Chrysalix Energy invests in solar PV startup
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Vancouver-based Chrysalix Energy, one of Canada’s leading venture firms in the clean energy space, has invested an undisclosed amount in Day4 Energy Inc., also of Vancouver.
According to a press release, Day4 Energy’s “Day4 Electrode” technology “dramatically enhances the performance of mono and poly crystalline silicon solar cells. The result is both premium flat panel modules characterized by superior power outputs and esthetic appearance as well as an innovative PV concentrator system that generates power at significantly lower costs than other concentrated solar power systems.”
The company is constructing manufacturing facilities and says it expects to reach commercial production volumes by the second quarter of 2006.
On its Web site, Day4 Energy says its technology is being aimed at both residential and commercial solar PV markets, with attention paid to building-integrated systems. It says a combination of its proprietary technology and its unique sun concentrator PV system design offers a “clear possibility of making PV power generation cost competitive with conventional fossil fuel-based power generation technologies,” but with the same look and feel of conventional flat-panel systems.
One reason to take a particular interest in this company is that its co-founder is a well-respected name in the Canadian high-tech community. Dr. John MacDonald, Day4 Energy’s chairman and CEO, is a University of British Columbia and MIT engineering grad who co-founded famed aerospace firm MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. — a company MacDonald led for 30 years as CEO and chairman. Ever heard of the Canadarm, that robotic arm used by the Space Shuttle? Well, MacDonald Dettwiler designed and built that. MacDonald’s personal interest in Day4 Energy’s technology, and the fact that he’s the lead executive at the company, is a tremendous shot of credibility that could single out Day4 Energy from the new-venture pack.
Other investors in Day4 Energy include Discovery Capital Corp.’s British Columbia Discovery Fund, which has invested a total of $1.9 million in the company. In October, Kitchener, Ontario-based Arise Technologies Corp. signed a letter of intent to supply Day4 Energy with 5 megawatts of its PV cells for use in Day4′s PV modules, with shipments targeted for 2007.
Tyler Hamilton is editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and a business columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the clean technology and green energy market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper.
