Press release
Investment comes ahead of a larger funding round planned for later this year
FREIBURG, GERMANY, May 31, 2023 – NexWafe GmbH (NexWafe) today announced it secured €30M to accelerate the construction of its first commercial-scale facility in Bitterfeld, Germany to fabricate the company’s green solar wafers. The funds come from NexWafe’s current group of investors, including Reliance New Energy Limited, Aramco Ventures and ATHOS Venture GmbH, as well as new investors, including the Honorable Malcolm Turnbull AC and Keshik Capital, led by Alex Turnbull. NexWafe anticipates raising additional funding in the second half of this year.
Davor Sutija, CEO of NexWafe, commented: “This investment marks the start of NexWafe’s plan to raise substantially larger funds in the second half of 2023. The funds will be used to break ground on NexWafe’s first commercial facility to speed the renewable energy transition with more efficient, lower cost, green solar wafers for the world’s photovoltaic manufacturers.”
In parallel, NexWafe has agreed to work with Aramco Ventures on a future green solar wafer manufacturing facility in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The collaborative agreement will include participation from the firm’s $1.5 billion Sustainability fund.
NexWafe’s unique, patented green solar wafer manufacturing solution simplifies polysilicon production and reduces energy use and production time. This results in drastically lowered production costs for n-type monocrystalline wafers used for the majority of high-performing solar modules. The company’s novel manufacturing method delivers wafers that are engineered to the requirements of each customer and already achieving parity with commercially available Czochralski (CZ) wafers. Providing an opportunity to optimize the performance a chosen cell design enables solar cell makers to ultimately deliver higher efficiencies.
NexWafe’s process supports urgent U.S. and European efforts to re-shore domestic solar wafer manufacturing and cell production by increasing supply-chain sourcing diversity and resilience. The NexWafe process also reduces CO2 emissions, resulting in a solar-energy supply chain that is genuinely green.
About NexWafe GmbH
NexWafe GmbH designs, develops, and pilots a proprietary process to produce ultra-thin, high efficiency, monocrystalline green solar wafers to make photovoltaics more sustainable and efficient. Fully compatible with conventional solar cell manufacturing, NexWafe offers a 70% reduction in energy consumption during manufacturing. NexWafe’s continuous, direct gas-to-wafer manufacturing process also minimizes waste, resulting in wafers that are 30% less expensive than conventional wafers. NexWafe’s in-line, ultra-scalable process shatters cost down roadmap barriers and inherently supports the industry’s extraordinary growth as the transition to solar power accelerates worldwide. The company was spun out from Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in 2015 and is a member of the Ultra Low-Carbon Solar Alliance, Solar Power Europe, and the European Solar Manufacturing Council. For more information, please visit https://www.nexwafe.com and follow us on LinkedIn.
Contact:
Jenna Beaucage/Michelle Allard McMahon
Rainier Communications
nexwafe@rainierco.com
