U.S. Solar Startup Takes in Taiwanese Financing

CTACleantech America, a San Francisco-based solar developer, says it has received an investment from Wafer Works Corp., a Taiwan-based electronic materials supplier of silicon wafers. The size of the investment was not disclosed, although Cleantech America CEO Bill Barnes did tell us that it will close the company’s Series B round of financing.

“Having Chinese partners in the company is a strategic way for us to expand our markets overseas and give them a window into U.S. markets,” Barnes explained in a phone interview. He also stressed that Cleantech America, as a developer, is technology agnostic and that the investment was not a promise of silicon orders.

Wafer Works had previously expanded its interests into the solar world with an investment in Chinese silicon manufacturer Solargiga Energy Holdings Ltd., which is said to be planning an IPO in China. By having an interest in the manufacturing of both silicon and wafers, Wafer Works hopes to pass along production savings through vertical integration.

“The most significant factor is these guys are in the middle of the production chain and there’s a lot of attention being paid to the cost of panels and polysilicon,” Barnes explained. “Not much attention is being paid attention to wafers and wafer quality and we think there’s a lot of value there.”

We recently heard a similar strategy from inverter startup 1-Solar who told us that the inverter is the weakest link in the solar supply chain. As the solar industry matures, opportunities for startups and large corporations alike will pop up all along the solar value chain.

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