Genesis Company Receives National Science Foundation Grant

Silicon Solar Solutions, a Fayetteville company based at the University of Arkansas Research and Technology Park, has received a $150,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. The Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant will be used to demonstrate that the company’s process for making solar cells can be applied to the rapidly developing field of thin-film solar cells. The company intends to show that its process is a faster and less expensive method for producing the thin-film solar cells. If the Phase I research is successful the company will be able to apply for additional Phase II funding of up to $500,000.

“These grant proposals, and the research behind them, are carefully reviewed by the National Science Foundation, which is just one reason we were overjoyed to receive this grant,” said Douglas Hutchings, chief executive officer of Silicon Solar Solutions. “This is a huge ‘thumbs up’ for our process, and for our company.”

Hutchings says that this grant could potentially lead to cost-competitive thin-film silicon solar cells being manufactured in northwest Arkansas.

Silicon Solar Solutions uses abundant, non-toxic materials in an efficient, low-cost process to manufacture silicon-based solar cells and thin-film modules to convert solar energy into electrical power. The company was founded in December 2008 after licensing the process developed by researchers in the University of Arkansas College of Engineering. The company is currently operating in the Genesis Technology Incubator at the Research and Technology Park. It employs three full-time staff and two part-time, and Hutchings says he hopes to hire two more full-time technology workers in the coming months. The company has received support from the University of Arkansas, the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, the Arkansas Science and Technology Authority, Innovate Arkansas and Green Valley Development.