Konarka and Plextronics BIPV

Konarka is headquartered in Lowell, Mass., and has a manufacturing facility in New Bedford, Mass., with European headquarters in Nurnberg, Germany, business development offices in Asia, and a research and development facility in Austria.  That sounds like a healthy burn rate.   Konarka was founded in 2001 by scientists at UMass Lowell and has received investment from Chevron, Good Energies, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, the Massachusetts Green Energy Fund, Vanguard Ventures, Mackenzie Financial, Partech, and many more. 

A few of the early investors in Konarka have had some comments on their investments.  One comment, off-the-record, was unprintable; another comment, made anonymously, was that the investor had no idea at the time of investment that First Solar would hit the numbers on cost and efficiency that they have. This anonymous commenter also added that Konarka was in a sort of limbo for commercial production capability but no production demand -- in essence, that their low efficiency nets out in no incentive for mainstream market adoption.  

Low efficiency and difficulty in achieving long lifetimes leave organic solar cell's to go after niche markets like consumer wearables and luggage.  The ten-year-old startup has also mentioned tents, awnings and BIPV as possible end-markets. These applications could result in real business, but it seems difficult to get to serious megawattage -- and difficult to justify as a venture capitalized firm. They do their awning and umbrella solar collectors in a joint venture with Skyshades of Australia.

Next generation solar cell developers include Konarka and Plextronics in the organic photovoltaics field, and Dyesol, EPFL, G24i, Mitsubishi and Peccell on the dye-sensitized-cells front.

Organic Solar Cell's remain a compelling technology.  One of the appeals of third-generation thin-film solar cells is that they can be manufactured using solution-based, low-temperature roll-to-roll manufacturing methods, which use conventional printing techniques on flexible substrates.  That is the sirens' call that keeps the VC money flowing.