Meet some of the emerging companies in the U.S. PV manufacturing sector that are set to release new products, processes and equipment, which have the scope to be truly disruptive to today’s mainstream technology offerings. Showcased at PV CellTech USA 2026 in our Innovation Showcase session series.
ACI Materials
ACI Materials is an advanced material supplier providing technological solutions and advantages across industries and applications. Our innovative materials are created by combining a patented cavitation process with decades of formulation experience.
Dana Hankey
Caelux
Caelux’s proprietary technologies improve the performance of any new crystalline silicon module, making solar energy more powerful and cost-effective. Headquartered in Pasadena, California, Caelux is at the forefront of the emerging science of perovskites, a special class of nanomaterials. Its flagship product, Caelux™ One is an innovative product that integrates seamlessly into existing PV module manufacturing processes, boosting performance, reducing installed costs, and accelerating the proliferation of solar. For more information, visit www.caelux.com or connect on LinkedIn.
Aaron Thurlow
QSM
GSTX, through its QSM affiliate group of companies, is developing an integrated solar materials supply chain spanning high-purity quartz sand, quartz crucibles, silicon metal, polysilicon, monocrystalline silicon ingots, and silicon wafers. The group’s global operations are headquartered in the U.S. and extend to Australia and New Zealand, with planned expansion into Portugal.
The business strategy leverages the team’s extensive industry and professional experience and is driven by a desire for local manufacturing, energy security, supply chain security, driving local industry, and increasing domestic productivity.
Jason May
Tandem PV
Tandem PV, based in Silicon Valley and founded in 2016, is driving the transition to a net-zero economy by working to commercialize the most efficient, durable and price-competitive tandem perovskite-solar panels on the market. Its panels are showing a 27% absolute efficiency, with 30% efficiency expected in the near future. Tandem PV has also demonstrated durability lasting decades based on industry-standard testing, placing Tandem PV in a market-leading position. Tandem PV’s panels will produce more power at a similar price per watt (compared to average silicon panels), reducing the levelized cost of energy due to lower balance of system, labor and land-acquisition costs. Tandem PV has raised a total of $33 million in venture capital and government funds including from the U.S. Dept. of Energy, the National Science Foundation and the California Energy Commission.
Scott Wharton
Highland Materials
Highland Materials is a manufacturer of polysilicon whose history dates back to 2006. Supported by a world class management team. Highland Materials is positioned to be a major supplier of solar grade polysilicon primarily to the PV market and Battery silicon anode markets, as well as other industries. The Company has a unique, patent protected silicon purification technology that enables Highland to produce high purity material with a significant reduction in cost, energy usage and a 90% reduction in carbon emissions compared to other major manufacturers.
Designed specifically to meet the needs of silicon wafer production and the solar industry, Highland Materials produces ultrapure polysilicon that is used to manufacture silicon ingots and wafers used for semiconductors and solar cells. The Highland Materials process and its ability to upcycle kerf, a waste from the silicon wafer manufacturing process, provides a much more efficient method to producing solar-grade silicon that complements material produced through the Siemens technology. This results in significant cost reductions in silicon ingot/wafer manufacturing while reducing energy and emissions, improving safety, and eliminating major industrial waste stream.
Richard Rast
Sofab Inks
Sofab specializes in custom metal-oxide nanoparticle formulations tailored for mass-production applications, with particular expertise in solar and perovskite technologies. Our strength lies in rapidly modifying existing products or creating entirely new solutions to meet your specific industrial needs, driving innovation across sectors through cutting-edge nanotechnology.
Durable, High-Performance ETLs for Mass Manufactured Perovskite Solar Cells
Perovskite and perovskite-tandem solar panels are currently held back by the suboptimal materials commonly used in the electron transport layer. These organic materials decay rapidly, are expensive to produce, and are difficult to apply. Sofab’s tin-oxide-based ETL solves many of these issues.
Durable, High-Performance HTLs for Mass Manufactured Perovskite Solar Cells
Perovskite and perovskite-tandem solar panels are currently held back by the suboptimal materials commonly used in the hole transport layer. These organic materials like PTAA decay rapidly, are expensive to produce, and difficult to apply. Sofab’s nickel-oxide based HTL Nicfab solves many of these issues. Nicfab promotes crystal growth, has strong band alignment, is tunable, and solution-processable enabling scalable manufacturing.
