have a close connection with its subject . it may require cleanup to comply with wikipedia s content policies particularly neutral point of view . please discuss further on the talk page . june 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message miasol type subsidiary industry solar energy founded 2001 headquarters santa clara california u.s. key people jeff zhou ceo merle mcclendon cfo atiye bayman cto products solar panels number of employees 315 1 parent hanergy website miasole.com miasol is an american solar energy company selling copper indium gallium selenide cigs thin film photovoltaic products . miasol s manufacturing process lays cigs on a flexible stainless steel substrate . miasol produces all layers of photovoltaic material in a continuous sputtering process . 2 based in santa clara california the company is focused on large scale commercial and utility projects 3 and was acquired by privately held chinese clean energy company hanergy in 2013 . 4 contents 1 company history 2 investment history 3 technology 4 production 5 see also 6 references 7 external links company history edit in 2006 misol said it would enter commercial production that year although this was postponed . citation needed in 2007 new management was brought in and the commercial production forecast was changed to 2009 . 5 throughout 2008 and much of 2009 miasol worked on re engineering the manufacturing process to improve efficiency and cost . 6 by the second half of 2008 two 20 megawatt production lines were installed and miasol had achieved 10.2 % efficient modules as measured by nrel . 7 in 2010 the company planned to expand capacity to 140 megawatts from about 60 megawatts . 6 the company produced approximately 20 megawatts in 2010 and approximately 40 megawatts in 2011 . 8 9 as of q2 2012 miasole has a manufacturing factory in california with a 150 megawatt capacity . 10 11 investment history edit miasol s initial raise was in 2004 and led by vantagepoint venture partners . the b round raised 16 million in venture capital investment in june 2005 in a round led by kleiner perkins caufield & byers 12 and raised a further 35 million in october 2006 . 13 the company raised 50 million in a fourth round of financing in september 2007 bringing total financing to 100 million . 14 miasol currently has roughly 500 million in investment from investors including vantagepoint venture partners kleiner perkins and firelake capital management . 15 in addition the company received about 100 million federal tax credit from the united states department of energy . 10 on january 9 2013 hanergy issued a press release stating that it had acquired miasol 4 for 30 million . 16 technology edit miasol s development of a new production process leverages its executives experience in the hard disk and semiconductor industries . in this unique process miasol deposits copper indium gallium selenide cigs on a flexible stainless steel substrate entirely through a continuous sputtering process . 2 17 sputtering is used in volume thin film production and is used by high volume manufacturing companies in the disk drive and architectural glass industries . sputtering deposits a thin film of material onto a surface in a vacuum . miasol claims it uses a continuous sputter deposition process in one tool to deposit all layers of the cigs solar cell on a lightweight stainless steel substrate . 2 18 cigs is among the most efficient solar cell materials with a maximum solar conversion efficiency of 20.3 % in the laboratory better than the best lab cells using amorphous silicon or cadmium telluride 19 but manufacturing it in volume has been a problem . despite these difficulties cigs is expected to surpass cadmium telluride used by companies like first solar in efficiency . 20 thin film technology is inherently less expensive than market leading crystalline silicon because of the cost of the silicon substrate . 21 miasol s first production module the mr series was verified by the us national renewable energy laboratory at 10 % efficiency . 22 miasol s 100 and 107 watt cigs thin film solar modules were certified to ul 1703 and iec 61646 and 61730 standards on october 30 2009 the first cigs thin film module to be simultaneously certified by ul to the three most critical certification standards . 19 as of december 2010 miasol held the record for efficiency on large area production cigs modules at 15.7 % and was in production with 13 % efficiency . as of may 2012 miasol had established the record for flexible pv modules at commercial size of 15.5 % . production edit the company began commercial shipments in november 2009 including a shipment to the chevron brightfield installation in central california . 23 24 in april 2011 miasole entered into an agreement with intel s technical manufacturing services practice . under the agreement intel was to use its copy exactly methodology to help ramp miasole to over 150mw of production capacity . 25 as of october 2011 the company had shipped over 55mw of modules to installations over the globe . 26 in november 2011 the company produced its 50 millionth cell . 27 see also edit renewable energy portal energy portal list of cigs companies references edit 1 a b c miasole web site u.s. solar startup aims to match first solar s cost . reuters . 2010 02 10 . retrieved 2010 03 17 . a b hanergy emerges as world s new clean energy giant following acquisition of silicon valley solar firm miasol . hanergy holding group ltd. 2013 01 09 . retrieved 2012 06 26 . miasol s chief researcher defects to solopower greentech media a b u.s. solar startup aims to match first solar s cost . reuters . 2010 02 10 . retrieved 2010 03 30 . company press release wesoff eric march 5 2012 . miasole solar slideshow cigs pv using all pvd . greentech media . retrieved 12 june 2012 . fahey jonathan 2010 02 11 . a second chance for novel solar . forbes . retrieved 2010 03 30 . a b dan walters is california green tech salvation or a pipe dream . sacramento bee . 2010 02 01 . retrieved 2010 03 31 . cigs pv firm miasole raises a further 55m from vc investors . semiconductor today . retrieved 12 june 2012 . nanosolar miasol stir up solar cell market . siliconbeat . 2005 06 09 . retrieved 2008 01 21 . solar start up snags 35 million as cigs ignites . zdnet . 2006 10 27 . archived from the original on 2007 08 25 . retrieved 2008 01 21 . solar cell company miasol raises 50m . venturebeat . 2007 09 26 . retrieved 2008 01 21 . wesoff eric march 5 2012 . miasole solar slideshow cigs pv using all pvd . greentech media . 50 smartest companies hanergy holding group . mit technology review . massachusetts institute of technology . retrieved 25 august 2014 . startup miasol has big designs on the growing solar panel market . biztech magazine . 2007 09 01 . retrieved 2008 01 21 . the fraser domain a b miasol breaks the silence moves into production . greentech media . 2009 12 16 . retrieved 2010 03 02 . nanosolar hits 16.4 percent efficiency in lab . greentech media . 2010 01 15 . retrieved 2010 04 02 . solar cell technologies . solarbuzz . 2010 01 15 . retrieved 2010 04 02 . miasol clears the air . greentech media . 2010 . retrieved 2010 03 31 . company press release chevron tests emerging solar technologies in central california company press release company press release company press release external links edit miasol company website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title miasol & oldid 709222093 categories engineering companies of the united statessolar energy companies of the united statesthin film cell manufacturerscompanies based in californiahidden categories wikipedia articles with possible conflicts of interest from june 2015all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from june 2015 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation 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