Deep down at the bottom of the sea, there is a special kind of algae. Despite the drowning darkness on the bottom of the ocean, the algae manage to absorb solar energy through a special outer shell.
Now, a Swedish company has transferred the algae’s solution to the energy industry to make solar cells more efficient.
“It’s like a kind of natural nanomaterial extracted from algae. What we do is to lay it as a surface on solar panels. In measurements we have made, we have seen an efficiency increase of four percent, “says Sofie Allert.
She is the CEO of the Swedish algae factory and founded the company together with Angela Wulff, a professor at the Department of Biology and Environmental Sciences at the University of Gothenburg.
The 4 percent measurement has made the company on traditional silicon-based solar cells. At the moment, the industry is also developing transparent solar cells that can be used instead of, for example, common windows.
“After we tested them, we see a 60 percent power increase, but they are not out of the market yet,” says Sofie Allert.
Now the company has received a total of SEK 6 million in funding to initiate commercial tests of the product.
“At the moment we are mainly dealing with end customers, such as electricity companies. The producers themselves are mostly in China and it takes a very long time to enter the market. We take the low-hanging fruits first, “says Sofie Allert.
The solution for end customers is to sell the algal scale separately so that you can smear them on their solar cells.
More than half of the new funding comes in the form of venture capital from Chalmers ventures, Almi invests and the European energy incubator KCI Innoenergy. The remainder are contributions from the Swedish Energy Agency.
“We got a good feel for these players and everyone has the opportunity to move on,” says Sofie Allert.
Just the investors’ ability to make follow-up investments is an important point for the Swedish algae factory. In order to put in place a large-scale algae crop – and in the long run production of the shell – the company wants to enter a significantly larger capital round of up to SEK 50 million.
“We have already begun with the bigger round and hope to be ready next summer. This smaller round is a kind of genre before the bigger round that will make us profitable. KIC Innoenergy is an important quality stamp for us when we go to Europe and look for financiers, “says Sofie Allert.
SOURCE: BREAKIT