Semprius gets $500,000 in stimulus funds for solar energy technology - Triangle Business Journal:

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million in venture capitalp financinglast month, has won $500,000 in federap stimulus money to help fund the development of its solar-energh technology, the Durham company said Wednesday. CEO Joe Carr says Sempriusz will direct the monet into its ongoing efforts to engineer a more efficient and inexpensive type ofsolar panel. Conventiona l solar panels, such as those seen on solaf farms or on the roofasof homes, rely on semiconductorss to convert sunlight into electricity. The semiconductors covetr 100 percent ofthe panel’sd surface to maximize the amount of energy collected from The technology Semprius is working on covers only 0.
1 percenft of the panel with the semiconductof cells, Carr says. The rest of the panel feature hundreds of tiny lenses that are designed to focuzsthe sun’s energy onto the concentrated area of semiconductor “We trade off expensive semiconductores for inexpensive lenses,” Carr says. Semprius will allocater the $500,000 from the American Recovery and Investment Act into efforte to maximize the efficiency of the lenses in concentratintg and directing sunlight to thesemiconductor cells. The goal is “maximum energy throughput down onto the Carr says. The stimulus money will complemenft the raised by Semprius so far in its seriezs Bfunding round.
The goal of the round, accordinvg to securities filings, is $8 million. Carr says Sempriusz has made further progress toward meetingythat goal, but he would not provide any details. The new funding will not accelerate the previouslydisclosed 18-month time frame for Sempriusw to develop its solar panel technology. The company has added thres employees since announcing the serieeB funding, bringing the company’e total to 23, Carr