I am incredibly excited to welcome Gunter Erfurt to Swift Solar’s Advisory Board!
When I first met Gunter, he told me he was looking for five things in any new opportunity: team, topic, excitement, spirit, and vision. That hit home. Swift Solar’s world-class team is building the most exciting solar technology ever, is in it for the love of the game, and is on track to build terawatts of tandems in the coming decades.
Hard to find a better fit than that. We’re lucky to have Gunter on board as an advisor.
Gunter has been at the forefront of solar PV manufacturing for over two decades, and has dedicated his work-life to making solar the number one energy source in the world. As former CEO of Meyer Burger Technology, Gunter brings to Swift Solar an intimate understanding of the challenges and opportunities in scaling breakthrough solar technologies from laboratory innovation to high-volume manufacturing. His unique experience makes Gunter a valuable partner to Swift Solar, accelerating our shared mission to unlock the full potential of solar energy.
Q&A with Swift Solar Advisor, Gunter Erfurt
What excites you the most about perovskite tandem solar technology?
It opens up another universe in photovoltaics because of its enormous efficiency potential. As a physicist, I am also excited about its semiconductor characteristics—it’s a very exciting material that got developed for solar applications at a breathtaking pace.
What lessons from your career still guide you today?
Management lesson and mission #1 is to enable a strong team that can work and focus on the success. Team matters the most—it is more than just a bunch of people, it makes an idea explode or even implode if badly managed and steered. Other lessons are clearly solar related—so #2 is that speed is everything as solar technologies evolve so quickly or even see revolutions like perovskites. Keeping the pace is important to be successful. And, #3 is that we always need to consider that our business is energy—hence it is also part of politics. Summarizing it: Team, Speed, and never be naive about the (geo/energy) political impact of what we do.
You've been at the forefront of solar manufacturing evolution for decades. What fundamental shifts do you see happening in how we approach solar manufacturing today versus 10-15 years ago?
Impressive cost degradation, while boosting power, is what we have seen in the past and perovskites/tandems will be the key enabler to continue this success story.
Furthermore, GW factories will be more and more "un-manned" and fully automated. The journey never ends, and we can forecast that in 10 years the efficiency of panels will be at least 5% (abs) higher than today in mainstream mass manufacturing—and even better at champions like Swift Solar.
What role does manufacturing readiness play in determining which solar technologies will succeed commercially?
Only manufacturing readiness matters in the end. A company can do perfectly fine in R&D but achieving the manufacturing readiness TRL is the "holy grail." Getting there has a lot to do with "engineering discipline" and following TRL checklists.
Was there a turning point in your career that led you to focus on clean energy or climate innovation?
Yes. When I was 16, the wall came down and my home country East Germany went through a tough transition. Environmental issues that were piled up for decades, all of a sudden became fully visible. I thought that tackling those would be my passion. And so, I became an engineer and physicist and ended up in renewables – solar, in particular. And I think we are still at the beginning. This beautiful planet deserves a sustainable solution that we have never seen before. Solar is a huge part of the solution and my passion.
If you could wave a magic wand and solve one challenge in the solar industry, what would it be?
I would want to jump over all hurdles of multi-junction cell technologies, in one big and quick leap, in order to boost efficiencies to levels >40% efficiency.
What excites you most about Swift Solar’s technology, team, or mission?
Swift Solar is among the very few companies in the tandem space that have joined the road to success. The passion, the enthusiasm, and dedication of the team as well as the strong leadership, really impresses me. I’m really looking forward to supporting Swift's mission and can't wait to see this fantastic company and its team succeed.
