SoloPower Inc., the solar energy startup working to open a manufacturing plant in North Portland, has raised $15 million of a nearly $44 million round of capital, according to a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Tim Harris, CEO of the San Jose-based developer of thin-film solar panels, on Wednesday said he could not comment on the company’s financing.
It would be the fifth round of funding for SoloPower.
In a previous SEC filing in March, the company said it had raised $13.5 million of what was an anticipated $20 million offering. It previously raised a $52 million round in January and $44.8 million in February 2010.
Its investors thus far have included Crosslink Capital of San Francisco and Hudson Clean Energy Partners, a New Jersey-based private equity firm that also backs Element Power, a renewable energy developer with a North American headquarters in Portland.
The company has also been approved for a $20 million loan from Oregon’s State Energy Loan Program, around $14 million in state tax credits, and access to a $197 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy.
In May, SoloPower announced plans to build a $340 million manufacturing plant that could one day employ 500 in North Portland’s Rivergate Industrial Park.
That announcement came after the company scuttled plans to occupy a former Nike Inc. distribution warehouse in Wilsonville, where a collection of residents rose in opposition to tax breaks for the company.