process of wafer production is highly material-inefficient and requires a range of heavy-duty machinery. At the same time, extreme costs pressure is coming from Asian wafer manufacturers, who are engaged in price dumping strategies. Consequently, high-efficiency wafer prices are driven to as low as 68% of production costs. This makes it extremely difficult for the European industry to cope, resulting in thousands of job losses across the EU. At NexWafe, we have developed the first fundamentally new mass-scalable technology to manufacture the highest-efficiency silicon wafers, EpiNex, at a 50% lower CAPEX, releasing 50% less CO2 and wasting 90% less silicon material than conventional high-efficiency wafer production. In turn, this results in 70% lower COGS. Our market entry strategy will consist of direct sales of EpiNex wafers to leading high-efficiency solar cell producers, whom we are already in talks with for pilot testing. With EIC Accelerator investment, EpiNex will be able to bring the multi- billion-euro solar wafer manufacturing business back to Europe, creating thousands of jobs and finally multiplying the capacity of the downstream multi-billion high-efficiency solar cell industry.
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More information & hyperlinks
| Web resources: | https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/967987 |
| Start date: | 01-02-2021 |
| End date: | 30-11-2023 |
| Total budget - Public funding: | 3 485 573,00 Euro - 2 439 901,00 Euro |
Cordis data
Original description
Solar power is pitted to become the leading renewable energy sources of the future (10 TW by 2040). To achieve this solar energy revolution, however, the highest efficiency solar cells are needed. Today, manufacturing high-efficiency wafers for these solar cells is expensive and energy-intensive. This is because the conventional process of wafer production is highly material-inefficient and requires a range of heavy-duty machinery. At the same time, extreme costs pressure is coming from Asian wafer manufacturers, who are engaged in price dumping strategies. Consequently, high-efficiency wafer prices are driven to as low as 68% of production costs. This makes it extremely difficult for the European industry to cope, resulting in thousands of job losses across the EU. At NexWafe, we have developed the first fundamentally new mass-scalable technology to manufacture the highest-efficiency silicon wafers, EpiNex, at a 50% lower CAPEX, releasing 50% less CO2 and wasting 90% less silicon material than conventional high-efficiency wafer production. In turn, this results in 70% lower COGS. Our market entry strategy will consist of direct sales of EpiNex wafers to leading high-efficiency solar cell producers, whom we are already in talks with for pilot testing. With EIC Accelerator investment, EpiNex will be able to bring the multi- billion-euro solar wafer manufacturing business back to Europe, creating thousands of jobs and finally multiplying the capacity of the downstream multi-billion high-efficiency solar cell industry.Status
CLOSEDCall topic
EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020Update Date
27-10-2022
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