Insolight is breaking all records. Until now, industrially produced solar panels have had an efficiency rating between 17% to 19%. The start-up, based in the EPFL Innovation Park, has raised this standard to 29%. This increase is thanks to a completely new technology: a system of lenses bundles sunlight and focuses it on many small spots. The optimum efficiency dramatically decreases the cost of space grade photovoltaics, enabling use in a consumer product. A pilot system is currently being tested by potential customers under real conditions. According to Insolight co-founder and CEO Laurent Coulot, production should start on a large scale at established manufacturers by 2022. In China? No, in Europe, says Coulot: “We have the necessary ecosystem here to launch the production of solar panels.” The EU believes so too: it has awarded more than EUR 10 million to a project called Hiperion, established by a consortium of industrial partners which aims to scale up the manufacture of Insolight modules. Insolight is of course part of this consortium and Coulot describes its role: “We concentrate on research, development, design and marketing.”
Insolight, Ecublens VD / Sector: Cleantech
Founded: 2015 / Employees: 16
(Source: TOP 100 magazine "Startup")