Using technology developed at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Suniva Inc. has become the first solar cell manufacturer in the Southeast. The company is making high-efficiency crystalline-silicon photovoltaic cells around the clock at a 73,000-square-foot facility in Norcross, north of Atlanta.

Suniva expects to expand quickly. Using technology based on the research of Georgia Tech Regents’ professor Ajeet Rohatgi, who is also Suniva’s founder and chief technology officer the company is presently manufacturing its ARTisun™ solar cells at a rate of 32 megawatts (MW) annually.

Suniva plans to ramp up to an annual solar-cell output of nearly 100 MW – enough to power about 19,000 U.S. homes. The company currently employs about 70 people and expects to add more staff as it grows.

Suniva uses a patented technology it calls Star™ to extract maximum performance from wafers of monocrystalline silicon, a material often used for solar power generation.

A solar cell contains several layers, and every layer plays a role in the cell’s overall efficiency. Rohatgi has studied solar cells in depth for some 30 years, learning how to optimize each layer to get maximum output – at the least cost.

Rohatgi’s solar-cell research has received significant funding over many years from the U.S. Department of Energy. Suniva is a shining example of how government support for research can lead to very real job creation. It’s a strong reminder of why we should invest in research.

Suniva’s current solar-cell output falls in the 17- to 18-percent efficiency range, which Rohatgi classifies as high, especially in a lower-cost cell. But the company is continuing to improve its technology, and recently the National Renewable Energy Laboratory certified a new Suniva cell and cell structure at 20 percent efficiency, generally considered very high.

Suniva is a graduate of Georgia Tech’s Commercialization Services, which evaluates the commercial potential of technology developed at Georgia Tech and helps faculty members and other research staff form companies based on their research. It received support from VentureLab, a Georgia Research Alliance program that fosters the development of early-stage companies based on science and technology from Georgia’s research universities. In early 2008, Suniva joined the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), Georgia Tech’s science and technology incubator.

To date, Suniva has received total funding of $55.5 million from several venture capital organizations, including Menlo Park, Calif.-based New Enterprise Associates (NEA). Even more significant, Suniva now has contracts worth more than $1 billion through 2013, with more agreements expected.

Rohatgi, who runs the University Center of Excellence for Photovoltaic Research and Education in Georgia Tech’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, admits he was hesitant when VentureLab and NEA began encouraging him in 2006 to start a solar-cell company. He told them it would be better to wait until he’d achieved even higher efficiencies in a low-cost cell.

Suniva’s chairman and CEO, John W. Baumstark, is a technology-industry veteran with wide experience that includes serving as CEO of DWL before its acquisition by IBM and as chief operating officer of TRADEX Technologies before and during its acquisition by Ariba Inc. for $5.6 billion in 2000.

In August, Suniva announced it had solar cell orders from Solon AG of Germany for $500 million through 2012, and some $480 million in orders through 2013 from India’s Titan Energy. Suniva executives are currently negotiating with several other companies about additional deals.

Rohatgi said he will continue to work to make Suniva an important contributor to Georgia’s manufacturing base.

By Vasil Sidorov on November 11, 2009 from Georgia Tech

sidorovvasil@gmail.com