Intel spawns new solar startup

The SpectraWatt logo.

Intel announced last week its decision to spin an internal solar start-up off into a new, separate company called SpectraWatt. SpectraWatt was incubated by the company’s “New Business Initiatives” group and funded by a $50 million investment round due to close by late 2008 and led by Intel Capital, with participation from Cogentrix Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Goldman Sachs Group; PCG Clean Energy and Technology Fund (“CETF”); and Solon AG.

The initiative that later became SpectraWatt began in 2004 when CEO and then-general manger of Intel’s New Business Initiatives group Andrew Wilson pitched the idea. “There’s a fair amount of crossover in core technologies between Intel’s core processor business and making silicon cells,” says Wilson, “and there are overlaps in terms of manufacturing, supply chain management, equipment maintenance and development. Where the two begin to differ is in financing—the throughput required to realize meaningful revenue is very different in solar than it is in processors.”

Although just officially launched as its own company, SpectraWatt plans to break ground on an R&D and full-scale manufacturing facility in Hillsboro, Ore., in the latter half of 2008, and begin shipping silicon cells to solar module manufacturers by mid-2009. Although Wilson declines to disclose any specific deals, he hints at customers already in place.

“Let’s just say all the necessary business components to realize financial success are in place, and we are optimistic that we won’t need any additional equity rounds until we’re ready to really expand the business,” Wilson says.

The company opted to site its facility in Oregon in order to take advantage of the state’s Business Energy Tax Credit (BETC) as well as easy access to clean hydropower and plentiful water resources, according to Wilson.