BP Ventures invests in Oz solar tech company

• Financial investment will assist 5B Holdings accelerate commercialisation of its system for accelerating panel installations

BP Ventures has actually made an A$ 20m (EUR12m) financial investment in 5B Holdings, an Australian solar technology outfit.

The financial investment closes 5B's A$ 55m Series B funding round, which was co-led by existing investors, AES Corporation as well as Artesian.

5B's solar innovation, the 5B Maverick, consists of approximately 90 photovoltaic panels mounted on specifically designed frames that can be unravelled and also set up, quickening ground installed solar installments.

To date, 5B has actually released its modern technology throughout greater than 100 sites worldwide with overall producing capacity of over 60MW.

This year 5B Maverick was made use of to release panels with 1.1 MW capacity-- covering the equivalent of a soccer pitch-- in a single day, with a group of only 10 at AES' Andes Solar II B facility in the Atacama Desert in Chile.

The capital injection from BP Ventures will certainly support 5B's innovation development as well as growth and will certainly also accelerate 5B's international development, plus intends to establish a manufacturing facility in North America.

Johnathan Stone, principal at BP Ventures, that will certainly sign up with the 5B board of directors, stated: "5B's ingenious solar innovation can deliver low-priced power generation at rate, aiding to meet increasing electrical energy demand."

" We are delighted to be making a crucial contribution to 5B's Series B funding round and also eagerly anticipate helping them accelerate their growth through collaboration with various parts of our organization."

BP's gas and also low carbon energy (G&LCE) company as well as 50-50 joint venture Lightsource BP, together with 5B, will discover the very best possibilities to collaborate on the deployment of 5B's Maverick innovation on future BP and Lightsource BP projects.

Chris McGrath, 5B co-founder and CEO, added: "Collaborating with BP Ventures and the more comprehensive BP services provides us a wide range of worldwide industrial and also operational expertise.

" It presents an excellent possibility to release our 5B Maverick innovation throughout a range of international markets.

" The support of such an active and also experienced venture capital group is a powerful validation of our modern technology as well as capacity to support bp as it transitions to an integrated energy company."