Thin-Film Solar Panel Maker Konarka Files Bankruptcy

Thin-Film Solar Panel Maker Konarka Files Bankruptcy Konarka Technologies Inc. Semprius Inc. 9 percent. Bankruptcy Court in Worcester, Massachusetts. , a solar panel maker backed by Siemens AG (SIE), claims to have demonstrated the world's highest efficiency in the lab of 33. Konarka's technology was less efficient at converting light into electricity than others in the industry. Konarka's solar panels were made from a conductive polymer invented by company co-founder and Nobel Prize-winner Alan Heeger, not from silicon used in conventional solar panels. Manufacturers of thin-film solar products such as Konarka attracted venture investments as the price of polysilicon, the raw material in conventional panels, steadily increased and peaked at $475 a kilogram in 2008. Konarka printed its conductive polymer onto a flexible plastic backing material, an approach that was simpler and saved costs compared to conventional solar panel manufacturing, and the panels were flexible enough to be incorporated into buildings or other urban structures, according to the company. Its other investors included Konica Minolta Holdings Inc. "Konarka has been unable to obtain additional financing, and given its current financial condition, it is unable to continue operations," Howard Berke, chief executive officer of the Lowell, Massachusetts-based company, said yesterday in a statement. solar panel manufacturers filed for bankruptcy in the past year as the price of the panels fell 50 percent due to oversupply and production expansion in China. 20 a kilogram, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance data. Konarka listed $100,000 to $500,000 in assets and $10 million to $50 million in debt in its Chapter 7 filing yesterday in U. , Massachusetts Technology Collaborative and the Massachusetts Green Energy Fund LP. The company raised at least $189 million in venture capital since 2001, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Thin-Film Solar Panel Maker Konarka Files Bankruptcy Trade News selected by Local Linkup on 03/06/2012