Veeco Awarded $800K In Matching Funds from Minnesota for Solar Technology
Source/Type: News - Staff reports

Author: CompoundSemi News Staff

June 28, 2010... Veeco Intruments Inc. of St. Paul Minnesota USA, reports that its St. Paul operation was awarded $800,000 in matching funds by the Minnesota Department of Commerce’s Office of Energy Security. The money comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to support emerging renewable energy technology. The matching funds were awarded for a 1.5 year project that will expedite Veeco’s CIGS (copper, indium, gallium, selenium) deposition equipment technology to market. This technology helps solar panel manufacturers to reduce their production costs and increase the feasibility of solar panels as an alternative energy.

While much investiment and money has gone into thin-film solar companies, relatively little has been given to MOCVD equipment makers such as Veeco, which will likely be one of the keys to making thin-film solar economical. In total, the state of Minnesota awarded just over $4 million dollars in funding for the Emerging Renewable Energy Industries Grant Program.

According to David Bruns, Senior Vice President of Veeco’s Solar Operations, “Veeco will facilitate the development of this critical technology, creating green energy jobs. We would like to acknowledge the integral support of MN District 53B House Representative Carol McFarlane, in addition to MN District 53 Senator Sandy Rummel, MN 4th District Congresswoman Betty McCollum, and other various high-ranking elected government officials. Through visits to Veeco and encouragement of our efforts, they clearly demonstrated their strong support of green energy technology and its advancement in the state of Minnesota.”

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