The Seattle-based start-up was selected for the Shell Gamechanger Accelerator(TM) Powered by NREL and is a founding member of new perovskite manufacturing consortium in the US
SEATTLE — May 8, 2020 — BlueDot Photonics announces two exciting new developments in its mission to deliver solar to more people in more places.
On May 1st, the Shell GameChanger Accelerator(TM) Powered by NREL (GCxN) announced that BlueDot Photonics is one of three new startups to participate in the program following a multistage competitive evaluation. GCxN provides promising cleantech startups with technical resources to accelerate product commercialization while de-risking investment. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Shell will provide BlueDot Photonics with up to $250,000 in technical support.
BlueDot Photonics joins two other startups as the program's third cohort and are focused on enabling more efficient and effective solar and storage solutions. “The opportunity to work with Shell and NREL to accelerate the development of our technology is huge,” said Jared Silvia, CEO of BlueDot Photonics. “Cleantech is hard. It requires deep expertise to move quickly from concept to product. We plan on using this opportunity to validate our unique manufacturing approach for creating perovskite-based solar devices.”
Over the past decade, solar deployments in the United States have increased by an average of 48 percent each year. The energy storage market is on a similar trajectory, nearly doubling in size in 2018 with similar expectations for final 2019 numbers. Startups can help to maintain the momentum of the clean energy transition.
“As a nascent technology, perovskite materials show great promise in solar efficiency. It’s time to explore how to scale the technology beyond the lab and into the market,” said NREL’s GCxN program manager, Adam Duran. “BlueDot Photonics is working with GCxN and NREL to develop a cost-effective and scalable manufacturing process to create solar panels using these ultra-efficient perovskite materials. The team of GCxN, BlueDot, Shell, and NREL is well suited to this work; each brings world-class perovskite expertise to the table.”
Aspiring GCxN startups are nominated by Channel Partners—a network of 63 cleantech incubators, accelerators and universities—before undergoing in-depth review by Shell and the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Once in the program, companies receive up to $250,000 in non-dilutive funding with the opportunity for future follow-on funding, benefit from NREL’s state-of-the-art research capabilities, and have support from Shell and the group of cross-industry Channel Partners.
For more information about the program and participating startups, visit GCxNREL.com.
On April 29th, BlueDot Photonics became one of the founding industrial members of the U.S. Manufacturing of Advanced Perovskites Consortium (US-MAP), which will work to accelerate commercialization of perovskite technologies. Members of US-MAP will share research and development, validation, and pilot manufacturing, which will reduce development costs and technology risks for potential investors. US-MAP was formed by NREL, the Washington Clean Energy Testbeds at the University of Washington, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Toledo.
“US-MAP will help startups like ours access critical expertise required to prove manufacturability and product reliability, while maintaining ownership of intellectual property,” said Silvia. “This network and its facilities will help us overcome key hurdles to commercialization that will benefit all perovskite-based technologies. This will allow companies like ours to shorten the development cycle for products to satisfy customers and our investors.”
For more information about US-MAP, visit http://www.nrel.gov/research/us-map.html.
About BlueDot Photonics
BlueDot Photonics is accelerating the deployment of next-generation solar technology by developing simple, cost-effective solutions to improve solar panel performance. BlueDot is based in Seattle, WA and is a spin-out of the University of Washington. Learn more at www.bluedotphotonics.com, on Twitter @BlueDotPhoton, and LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/bluedot-photonics/