SolarPrint raises €1.6 million

SolarPrint Limited (SP) has raised €1.6 million to ramp up production and accelerate the company’s growth.

The investment includes funding from Custom House Capital, Enterprise Ireland and a number of private investor partners.

The Irish company is a developer and manufacturer of dye sensitised solar cell (DSCC) technology. SolarPrint was founded in 2008 by Dr. Mazhar Bari, Roy Horgan and André Fernon to bring DSSC technology to market. SP says it has invented a novel solvent-free quasi-solid state electrolyte to replace the liquid based electrolyte in traditional DSCC. This new type of electrolyte can be screen printed like the titiania layer in the cell and this makes the manufacturing simpler and enables true roll to roll manufacturing which has not been possible to date for existing DSSC technology.

SP will use the proceeds of the investment to establish production of its DSSC products at its manufacturing facility in Blackpitts, Dublin.

The company is collaborating with a number of universities including University College Dublin, Dublin City University, Trinity College and University of Limerick, London to develop a solar manufacturing facility.

SP will initially target the consumer electronics market, manufacturing a DSSC PV solar module which can be adopted in a wide variety of applications. It is also planning to aggressively pursue the development of its BIPV and automotive photovoltaic applications.