Arizona, US based technology start-up Erthos, that claims its solar system can significantly bring down time and land needed to deploy solar and costs only $0.50 per W to build, has closed Series B financing with $17.5 million. With its Series B financing, Erthos said it is set to scale with over 2.5 GW of active project pipeline.
Erthos' explains its technology can help install solar modules directly on the earth, thereby eliminating the need for structural steel for utility scale solar power plants. Additionally, an autonomous cleaning robot developed by the company sweeps the solar array every night, capturing module level DC health data.
It claims the Earth Mount Solar PV technology can enable a solar system to be built for less cost, in half the time and on 1/3rd the land. Such a solar system does away with the need to lay cables or trackers and doesn't need lengthy design, which the creators stress will further bring down the cost of a solar system.
Since the panels don't stand on any supportive structural pillars and lie flat on the ground, these can withstand a class 4 hurricane, stresses company CEO Jim Tyler.
The financing round was led by Capricorn Investment Group that's also invested in companies like Tesla and SpaceX. A Partner at Capricorn, Ion Yadigaroglu called Erthos a 'unique opportunity' combining simplicity and speed to increase solar deployment.
"Additionally, declining module prices, increasing steel prices, and rampant supply chain problems are creating enormous tailwinds for Erthos," added Yadigaroglu.
Management said the new proceeds will enable it to accelerate its market entry, double headcount and support further product development in the areas of robotic cleaning, system analytics and modeling software.
Tyler said the financing brings it resources to execute phase 2 of its market rollout.
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