An Irish solar energy equipment developer, has secured €3 million (£2.6m) from InnoEnergy to bring its innovative panel manufacturing process to market.

Nines Photovoltaics (PV) plans to use the funding from the sustainable energy innovation engine to commercialise its atmospheric dry etching (ADE) technique, which it claims can be used to create more efficient solar cells for a lower cost than currently possible.

It says ADE is a texturing process for various types of crystalline wafer and provides extra low reflectivity compared to the sector’s conventional technologies, increasing the efficiency of the solar cells made.

The firm aims to use the funding to develop and commercialise a high throughput production tool that by next year will enable manufacturers to produce 6,000 wafers per hour.

InnoEnergy will also provide support such as business development and sales, fundraising and marketing expertise.

Javier Sanz, Renewable Energy Thematic Leader at InnoEnergy said: “This technology has the ability to transform the economics of solar photovoltaic manufacturing and drastically increase solar cell efficiency.

“ADE ticks all the boxes in our mission to accelerate Europe’s energy transition towards a low carbon future.”