A 15-Year Startup Pins Hopes on Green Subsidies


成立15年来，美国初创公司CubicPV多次尝试建造一个太阳能组件厂，但屡试屡败。现在，该公司认为美国的大规模绿色补贴将有助其最终在中国称霸的太阳能市场中占据一席之地。


马萨诸塞州贝德福德市的一名CubicPV工程师。这家初创公司生产太阳能组件。

成立15年来，美国初创公司CubicPV多次尝试建造一个太阳能组件厂，但屡试屡败。现在，该公司认为美国的大规模绿色补贴将有助其最终在中国称霸的太阳能市场中占据一席之地。 6park.com
For 15 years, U.S. startup CubicPV has tried and failed to build a solar-component factory. Now, it thinks massive green subsidies will help it finally get a foothold in a market dominated by China. 6park.com
    
从CubicPV跌宕起伏的经历可以看出，这并非易事，尽管去年美国通过相关法律批准给予数以十亿美元计的税收抵免和政府贷款。像CubicPV这样的公司是否会有所作为，将在很大程度上决定美国总统拜登(Joe Biden)标志性的气候立法能否成功减少美国对中国清洁能源制造业的依赖。 6park.com
CubicPV’s roller-coaster journey suggests it won’t be easy, despite billions of dollars in tax credits and government loans passed into law last year. How companies like CubicPV fare will go a long way in determining if President Biden’s signature climate legislation can successfully reduce U.S. dependence on Chinese clean-energy manufacturing. 6park.com
    
CubicPV的业务主要涉及太阳能电池板的一个关键部件——硅晶圆。全球97%的硅晶圆都产自中国，美国在这一块则是完全空白。 6park.com
CubicPV focuses on a key solar-panel component called silicon wafers—97% of which are produced in China. None is manufactured in the U.S. 6park.com
   
CubicPV曾试图在包括美国在内的三个不同国家建立硅晶圆厂，但每次尝试都以失败告终，部分原因是中国的竞争产品价格更低廉。该公司由麻省理工学院(Massachusetts Institute of Technology)的工程师于2008年创立，最初名为1366 Technologies。 6park.com
The company, founded by Massachusetts Institute of Technology engineers in 2008 and originally named 1366 Technologies, has tried to build a wafer factory in three different countries, including the U.S. Each attempt collapsed, in part because of competition from less-expensive Chinese products. 6park.com
    
该公司的许多同行也举步维艰。根据CubicPV的统计，在截至2018年的八年里，大约有130家美国太阳能初创公司倒闭。最引人注目的是获得了联邦贷款担保的太阳能电池板制造商Solyndra，该公司于2011年申请破产，给纳税人造成了逾5亿美元的损失，成为政府贷款担保的一个警示案例。 6park.com
Many of its peers have floundered, too. By CubicPV’s count, around 130 U.S. solar startups failed in the eight years to 2018. Most notable was taxpayer-funded solar-panel maker Solyndra, which filed for bankruptcy in 2011 and cost taxpayers more than $500 million, becoming a cautionary tale of government-loan guarantees.


CubicPV CEO Frank van Mierlo称这是公司历史上第一次“顺风顺水”。

在新资金的帮助下，CubicPV正在美国进行另一次尝试。这些新资金来自比尔·盖茨(Bill Gates)等投资者以及《通胀削减法案》(Inflation Reduction Act)的清洁能源补贴。该公司去年12月宣布建造一家产能10吉瓦、投资14亿美元的晶圆工厂的计划，希望该厂在2025年开始生产。 6park.com
CubicPV is making another try in the U.S., helped by fresh money from investors including Bill Gates and from clean-energy subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act. The company announced plans in December for a 10-gigawatt, $1.4 billion wafer factory that it hopes will start production in 2025.  6park.com
    
“这就是一次适者生存的测试，我们幸存下来了，”CubicPV首席执行官Frank van Mierlo说。现在，“在我们整个历史上，这是我们第一次顺风顺水。” 6park.com
“This is simply a Darwinistic test that we survived,” CubicPV Chief Executive Frank van Mierlo said. Now, “for the first time in our entire history, the current is with us.” 6park.com
    
根据美国能源部的数据，CubicPV的晶圆工厂是自拜登政府上台以来宣布的50多个太阳能制造项目之一，这些项目的投资总额超过50亿美元。这其中许多项目是由上述新补贴推动的。 6park.com
CubicPV’s wafer factory is one of 50-odd solar-manufacturing projects representing more than $5 billion in investment that have been announced since the start of the Biden administration, according to the Energy Department, many spurred by the new subsidies. 6park.com
    
得克萨斯州Hunt Energy的首席执行官Hunter Hunt说：“《通胀削减法案》带来了改变。”Hunt Energy隶属一家拥有百年历史的石油和天然气集团，后者现在是Cubie PV的最大投资者。 6park.com
“The IRA has been a game changer,” said Hunter Hunt, the chief executive of Texas-based Hunt Energy, part of a century-old oil-and-gas group that is now CubicPV’s biggest investor. 6park.com
    
然而，仅靠大量现金的涌入是否能使美国的太阳能制造存活下来仍然是个问题。CubicPV的前身筹集了2亿美元的投资者资金和政府拨款，并从美国能源部获得了1.5亿美元的贷款，但未能建成工厂，后来退回了未使用的联邦贷款。 6park.com
Still, questions remain whether the influx of cash alone can make U.S. solar manufacturing viable. CubicPV’s predecessor collected $200 million in investor money and government grants as well as a $150 million Energy Department loan. After failing to get a factory built, the company returned the federal loan unused.


CubicPV的硅晶圆激光修整装置。现金的涌入能否增加美国的太阳能制造行业的可行性仍然存有疑问。


位于马萨诸塞州贝德福德的CubicPV总部的硅片。

美国众议院能源及商业委员会主席、共和党众议员Cathy McMorris Rodgers把《通胀削减法案》创建的一个贷款计划称作“规模更大的Solyndra式失败” (Solyndra on steroids)；其他一些批评者认为，拜登政府是在冒风险、可能让纳税人出代价，正等着看会出什么岔子。 6park.com
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the top Republican on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, called a loan program created by the IRA “Solyndra on steroids,” and other critics have been looking for examples of the Biden administration taking on risks that could cost taxpayers. 6park.com
    
美国能源部已表示，包括Solyndra项目在内的这个贷款计划总体上实现了小幅盈利，而且该机构从Solyndra事件中吸取了重要教训。发放《通胀削减法案》下相关资金的官员也表示，他们将保持警惕，但鉴于政府是寻求在未经检验的行业启动增长，可以想见会有一些失败。 6park.com
The Energy Department has said the loan program that included Solyndra, overall, turned a small profit and that the agency learned important lessons from the episode. The officials giving out the IRA money have also said they would be vigilant but some failures are to be expected as the government tries to kick-start growth in unproven industries. 6park.com
    
《通胀削减法案》的支持者称，政府的支持以及私营部门投资的激增或有助于美国与中国竞争。据国际能源署(International Energy Agency)估计，中国在2006年至2021年间向太阳能制造领域投资了600亿美元左右，目前控制着太阳能供应链的逾80%。 6park.com
Backers of the law say the government support and surge in private investment could allow the U.S. to compete with China, which invested around $60 billion in solar manufacturing between 2006 and 2021 and now controls more than 80% of the solar supply chain, according to International Energy Agency estimates.  6park.com
   
“现实是[中国]赢得了建立大规模商业太阳能产业的游戏，”另一家既有投资者正寻求退出的美国太阳能晶圆初创企业的首席执行官Rick Schwerdtfeger说。“我们正试图重新开始这场游戏。” 6park.com
“The reality is [China] won that game” of building a large-scale commercial solar industry, said Rick Schwerdtfeger, the CEO of another U.S. solar-wafer startup whose investors are looking to exit. “We’re trying to start the game over.” 6park.com
   
Van Mierlo在卖掉之前一家制造无人潜航器的企业后创办了CubicPV。他为这家初创企业配备了有麻省理工学院背景的工程师和科学家，旨在将一种制造硅晶圆的新技术商业化。硅晶圆制造通常是先将熔化的硅制成硅锭，然后再用金刚石线将其锯成薄片，这一过程产生的锯末会浪费多达三分之一的硅锭。CubicPV的工艺则是在熔融材料的顶部剥离一层薄薄的结晶硅，该公司称这种技术速度更快、成本更低、浪费更少。 6park.com
Van Mierlo started CubicPV after selling a previous venture that made unmanned underwater vehicles. He staffed the startup with fellow MIT engineers and scientists aiming to commercialize a new technology for making silicon wafers.


CubicPV试点设施一名工作中的工程师。

10年前，该公司建立了一个试点设施，并以“无畏号”(Fearless)和“企业号”(Enterprise)等美军旧战舰的名字命名了其熔炉。2015年，Van Mierlo和时任纽约州州长科莫(Andrew Cuomo)宣布，CubicPV当时的前身1366 Technologies将在纽约建造一座造价7亿美元的硅晶圆工厂。 6park.com
A decade ago, the company set up a pilot facility, featuring furnaces with names like Fearless and Enterprise, after old battleships. In 2015, Van Mierlo and New York’s then-governor, Andrew Cuomo, announced that CubicPV’s predecessor, 1366, would build a $700 million wafer factory in New York. 6park.com
   
那时，经济衰退已拖累美国经济。与此同时，中国制造商则一直在重金投入硅料、硅锭和硅晶圆生产。这些制造商改善了自家硅晶圆的性能，削弱了1366 Technologies技术的吸引力。中国制造商还压低了价格，成为导致许多美国竞争对手倒闭的因素之一。 6park.com
By then, an economic downturn weighed on the U.S. economy. Meanwhile, Chinese manufacturers had been plowing money into silicon, ingot and wafer production. They improved the performance of their wafers, undermining the attractiveness of 1366’s technology. And they pushed prices down, helping drive many U.S. rivals out of business. 6park.com
    
1366 Technologies原指望为该公司工厂出资的日本化学品和硅制造商Tokuyama (4043.TO)退出了合作。Van Mierlo将此归咎于中国的竞争；Tokuyama则表示对1366 Technologies业务的生存能力感到担忧。 6park.com
The company 1366 had hoped would fund its factory, Japanese chemicals and silicon manufacturer Tokuyama, pulled out. Van Mierlo blames Chinese competition; Tokuyama says it had concerns about the viability of 1366’s business. 6park.com
    
2018年初，1366 Technologies取消了上述纽约项目，并转向马来西亚，在韩国企业集团韩华(Hanwha)子公司Qcells的帮助下，开始在那里建设一家试点工厂。 6park.com
In early 2018, 1366 canceled the New York project and pivoted to Malaysia, where it started building a pilot factory with the help of the Qcells unit of South Korea’s Hanwha conglomerate.  6park.com
    
那家工厂只运营了半年左右，韩华就在2019年底将其叫停。 6park.com
That factory only operated for around half a year before Hanwha pulled the plug at the end of 2019.  6park.com
   
Van Mierlo说：“每一次都是财大气粗、居心叵测的中国公司来了，毁掉了一切。” 6park.com
“Every single time big, bad China came and sort of wrecked everything,” Van Mierlo said.  6park.com
    
韩华的一位代表表示，该公司当时结束了与1366的合作，因为“市场转向了与1366提供的不同的太阳能技术”。 6park.com
A Hanwha representative said the company ended the partnership with 1366 because “markets shifted towards a different solar technology than what 1366 provided.” 6park.com
   
Van Mierlo将目光转向了印度，该国政府当时正为建造太阳能电池板厂提供补贴。1366希望参与其中。 6park.com
Van Mierlo shifted his attention to India, where the government was offering subsidies to build solar manufacturing plants. 1366 put up its hand.  6park.com
   
1366引起了Hunt Energy的注意，后者当时正为旗下一个部门开发中的新型太阳能技术寻找硅晶圆合作伙伴。2021年，1366和Hunt的这个部门合并，成为CubicPV。盖茨支持的Breakthrough Energy Ventures和美国最大的太阳能电池板制造商First Solar也投了钱。 6park.com
1366 came to the attention of Hunt Energy, which was looking for a silicon wafer partner for a new solar technology that one of its units was developing. In 2021, 1366 and the Hunt unit merged, becoming CubicPV. Gates-backed Breakthrough Energy Ventures and First Solar, the U.S.’s biggest solar-panel maker, also invested. 6park.com
   
美国去年通过《通胀削减法案》后，Van Mierlo发现美国的激励水平是印度的11倍。CubicPV随后将重心移回了美国。 6park.com
After the U.S. passed the Inflation Reduction Act last year, Van Mierlo calculated American incentive levels were 11 times greater than India’s. CubicPV switched its focus back to the U.S. 6park.com
    
Van Mierlo表示，CubicPV正努力减少失败的风险。对于CubicPV的首家工厂，该公司将放弃其专有的晶圆制造技术，而是采用使用中国设备的主流工艺，不过他说希望以后能使该公司的技术东山再起。 6park.com
Van Mierlo said the company is trying to reduce the risk of failure. For its first factory, CubicPV is abandoning its proprietary wafer-making technique in favor of mainstream processes that use Chinese equipment, although he said he hopes to resurrect its technology later.


用CubicPV的专利技术生产的硅片。对于其第一家工厂，该公司已决定使用主流工艺。