Two solar heavyweight VCs back startup Practical Instruments

Practical Instruments, a provider of high-performance concentrating solar panels, has closed a $8M Series A funding round, led by solar investment veterans RockPort Capital Partners and Nth Power, two of the leading venture capital firms in clean tech.

The Series A also includes investments from Trinity Ventures, a leading early-stage venture investor with more than $1 billion under management, and Rincon Venture Partners, a southern California-based venture firm with strong ties to commercial real estate and large multi-property owners and retail chains.

The investment will fund the production of Practical Instruments' flagship product, Heliotube(TM), for the solar integrator, installer, and project developer channels.

"This is a company that has taken a systems-level approach, rapidly delivering a solution that reduces total system cost while delivering on market needs for high efficiency and familiar nstallation. Practical Instruments offers all of that in a very capital-efficient business model," said Chuck McDermott, general partner, RockPort Capital Partners. "The ability of the team, led by CEO and former NASA chief architect Brad Hines, to also package all that in an industry-standard form, speaks volumes about their near- and long-term market potential."

A mature technology traditionally used in central station ground-based solar power implementations, Concentrating Photovoltaics (CPV) is experiencing a rebirth. With significant new innovations enabling CPV for the rooftop, Heliotube sidesteps the inherent problems associated with pole-mounted and central-tower CPV technologies by integrating its low profile tracking technology into the standard flat panel form factor that solar installers have been using for decades.

By accommodating the large, established channel with an industry-standard panel, Practical Instruments' technology reduces installation time, materials, and costs, while using 88 percent less photovoltaic material. The company has eight patents pending.

"Despite the advances in solar over the past few years, it's rare to find a team that is looking at the solution holistically," said Tim
Woodward, managing director, Nth Power. "The unique experience of the team at Practical Instruments in bringing together optics, materials, electronics, precision tracking, cooling, and software into cohesive systems has led to a solution that reduces both module and installation costs."