BNW-ENERGY

Their core work

BNW-ENERGY is a Norwegian SME based in Trondheim working at the intersection of photovoltaic solar technology and industrial silicon production. Their work spans both the application side — improving performance and reducing cost of PV systems — and the upstream supply chain, specifically producing silicon from aluminum waste through aluminothermic reduction and hydrometallurgy. This positions them uniquely in the solar value chain: they understand both where silicon ends up (solar panels) and how it can be made more sustainably from secondary raw materials. Their participation in Innovation Actions suggests they operate at the applied end of research, closer to pilot and demonstration scale than fundamental science.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

BNW-ENERGY entered H2020 through the solar energy application layer — PV module performance, power electronics, and data management for solar systems. By 2020, their focus had pivoted sharply upstream toward the raw material feedstock that makes solar cells possible: silicon itself, and specifically how to produce it from aluminium industry waste. This shift suggests a strategic move from being a solar technology user or integrator toward becoming a contributor to the critical materials supply chain that underpins solar manufacturing. The thread connecting both phases is silicon — the dominant semiconductor in solar PV — making the evolution coherent rather than a change of direction.

BNW-ENERGY is moving toward sustainable critical materials production, specifically green silicon supply for solar manufacturing — a domain that will grow significantly as Europe pushes for domestic solar supply chains under the Net-Zero Industry Act.

How they like to work

BNW-ENERGY participates exclusively as a consortium partner — they have never led a project as coordinator. Despite only two projects, they have engaged with 50 unique partners across 16 countries, which points to participation in large, multi-partner consortia typical of Innovation Actions. This suggests they bring a specific technical or industrial contribution that larger consortia seek out, rather than driving the agenda themselves.

With 50 unique consortium partners across 16 countries from just two projects, BNW-ENERGY has unusually broad network exposure relative to its project count — each project placed them in large, pan-European consortia. Their Norwegian base connects them naturally into Nordic industrial and energy networks.

What sets them apart

BNW-ENERGY occupies a rare position as a small company with hands-on involvement in both solar PV technology and the upstream production of silicon from industrial waste — a combination almost no other SME holds. For any consortium building around European solar supply chain resilience, domestic silicon production, or aluminium industry decarbonisation, they offer direct pilot-scale industrial experience rather than purely academic knowledge. Their Norwegian location also brings access to the Nordic industrial ecosystem, where aluminium smelting is a major industry and a natural source of the dross feedstock at the heart of their SisAl work.

Highlights from their portfolio

• SisAl Pilot
  Largest funding received (EUR 316,391) and technically distinctive — piloting an industrial-scale process to convert aluminium dross into solar-grade silicon, directly linking waste metallurgy to clean energy manufacturing.
• SUPER PV
  BNW-ENERGY's entry into H2020, covering both crystalline silicon and flexible thin-film CIGS technologies within a single cost-and-performance improvement project — rare dual-technology scope for a small company.