“Launchpad to the world:” SunDrive inks deal to get Aussie solar innovation to global market

Australian solar innovator SunDrive has inked a deal with two China-based solar manufacturing heavyweights to help launch its homegrown – and potentially game-changing – copper-based PV technology onto the global market.

According to a joint development agreement (JDA) announced on Monday, SunDrive will collaborate with Maxwell Technologies and Vistar Equipment Technology to co-develop and distribute commercial-scale direct-copper plating tools, to produce high-efficiency heterojunction (HJT) solar cells.

Spun out of the University of New South Wales and backed by high profile investors including Mike Cannon-Brookes, SunDrive is developing a technology that uses copper for PV cell metallisation, instead of silver.

This approach aims to further cut the costs of making solar panels, given that copper is around one hundred times cheaper and one thousand times more abundant than silver. The company promises to deliver an installed cost of solar that is 20-30% cheaper than other high-efficiency cells.

In December last year, SunDrive notched up an important milestone by demonstrating that more than 99 per cent of the solar cells produced at its pilot facility in Sydney can meet and beat commercial standards.

The achievement also checked off one of the key funding criteria of the $11 million federal government grant awarded to SunDrive in late 2023 by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena).

SunDrive CEO Natalie Malligan says the company’s strategy is to focus on innovation and R&D at home, while partnering with the leaders of the global industry to move from a pilot-scale to commercial-scale and establish domestic and global manufacturing lines.

In this spirit, SunDrive last year applied for a share in federal Labor’s Sunshot funding in partnership with Chinese PV giant Trina Solar. The two companies want to set up a module manufacturing plant in Western Sydney, with an initial production capacity of 1.2 gigawatts (GW).

The new collaboration brings into the fold China-based Maxwell, as the global market leader in HJT solar cell production equipment, supplying more than 80% of installed capacity worldwide, with customers including Tongwei Solar, Trina Solar, Longi, JA Solar, Jinko and Canadian Solar.

The company has also collaborated with SunDrive before, including on the achievement of a world-record cell efficiency of 25.54% in 2021.

Fellow China outfit, Vistar, specialises in the design and manufacture of wet chemical processing and equipment automation for next-generation solar technologies. It, too, has worked with SunDrive before.

“Maxwell and Vistar’s extensive track record in bringing commercial-scale solar cell production equipment rapidly to market, and distributing at-scale, represents the ideal launchpad for SunDrive to take our technology to Australia and the world,” Malligan said on Monday.

“This partnership is a clear validation of SunDrive’s strategy: to focus on world-class solar innovation, right here in Australia, and partner with the best in the industry to bring it to market.”

The deal is a win for the China companies, too: the shift from sliver to copper addresses one of the biggest material constraints facing sustainable future HJT manufacturing, as silver becomes more expensive and supply chains tighten

“Technological innovation is the cornerstone for the photovoltaic industry to overcome cycles and advance toward a brighter future,” Maxwell chair Zhou Jian said at the JDA signing ceremony.

“We hope this collaboration will deepen our joint R&D capabilities in copper plating, achieve new breakthroughs in cell conversion efficiency, module power
output, and mass producibility, as well as propel HJT technology into the 780W+ era, opening new frontiers for the industry’s development.”

Dax Kukulj, the deputy director of business development and commercialisation at UNSW says SunDrive is a “remarkable example” of how world-leading Australian research can be transformed into a global commercial success.

“We are proud to have supported the development of this cutting-edge photovoltaic technology and congratulate SunDrive on this significant milestone in bringing it to market,” Kukulj said.

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