Optivolt gets $32 million to make solar panels less vulnerable to weak spots

Solar panels are often judged by lab efficiency, but their output in the field can be pulled down by something as ordinary as a patch of shade, dirt, or aging cells. US startup Optivolt has raised $32 million in Series A funding, led by VXI Capital, to expand manufacturing of electronics installed inside a panel. Rather than letting a poorly performing section drag down a larger group of cells, its system is designed to manage power among sections in real time and recover some of that lost output. The bet is that solar’s next gains may come not only from better cells, but from making each panel more resilient to the uneven conditions installations actually face.