Verde President & CTO Chad Miller. Verde photo.
Vermont Business Magazine Following the recent milestones in efficiency, stability, and scaleup, Verde Technologies has attracted investment from multiple venture funds and industry veterans. Most notably, the former CEO of GE Power, Steve Bolze, has joined Verde as an investor and advisor to support the company’s continued growth.
“Verde stood out to me because of the pace at which the team is able to make progress toward changing the solar paradigm. It is clear that solar energy will play a dominant role in the renewable energy transition, especially with the tailwinds of recent legislation such as the Inflation Reduction Act.” says Bolze. “Verde’s team and technology are poised to make solar manufacturing and deployment simpler, lower cost, and more accessible.”
Recently, Verde won the $600k grand prize in the US Department of Energy’s Perovskite Startup Prize. The prestigious award was selected by an expert panel focused on scalable thin-film solar technologies.
Off the back of the award, Verde was able to raise an investment round with participation from multiple early-stage VC funds including the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies (VCET), FreshTracks Capital, Little Green Bamboo, Lever Fund, Standish Capital, and multiple industry veterans including Bolze.
“Verde is among other notable technology-led climate tech companies in Vermont like Beta, KORE Power, and Resonant Link that are creating scalable energy solutions so badly needed in today’s world,” said David Bradbury, VCET president and venture fund manager. “What better place than Burlington, Vermont on the eve of a solar eclipse to share Verde’s recent achievements along with this new round of investment.”
Verde has successfully achieved over 22% cell efficiency while using scalable manufacturing processes and stable materials. Their cell efficiency went from 18.6% efficiency to over 22% efficiency in the last six months alone. With preliminary scalability, stability, and efficiency milestones reached, the team is now moving toward prototype module deployment and field testing.
Future development will be aided by Verde’s role as a commercial partner within the DOE-funded Center for Accelerated Co-Design of Durable, Reproducible, and Efficient Perovskite Tandems (ADDEPT) in partnership with MIT, Princeton, UCSD, and CubicPV.
“It is an honor to be collaborating with Verde to progress perovskite solar technologies toward commercialization,” says Tonio Buonassisi, MIT professor and director of the ADDEPT Center. “There is a natural synergy between the AI/ML driven high throughput experimentation within ADDEPT and Verde’s novel scalable manufacturing techniques.”
In parallel with the funding and technical progress, the Verde team is in discussion with multiple undisclosed commercial entities, preparing for future commercial deployments.
“The faster we can work with our early customers to deploy our products in the field, the more impact we can have on combating climate change and making solar more accessible and affordable for all,” says Skylar Bagdon, CEO of Verde. “With support from value-add investors like Steve Bolze, we are looking forward to the next phase of commercial engagements and future deployments of our technology in the field.”
About Steve Bolze
Bolze is Founder and CEO of Massachusetts-based Standish Spring Investments. He is also an Executive Advisor at Blackstone, where he was previously Senior Managing Director and Global Head of Infrastructure Portfolio Operations. Bolze was previously President and CEO of GE Power and Water, a $28 billion unit containing GE’s power generation and renewables business whose technology helped provide over 25% of the world’s electricity. Bolze also served as the Co-Chair of the Electricity Technology Community for the World Economic Forum.
About Tonio Buonassisi
Tonio Buonassisi is a professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is pioneering the application of artificial intelligence to develop new materials for societally beneficial applications. His research in solar photovoltaics and technoeconomic analysis assisted technology developments in dozens of companies, earning him a US Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, and a Google Faculty Award. He founded the MIT PVLab and co-founded the Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems. He currently leads a DOE-funded US center to develop durable perovskite-silicon tandem modules, called ADDEPT (Accelerated Co-Design of Durable, Reproducible, and Efficient Perovskite Tandems).
About Verde Technologies Inc.
Verde Technologies Inc., a Greentown Labs spinout with headquarters in Burlington, Vermont, is a pioneering thin-film solar panel manufacturing company focused on harnessing the potential of lightweight and flexible perovskite solar panels. By prioritizing affordability, scalability, safety, and durability, Verde Technologies aims to dramatically reduce the cost and increase the accessibility energy for all. With a strong emphasis on low temperature, domestic manufacturing, Verde Technologies strives to create groundbreaking solutions that maximize solar energy utilization while minimizing environmental impact of the supply chain.
Source: Burlington, VT – APRIL 5, 2024. Verde
