Konarka powers up with $45M for solar “plastic”

Solar innovator Konarka Technologies took in $45 million in strategic funding to further develop its new product for sunlight conversion called Power Plastic and bring it to market. Oil and gas company Total provided the round, acquiring a 20 percent stake in Lowell, Mass.-based Konarka. It hopes to integrate the plastic solar film into products made and used by its subsidiaries, including Hutchinson, Sartomer and Bostik.

The Power Plastic line is prized for being lightweight, flexible and easily scalable for a variety of purposes. Its current conversion rate of sunlight to energy is six percent, but future incarnations should up that figure.

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Previously, Konarka had raised $115 million from a large flock of investors including 3i Group, Chevron, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, New Enterprise Associates and Vanguard Venture Partners, among others. It last raised capital in the fall of 2007, bringing in another $45 million from Good Energies and Mackenzie Financial. The company says it will keep the current strategic round open but hasn’t released a target amount.