Zhejiang Sinopont Technology Co Ltd, a Chinese solar cell encapsulation film producer, has announced the completion of its Series D funding round at 1 billion yuan ($145 million) from investors including GGV Capital and Source Code Capital.
CICC Capital, the global private equity (PE) platform of China International Capital Corporation Limited (CICC), and CITIC Securities’ direct investment arm CITIC Goldstone Fund Management were among the investors in the Series D round, said Sinopont in a recent statement.
SPIC Industrial Fund Management, which is affiliated to China’s state-owned electricity generation firm State Power Investment Corporation Limited (SPIC), also participated in the deal.
Hangzhou-based Sinopont focuses on the R&D, manufacturing, and sale of solar cell encapsulation films, which are used to encapsulate photovoltaic (PV) cells for protection against weather, corrosive environment, UV radiation, low mechanical stress, and low energy impacts.
Founded in July 2006, the firm currently runs two manufacturing bases in central China and eastern China, while it is actively preparing for the construction of its first overseas manufacturing plant and third domestic plant, according to the company website. Its key product is polyolefin elastomer (POE)-based encapsulant films, which offer better moisture resistance than the traditionally more prevalent ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) films.
The new financing will enable Sinopont to double down on its R&D efforts and consolidate its strengths in the development of POE-based encapsulant films, said the firm. It booked 2.5 billion yuan ($362.4 million) in revenue during 2022, double that of 2021.
“Great changes are taking place in the PV industry. The N-type solar cell technology, which is represented by TOPCon N-type cells, has embraced its first year of industrialisation. This technology is moving into an era of exponential growth in mass production, which has put in place a higher demand for PV cell encapsulation solutions,” said Wu Fan, Managing Director at Source Code Capital.
Among all, POE-based encapsulant films could usher in a golden age of development for their “better compatibility with” the new-generation cells and their capability in making these cells more durable, said Wu.
TOPCon, short for “Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact”, is a more advanced N-type silicon cell technology. The concept was first proposed by the German solar research institution Fraunhofer ISE back in 2014. It was not until 2019 that the technology was scaled.