Tandem PV has been selected for the US Department of Energy's ARPA-E SCALEUP Ready program, winning approximately $7.7 million to support the commercial scale-up and US manufacturing of its tandem technology. SCALEUP Ready is ARPA-E's "disruption wing," aimed at helping promising advanced energy technologies move from development toward market adoption and commercial deployment.
The award will support Tandem PV's Tandems for American National Dominance in Energy Manufacturing (TANDEM) project, which the company says will help move its high-efficiency tandem panels toward large-scale commercial production and support US solar PV manufacturing. Tandem PV's technology combines an ultra-thin perovskite layer with conventional silicon, a design the company says packs more power into the same panel footprint and helps lower costs; it claims up to 29.7% efficiency for its tandem modules under internal testing.
The award follows a string of recent moves toward higher-volume manufacturing. Tandem PV opened a 40 MW demonstration factory in Fremont, California in April 2026 to validate large-format production, and more recently acquired Oregon-based thin-film metal oxide coating company nexTC Corporation, bringing that manufacturing process in-house. The company has previously received a $4.7 million DOE SETO award as part of the TEAMUP tandem-perovskite consortium and a $4 million California Energy Commission grant.
"Being selected by ARPA-E for SCALEUP Ready is a strong validation of our technology, our team and our path to scale," said Tandem PV CEO Scott Wharton, adding that the project would help the company move faster toward high-volume US manufacturing. To date, the company says it has raised $100 million in venture capital, debt and government funding from investors including Eclipse, Constellation Energy, 8090 Industries, Trellis Climate, the US Department of Energy and the California Energy Commission. Former US Energy Secretary and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm joined Tandem PV's board of directors earlier this year.
