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First copper-plated solar panel hits production line

Amanda Bryan

4–5 minutes

Energy

This new factory is setting world records as it pumps out solar panels made from copper instead of silver.

Nov 22, 2023— 2 min read

source: SunDrive

This factory is pumping out solar panels with a difference. Instead of silver, the cells’ electrodes are made from copper, a metal that's about 100 times cheaper and 1000 times more abundant.

Silver currently accounts for around half of the cost of solar cell production, so the expectation is that these cells will be 20 to 30 per cent cheaper than existing panels.

The new pilot production and commercialisation facility, which uses patented technology from an Australian startup called SunDrive, was opened by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Kurnell in southern Sydney earlier this month.

The technology has also set world records for efficiency. Last year SunDrive produced a solar cell with an efficiency of 25.54 per cent, making it the most efficient commercial-sized solar cell ever created. The panels on most suburban rooftops can only convert about 20 per cent in contrast.

"Australia is truly blessed with our talent, innovation capability, critical minerals, and access to renewable energy."

SunDrive was cofounded by university friends co-founder and CEO Vince Allen and David Hu and they started out in 2015 in a garage.

Last year the company raised $A21 million in Series B funding from industry heavyweights including former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Atlassian’s Mike Cannon-Brookes, Canva’s Cameron Adams, Tesla chair Robyn Denholm and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to help fast track production.

SunDrive snared another $A11 million in funding this month from The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to expand its technology from prototype scale (1.5 MW/yr) to commercial capacity (>100 MW/yr). It’s the second investment by ARENA which splashed out $3 million on the tech.

SunDrive CEO Vince Allen said, “Australia is truly blessed with our talent, innovation capability, critical minerals, and access to renewable energy. And with these Australia can establish a domestic solar manufacturing industry that not only helps Australia achieve Net Zero, but the rest of the world too.”

The tech

SunDrive’s patented solar technology uses copper instead of silver as the conductive material to pull electrical current from the solar cells. Not only is copper cheaper and more abundant, the cells produced are more efficient than existing silver technology, having recently set new solar efficiency world records. SunDrive last month achieved an efficiency result of 26.41 per cent on a full-size silicon heterojunction solar cell that uses large-scale production processes from China-based manufacturer Maxwell Technologies. SunDrive says that the use of copper plating technology has played a key role in the solar cell efficiency improvements.

Who funds it

SunDrive recently received $A11 million in funding this month from The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and last year it secured $21 million in Series B funding from a group of high-profile investors including Atlassian’s Mike Cannon-Brookes, Canva’s co-founder Cameron Adams, and former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, the CSIRO’s Main Sequence innovation fund, the government-owned Clean Energy Finance Corporation, and venture capital firm Blackbird Ventures. SunDrive was previously supported by Cannon-Brookes’ private investment vehicle Grok, Blackbird Ventures and Chinese-Australian solar pioneer Dr Shi Zhengrong.