Ingka Investments has announced an investment of €2 million in Sweden’s GREEN14
The duo has also laid down terms of a future offtake agreement for the silicon produced
GREEN14 will use the funds for its pilot facility in Sweden and scale up the hydrogen plasma technology
Ingka Investments has made a €2 million investment in the Swedish start-up GREEN14, which is developing a pilot reactor facility for sustainable silicon production for use in solar, battery and semiconductor industries.
GREEN14’s technology involves the reduction of quartz using hydrogen plasma, which it claims reduces emissions by more than 95% compared to traditional processes. It aims to deliver cleaner industrial solutions while addressing critical raw material challenges.
“Europe’s ability to secure critical raw materials is vital to achieving its climate ambitions and ensuring independence. GREEN14’s technology represents a step forward in more sustainable silicon production, and the investment injection supports this ambition,” says the CEO of GREEN14, Adam Podgorski.
The Ingka funding will support GREEN14’s ongoing development of its pilot facility at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden and the scale-up of its patented hydrogen plasma technology. It can process up to 5 kg/hour of silicon. Learnings and insights from this pilot will guide the development of larger facilities, it said.
In October 2024, the Swedish company said 23 municipalities across the country responded to its request for proposal (RFP) for the development of a full-scale demo site that will produce 800 tons of silicon annually with a single reactor.
GREEN14 is collaborating with Swedish mining group Boliden to use tailings from the latter’s Laisvall mine, rich in silica content, as the key input material for its silicon production process.
GREEN14 is guided by a board that comprises some of the leading names in the silicon industry including NorSun CEO Erik Løkke-Øwre. Norway’s NorSun is a producer of low-carbon, high-performance monocrystalline silicon ingots and wafers. The lack of demand and price competition from the Chinese forced it to shut down its Norway factory in September 2023 as it shifted focus to its upcoming 5 GW wafer factory in the US (see European Solar Wafer Maker NorSun Filing For Bankruptcy).
Creator of REC Solar’s silicon production method Ragnar Tronstad who was also the director of R&D at global silicon metal producer Elkem for 12 years, along with the Senior Metallurgist for 40 years at Elkem Karl Forwald are on GREEN14’s Scientific Advisory Board.
Ingka’s agreement with GREEN14 also lays down the terms for a future off-take agreement under which the former can become a substantial buyer of silicon produced. In December 2023, GREEN14 also entered a strategic collaboration with an undisclosed US solar cell manufacturing company for the production of low-carbon-footprint silicon wafers for its cell manufacturing in the US. Their letter of intent (LOI) is effective till December 31, 2025.
For Ingka, this investment is part of its €7.5 billion initiative to support 100% renewable energy consumption across the value chain and beyond. The investment arm of Ingka Group, the largest owner and operator of IKEA Retail, counts to have committed €4.2 billion to renewable energy projects in wind and solar power.