Oct. 7--Tom Cadwell hasn't yet turned on the lights in his Hazelwood manufacturing plant, but he hopes his company's idea -- high-efficiency solar technology at a lower cost -- will shine in the competitive solar energy market.

And with the startup's recent capital injection of $12.7 million, initial investors also see a bright spot in the market for Confluence Solar Inc.'s products.

Formed in December by Cadwell and John DeLuca, the privately-held company wants to quickly tap into the solar market, which is growing in both sales and players. Revenue for the U.S. solar industry, including labor and installation costs for solar energy systems, will total about $2.8 billion this year and is expected to soar to $22 billion by 2013, according to Lux Research in New York.

Confluence Solar's job, though, will be at the beginning of the solar technology chain, long before solar panels are placed on homes' rooftops. The Hazelwood-based company will make a single-crystal silicon substance that Cadwell said can be 20 percent to 25 percent more energy-efficient than multicrystal silicon -- a less pure substance that is less expensive to make.

The process entails melting raw material polysilicon and adding a single-crystal silicon seed. As the silicon is pulled from the heat, it solidifies into a tubular shape. This product is called a silicon ingot.

Initially, it will sell this product to companies that slice it into pieces thinner than the thickness of a dime. The slices are solar wafers on which solar cells are built.

Ultimately, 60 to 80 solar cells form a solar panel for houses or other structures, said Cadwell, the startup's chief executive.

Cadwell is a veteran in the silicon industry. His work history includes about 20 years with MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. of O'Fallon, Mo., where he held senior leadership positions. He left in 1997 and worked for several other companies, most recently Integrated Materials Inc. in Sunnyvale, Calif., as president and chief executive.

Several companies make the silicon ingots that Confluence Solar hopes to sell, but Cadwell said his firm will be different because it will use proprietary techniques to keep the cost of its product at the same cost or less than multicrystal silicon, the cheaper substance.

One of the company's investors, Scatec AS in Norway, said that potential piqued its interest.

"Solar energy is basically a cost game," Sven Røst, vice president of communications for Scatec, said in an e-mail.