US solar start-up Stion raises US$25m to expand production facility

19 Dec 2012

A 60kW carport array using Stion panels in Arizona. Image via Stion

Stion, a California-based maker of low-cost thin-film solar panels, has raised US$25m in financing, which the company is set to use to expand its existing production facility in Mississippi.

Stion, which was founded in 2006, recently filed papers with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in which it detailed how it is seeking to raise US$55m over the coming year.

According to a report from Bloomberg, Stion will use the US$25m funding, which was led by Khosla Ventures, to expand production capacity from 100MW a year to 140MW a year at its factory in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Stion, which is aiming to produce and sell solar panels at a much lower cost than its rivals, started commercial shipments of its thin film solar panels earlier this year.

To date, the company has raised more than US$240m.

Stion’s other investors include Lightspeed Venture Partners, TSMC Solar, Venture Tech Alliance, Braemar Energy Ventures and General Catalyst Partners.

Stion also recently obtained US$2m through the US Department of Energy’s SunShot initiative to continue the pilot production and scale-up of its thin film modules.

Carmel Doyle was a long-time reporter with Silicon Republic

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