Australian solar technology company SunDrive has raised up to AUD 25.3 million in new funding from the state-owned Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) as it strives to commercialize its copper metallization solar cell technology.  

SunDrive’s technology aims to completely replace expensive silver in solar cells with a cheaper alternative that’s available in abundance – copper. As it tests this technology and brings it to commercial scale, ARENA says it will support the agency’s 30-30-30 Ultra Low-Cost Solar goal of 30% module efficiency at an installed cost of 30 cents/W by 2030. SunDrive previously raised AUD 14 million from ARENA, including AUD 11 million in 2023 (see Australian Solar Tech Company Bags AUD 11 Million).

This new funding, says ARENA, under its Advancing Renewables Program, will support SunDrive to bring its Kurnell facility in New South Wales (NSW) from R&D to 300 MW commercial-scale production. Modules will be produced at the fab for in-field testing and early market acceptance. 

SunDrive has been working with China’s solar cell equipment suppliers Maxwell and Vistar Equipment Technology to co-develop and distribute commercial-scale direct copper-plating tools for high-efficiency heterojunction solar cells (see Sundrive, Maxwell & Vistar Partner For Copper-Plated HJT Technology). 

“With silver prices nearly tripling in three years and solar now using a third of global industrial silver, the industry urgently needs a silver-free alternative. With ARENA’s support and our partners’ expertise, this project intends to deliver a scalable mass-production solution,” said SunDrive Co-Founder Vince Allen. 

In October 2024, SunDrive entered into an MoU with China’s Trinasolar for local PV manufacturing within Australia (see Trinasolar To Expand Manufacturing Footprint To Australia).  

Speaking of cell technologies, TaiyangNews will be hosting its annual flagship event, the 4-day High-Efficiency Solar Technologies 2025 Virtual Conference on December 3-4 and December 9-10. This platform will bring together industry leaders and stakeholders to discuss mature to emerging cell technologies – TOPCon, HJT, XBC and tandem PV. Registrations are free and open here.