Oxford PV recently announced it has closed its Series D funding round. An additional £34 million, following the £31 million first close, brings the funding round total to £65 million.

The first close, announced in March 2019, included a significant new investment from Goldwind, the leading provider of integrated renewable energy solutions in China, as well as investment from existing shareholders including Equinor and Legal & General Capital. The additional funds include the major new investment from Meyer Burger, the leading photovoltaic equipment supplier, announced in March 2019, with the remaining investment coming from other new and existing investors.

Researchers from Florida State University and Georgia Tech have been working on new ways for solar cells to absorb and use infrared light, a portion of the solar spectrum that is typically unavailable for solar cell technology.

'We're working on a process to optimize the efficiency of solar cells,' said Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Lea Nienhaus. 'The main drive is to optimize this process for solar applications'. The team has created a new approach for solar cells to facilitate a process called photon upconversion. In photon upconversion, two low energy photons are converted into one high-energy photon that emits visible light.