Solar manufacturing company CubicPV announced it has secured new firm equity commitments in excess of $100 million dollars in support of its U.S. factory plans and tandem product roadmap. And the funding round will be split into two tranches with the first $33 million released immediately. The second tranche of investment is tied to specific project milestones. Cubic’s strong shareholder base – which was led by SCG Cleanergy (a wholly owned subsidiary of SCG) with contributions from Hunt Energy Enterprises and Breakthrough Energy Ventures – committed the capital to further accelerate the Company’s growth strategy.
This investment reflects investors’ considerable confidence in Cubic’s ability to meet the expected demand for U.S.-produced wafers and lead the market transformation to tandem module technology. And the company continues to make steady progress against its plan to build 10 gigawatts (GW) of wafer production in the United States, a direct result of the long-term industrial policy contained within the Inflation Reduction Act. Plus the company has completed its conceptual design and scoping for the project, narrowed its site selection decision to two final possible locations, engaged with an industry-leading project management company, and is in the process of completing the detailed design. The company also remains on track with respect to financing the factory and received indicative term sheets exceeding the required total equity for the new factory.
Cubic also announced that it appointed David Gustafson as President of the new wafer facility. And in this role, Dave will lead the planning, design, ramp, and operation of Cubic’s factory. He brings extensive manufacturing leadership and engineering experience, most recently leading the manufacturing functions for 5,000 people, across 7 states and 8 U.S. factories for a Fortune 500 company. Dave had received his Bachelor of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his Master of Science degree from Vanderbilt University. Plus he also served in the United States Navy Civil Engineer Corps as Company Commander for Navy Mobile Construction Battalion 74.
KEY QUOTES:
“With its deep experience in silicon wafer production and ownership of highly innovative proprietary technologies, Cubic is ideally positioned to play a key role in the world’s embrace of solar powered electricity generation. We continued to be impressed with the strength of the team, their progress against plan and their commitment to manufacturing and innovation excellence.”
— Tim McCaffery, Global Investment Director, SCG
“Today’s announcement underscores the considerable progress we’ve made, the depth of our engineering competence and the strength of our technologies to deliver a more powerful solar future. We thank SCG Cleanergy for their confidence in our manufacturing goals and product roadmap.”
“We conducted an exhaustive search for the right candidate to help us construct, ramp, and operate the factory with precision and speed. Dave’s wealth of experience in manufacturing and construction is a tremendous asset to Cubic, and we are delighted to add him to the team.”
— Frank van Mierlo, CEO, CubicPV
