Swift Solar

Swift Solar is an American solar technology company pioneering the development of advanced perovskite photovoltaics. Founded in 2017 as a spinout from MIT, Stanford University, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the company focuses on building high-efficiency tandem solar cells by combining metal halide perovskites with silicon or other perovskite materials. Swift Solar's tandem technology promises to significantly outperform current silicon and thin-film technologies at a lower cost.

The company's innovative perovskite solar cell production process involves less material and energy consumption, driving down manufacturing costs and carbon pollution. Swift Solar's proprietary vapor deposition technique enables continuous deposition of a fully absorbing perovskite material within just five minutes, a substantial improvement over traditional batch processing methods. Solar cells manufactured using this approach have demonstrated higher efficiencies compared to previously realized vapor-processed inorganic perovskite solar cells.

Perovskites offer several advantages over conventional photovoltaic technologies, including superior light absorption, lightweight and flexible design, and the potential for lower production costs. Swift Solar's perovskite tandem technology could decrease the cost of solar energy by up to 30%, making it more accessible for households, businesses, and various applications. For instance, the company's perovskite solar roofs could extend the range of electric vehicles by 15 miles or more per day, while satellites could benefit from a tenfold cost reduction and improved radiation tolerance for solar arrays. Swift Solar is actively testing its perovskite technology in space applications.

The company has received significant support from government agencies, securing over USD 16 million in federal and state grants from the US Department of Energy, Department of Defense, National Science Foundation, and the California Energy Commission. Additionally, Swift Solar was recently awarded USD 7 million from the Department of Energy's Advancing US Thin-Film Solar Photovoltaics funding program to accelerate the development of its perovskite-silicon tandem technology.