OUR COMPANY

PrimeStar Solar is dedicated to making clean electric power a reality

PrimeStar Solar was founded in 2006 to make large scale, clean, renewable, cost competitive solar electric power a reality. PrimeStar Solar has an experienced and dedicated team with core competencies in thin film photovoltaics (PV) and thin film deposition equipment. The company’s proprietary semiconductor technology and equipment have been optimized for automated continuous manufacturing for high throughput and yield that will result in low cost PV modules. The thin film technology requires far less semiconductor material and far less energy to manufacture PV modules than conventional crystalline silicon PV. PrimeStar Solar’s product is designed to enable economically competitive large scale solar PV power plants that will help offset the negative environmental impacts of fossil fuel electricity generation.

PrimeStar Solar is scaling up the world record efficiency thin film cadmium telluride PV technology that was developed at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). NREL is the primary national laboratory in the United States for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. It is recognized as the world’s leading thin film PV research institution. PrimeStar is uniquely positioned for ongoing collaboration with NREL by virtue of its corporate development center being located within a 10 minute drive of the lab. To further enhance this interaction, in February 2007, PrimeStar Solar signed a cooperative research and development agreement with NREL.

In June, 2007, PrimeStar Solar was awarded a $3M U.S. Department of Energy Solar America Initiative contract for commercial scale up of the world record cadmium telluride PV technology. The Solar American Initiative is a national program started in 2006 to ensure that solar energy technologies will play a growing role in U.S. energy supplies and the U.S. economy by making the technology cost-competitive in the near future. PrimeStar Solar was chosen as one of ten awardees. The contract is milestone based with stage gate reviews and off ramps for non-performing awardees. PrimeStar Solar is pleased to have successfully met all milestones and passed through all stage gate reviews to date.

PrimeStar Solar is a private company with strategic investment partners. Initial financing of $6.2M was secured in the fall of 2006. In September 2007, GE Energy, one of the world’s leading suppliers of power generation and energy delivery technologies, took a minority equity position in PrimeStar Solar. In June 2008, GE Energy increased its equity share in PrimeStar Solar becoming a majority shareholder. This solid financial backing is allowing PrimeStar Solar to proceed with confidence in its commercialization effort.