- CubicPV will not be going ahead with its plans to set up a 10 GW solar wafer manufacturing facility in the US
- The company lists drop in wafer prices and high construction costs as factors responsible for the decision
- It plans to focus now on bringing its silicon-perovskite tandem solar modules to the market
A little over a year of announcing plans to build a 10 GW silicon mono wafer manufacturing factory in the US, CubicPV has shelved its plans to focus entirely on 4-terminal tandem technology.
It referred to market dynamics such as ‘dramatic collapse’ in wafer prices and a ‘surge in construction costs’ to step away from the multi-GW wafer production plans.
This can be seen as a significant blow to the efforts of the US government to develop a fully integrated solar PV manufacturing supply chain within the country with the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Wafer and cell production are critical to making modules produced domestically.
CubicPV’s decision to scrap wafer manufacturing factory comes soon after the company announced long-term silicon supply contract worth $1 billion with OCIM in December 2023.
The company was formed with the merger of 1366 Technologies and Hunt Perovskite Technologies in June 2021. Its name reflects the shared cubic crystal structure of both silicon and perovskite.
The management said it will instead return to its core competency in innovation and move to tandem structure as the solar industry will move to tandem. It plans to offer tandem modules, using silicon and perovskite, with over 30% efficiency than the highest efficiency conventional modules.
CubicPV uses Direct Wafer technology to produce wafers directly from molten silicon. It does away with ingot and sawing steps from wafer production which it claims reduces costs and produces an ‘ideal bottom cell’ for high efficiency tandem modules.
It did not mention any commercial operations timeline or other investment details for its plans to bring the tandem product into the market. CubicPV had previously also announced a 2 GW Direct Wafer cell factory in India.
Along with this strategic move to scrap the 10 GW fab, CubicPV has also announced management changes with the departure of CEO Frank van Mierlo who led the company for 16 years. He is being replaced by the Global Investment Director with Thailand-based Siam Cement Group (SCG) Tim McCaffery. SCG is an investor in CubicPV and McCaffery a board member.
The news follows REC Silicon announcing shutting down its electronic-grade polysilicon production business at Butte, Montana in the US due to high electricity costs.
