Konarka
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| Private | |
| Industry | Solar energy |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Headquarters | 42°38′50″N 71°18′28″W / 42.6471°N 71.3079°W, Lowell, Massachusetts, USA |
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Key people
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Howard Berke, Executive chairman; Rick Hess, CEO; Daniel E. Geffken, EVP and CFO; Daniel P. McGahn, EVP and CMO |
| Products | Photovoltaics |
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Number of employees
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70 (2008) |
Konarka Technologies, Inc. was a solar energy company based in Lowell, Massachusetts, founded in 2001 as a spin-off from University of Massachusetts Lowell. In late May 2012, the company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection and laid off its approximately 80-member staff. The company’s operations have ceased and a trustee is tasked with liquidating the company’s assets for the benefit of creditors.
The company was developing two types of organic solar cells: polymer-fullerene solar cells and dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Konarka cells were lightweight, flexible photovoltaics that could be printed as film or coated onto surfaces.
The company had hoped its manufacturing process, which utilized organic chemistry, would result in higher efficiency at lower cost than traditional crystalline silicon fabricated solar cells. Konarka was also researching infrared light activated photovoltaics which would enable night-time power generation.
The company's co-founders included the Nobel laureate Alan J. Heeger. The company was named after Konark Sun Temple in India.
As of 2006, Konarka had received $60 million in funding from venture capital firms including 3i, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, New Enterprise Associates, Good Energies and Chevron Technology Ventures. Konarka also received nearly $10 million in combined grants from the Pentagon and European governments, and in 2007 was approved for further funding through the Solar America Initiative, a component of the White House's Advanced Energy Initiative. The company raised a further $45 million in private capital financing in October 2007 in a financing round led by Mackenzie Financial Corporation.
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Wikipedia