GE invests in new solar technology

GE Energy Financial Services and VantagePoint Venture Partners have joined North Bridge Venture Partners, Hanwha Chemical and Ventizz Capital Partners in an $8.4 million extension of a $20 million funding round backing 1366 Technologies, Lexington, Mass., which has developed a radically new process to create silicon wafers for PV panels.

1366 Technologies' process reduces the current cost of manufacturing solar panels by 65 percent. Manufacturing solar cells involves four capital-intensive steps that waste up to 50 percent of the high-cost, ultra-pure silicon raw material. The new “direct wafer” approach reduces the four-step process to one and produces wafers directly from molten silicon. Details