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13 solar startups to watch in 2013

Ucilia Wang — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 08:00:14 +0000

We knew 2012 would be a tough year for many solar companies when we posted the top 10 trends to watch over a year ago. In 2013 expect to see a slow recovery that will continue to weed out more players in a market that still has too many manufacturers, including startups.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t bright spots on the horizon, and major opportunities for certain kinds of solar startups in 2013. Here’s our list of 13 solar startups to watch in 2013 — some may be under the radar, but all have managed to do one of the following recently: raise money, build factories, launch innovative products and services or otherwise make progress despite the hard times (or because of it).

1). Solar Mosaic: The company brings solar power investments to the masses with its recently launched public online site. Residents of California and New York (as well as accredited investors) can invest in any of the projects for as little as $25 and get what should be a steady, long-term return (of 4.5 percent for the first projects). The company sold out three projects less than 24 hours after the launch this week.

2). Alta Devices: Portable solar chargers could cut the number of batteries a soldier must carry onto the battle field and provide an alternative source of power for drones. Alta Devices is focusing on the military first with its highly efficient solar cells and hopes to use these contracts to scale up manufacturing, slash costs and eventually enter the more conventional solar market where much cheaper solar cells now dominate.

3). Clean Power Finance: The company raises funds to offer power purchase agreements or leases for solar panel installers to market and sell them to homeowners. The company also launched an energy credit trading service and assembled a database of local permitting rules in 2012 so that retail service providers could spend less time and money for figuring out the paperwork they need to do.

4). GlassPoint Solar: With its novel greenhouse design for its solar thermal energy equipment, GlassPoint Solar is targeting the oil industry with its solar steam production, which pries loose oil from wells for easier extraction. Oil companies are warming up to using solar energy to produce steam rather than natural gas, which remains expensive in regions such as the Middle East.

5). QBotix: The company uses robots that move along a tracking system and tilt solar panels during the day to follow the sun. GPS and wireless technology are used to detect problems and monitor the systems.

6). Genability: How do you show customers the amount of energy savings they could achieve or money they could make by going solar? You need accurate data on utility rates, and that’s what Genability specializes in. The startup collects and crunches electric rates — which change often — from utilities across the country. SunPower, SolarCity and SunEdison are customers.

7). Semprius: The prices of silicon solar cells have tumbled in recent years thanks to mega factories by manufacturers mostly in China. To compete, solar cell manufacturing startups must develop something much more efficient that can find other uses as well. Semprius, like Alta Devices, is achieving this by using gallium-arsenide for its cells, but it also is making the solar panels for housing them. The company raised $7.5 million and opened a small factory in North Carolina last year and is targeting the military as well.

8). Stion: After Solyndra’s bankruptcy in 2011, few venture capitalists wanted to invest in using copper, indium, gallium and selenium (CIGS) to make ultra-thin solar panels (that’s the same material Solyndra was working with). Many CIGS startups went out of business or got scooped up in firesales. Stion has survived so far after lining up investments in Taiwan and Korea, and it started shipments from its Mississippi factory last year.

9). SoloPower: The company is another CIGS startup that has made progress toward commercializing its technology while its peers disappeared into oblivion. SoloPower turned on its 100MW factory in Oregon last year and secured a federal loan guarantee to help it expand if it meets milestones.

10). SCS Renewables: As interest in investing in solar power generation grows, investors will want to know where they can find quality projects. SCS Renewables runs a match-making service that also helps developers to massage their projects into presentable shapes in front of banks and other investors.

11). Silevo: With a new type of hybrid solar cell technology and its first factory in China instead of the U.S., where it’s headquartered, Silevo has mapped out a plan to scale up production and keep production costs low enough to attract customers with its efficient cells.

12). TenKsolar: Out there in Minneapolis, tenKsolar has designed a wave-like solar energy system that pair solar panels with separate panels that are lined with a reflective film to direct light to the solar cells. The unusual design caught the attention of Korean conglomerate Hanwha, which led a $15.5 million round in 2012.

13). OneRoof Energy: The startup teams up with roofers and electricians to sell rooftop solar systems and financing products such as leases as part of new roofing or re-roofing projects. OneRoof Energy is part of a group of solar installers, such as the now public SolarCity and high-profile startups Sungevity and SunRun.

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The solar saga continues: Siemens flees solar market

Ucilia Wang — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 17:17:40 +0000

Solar startups aren’t the only ones getting burned in the solar power market these days. Siemens, which up until now has actively invested in solar startups, announced on Monday it will exit the solar biz and sell its solar energy business.

The decision reflects the poor outlook for the solar market by an energy giant, which had previously raced to tackle various segments of the business — including manufacturing, equipment sales and power plant engineering and construction — in order to compete with its big nemesis, GE. But the growth of the global solar market hasn’t met expectations, Siemens said in a statement, adding that changes in government policies and slim profit margins are among the chief causes.

Siemens’ exit also likely means it will not be actively looking to invest in any more solar startups, for the time being. The company has poured money into startups by either buying an equity stake of the company or by acquiring products from them. Siemens has invested in North Carolina-based Semprius, which developed a new way of producing highly efficient solar cells, and solar energy equipment to use those cells. Siemens bought Israel-based solar thermal technology company, Solel, a few years back. Siemens also inked a supply deal with Enphase Energy, before Enphase did an IPO in March this year. Microinverters are attached to solar panels and convert the direct current produced by the solar panels to alternating current for transport through the grid.

UPDATE: The vice president of business development at Semprius, Russ Kanjorski, told us that Siemens has made clear to Semprius’s executives that its decision doesn’t reflect its view of Semprius’s technology and business. “The decision also presents an opportunity for Semprius to bring in a new strategic investor as part of its expansion plans. From an operational standpoint for Semprius, however, it remains business as usual,” Kanjorski said by email.

Siemens made its decision to leave the solar market at a time when many solar manufacturers have suffered big losses and filed for bankruptcy. But those falling prices are supposed to benefit companies that buy the solar equipment for engineering and building solar power plants. On the other hand, the solar plant development business is getting crowded because it’s attracting so many newcomers, like solar manufacturers who want outlets for their products.

The global solar market has faced a glut of solar panels for nearly two years now, and the plummeting prices for them have forced many manufacturers to file for bankruptcy. One of them, organic thin film developer Konarka Technologies, just found a buyer for its German subsidiary. Belelectric, which builds solar power plants with photovoltaic panels, on Monday said it will buy the subsidiary but didn’t disclose the price. Massachusetts-based Konarka filed for bankruptcy in June this year after struggling for years to commercialize its low-efficiency solar film technology.

Nearly 200 more in North America, Europe and Asia will likely disappear in the next few years, according to GTM Research. Nearly half of them will not be around – either because they went out of business or will be bought – in places of high production costs, such as the U.S. GE has scaled back its solar market ambition, too, and decided earlier this year to nix a plan to build a 400 MW solar panel factory.

Even countries with lower manufacturing costs aren’t immune. Just last week, SunPower said it would idle several solar cell and panel production lines in Philippines and let go about 900 employees worldwide. During that same week, Boston-based Satcon Technology, an inverter maker, filed for bankruptcy.

Other solar technologies aren’t faring so hot either. After inking gigawatts of contracts to sell electricity to utilities, particularly in California, solar thermal power plant developers aren’t winning many new contracts in the U.S. these days. Solar thermal technology uses mirrors to concentrate sunlight to generate steam and run turbine-generators. Before the Monday announcement, Siemens was in the business of building solar power plants using photovoltaic panels (with solar cells inside) and also solar thermal technology.

The German company said it will focus its renewable energy business on wind and hydropower instead. Siemens will continue to sell the equipment that makes up a solar power plant, though, such as steam turbines and machines to control a power plant or grid operations, but those products have always come from other business groups, not the solar and hydro division.

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Solar startup Semprius to open first factory next week

Katie Fehrenbacher — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 19:33:59 +0000

Following a Summer that hasn’t been too kind to solar manufacturing startups, Semprius announced on Monday that next week the startup will open up its first factory in Henderson, North Carolina. Semprius is a semiconductor developer that makes solar modules for concentrating solar photovoltaic systems, which use mirrors and lenses to concentrate sunlight onto highly efficient solar cells.

In recent months two startups that make this type of concentrating solar technology have struggled. In July Amonix said it was forced to shutter its factory near Las Vegas, and last week GreenVolts said it had laid off more than 60 of its 80 workers and is looking for a buyer. ABB, GreenVolts investor, said it decided to stop funding GreenVolts because of the uncertainty in the solar panel market.

The price of solar panels has plummeted in recent months. While that has led to a boom in solar panel installations in the U.S., it has wreaked havoc on the bottom lines of solar panel manufacturers. First Solar and SunPower are turning to solar project development and solar financing programs to help generate revenue. Solar concentrating system makers have to compete with these low cost solar panels, too.

Like ABB’s former connection with GreenVolts, Semprius has a power company in its corner: Siemens. Last year Siemens said it bought a 16 percent stake in the startup and the companies also have a joint partnership to develop and deploy a “plug-and-play” CPV demonstration system based on Semprius’ solar module arrays and Siemens’ automation and control components.

Semprius’ technology is based around what it calls a micro-transfer printing technology, which stamps semiconducting material onto a substrate, such as glass or plastic (see a video here). The technology is a faster and less expensive way to produce semiconductor devices – in this case solar modules, but it could be extended to other industries such as disk drives – than current manufacturing techniques on the market.

Semprius is focusing first on developing modules for solar concentrating photovoltaics that use gallium arsenide-based, multi-junction solar cells coupled with cheap optics to concentrate solar energy onto the high-efficiency cells. The solar modules have a 33.9 percent conversion efficiency of solar light into electricity, which is one of the most efficient in the world.

Semprius has raised close to $40 million from ARCH Venture Partners, Illinois Ventures, Intersouth Partners, In-Q-Tel, Morgan Creek Capital Management and Siemens Venture Capital, as well as $8 million in state and county incentives. The company says North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue will speak at the opening ceremony next week on September 26, and the factory will eventually create 250 jobs.

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The race for cost-effective and efficient solar power

cwaxer — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:55:09 +0000

The U.S. solar industry witnessed record-breaking growth in 2011, increasing by 21 percent in the third quarter of the year. Yet there is still not a solar panel capable of displacing electricity from fossil fuels. As is the case in any market, disruption calls for smart innovation, and several companies are rising to the task. Challenges await, including trade wars, funding shortages and other roadblocks to commercialization. The clear winner will be the solar-energy player that breaks new records in solar efficiency without the breaking the bank.

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Siemens invests in solar startup Semprius

Katie Fehrenbacher — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:56:54 +0000

Power gear giant Siemens has bought a 16-percent stake in startup Semprius, a semiconductor tech company that makes solar concentrating photovoltaics, which use mirrors and lenses to concentrate sunlight onto highly efficient solar cells. Solar concentrating PV is a sort of hybrid between solar panels and solar thermal tech.

Semprius already had a partnership with Siemens to jointly develop and deploy a “plug-and-play” CPV demonstration system based on Semprius’ solar module arrays and Siemens’ automation and control components. Last year, the companies said the systems are planned to be installed in numerous test sites, including at utility, commercial, and government facilities. In Siemens’ announcement this morning, it says it will act as a strategic investor to help Semprius develop the technology.

Semprius’ innovation is around what it calls a micro-transfer printing technology, which rapidly stamps semiconducting material onto a substrate, such as glass or plastic (see a video here). The technology is a faster and less expensive way to produce semiconductor devices – in this case solar modules, but it could be extended to other industries such as disk drives – than current manufacturing techniques on the market.

The startup is focusing first on developing modules for solar concentrating photovoltaics that use gallium arsenide-based, multi-junction solar cells coupled with cheap optics to concentrate solar energy onto the high-efficiency cells. The system will use dual-axis trackers, which could be a tech easily supplied by Siemens. Semprius is also backed by investors ARCH Venture Partners, Applied Ventures, and Illinois Ventures.

Siemens owns substantial clean power and solar technology, bought solar thermal company Solel back in 2009 and has been developing solar thermal products for various plants going online soon.

Solar concentrating PV hasn’t gotten a lot of respect in the past, but in recent months has gotten a growing amount of attention and interest via a series of projects, power contract announcements and a $90.6 million federal loan guarantee for a large 30 MW solar power plant in Colorado. Globally, around 690 MW worth of solar concentrating PV projects are in development, including 28 MW in operation, 41 MW under construction, and another 621 MW under development, according to GTM Research.

Solar concentrating PV aims to cut costs by using slivers of solar cells that can covert high amounts of sunlight into electricity. But the tech also has more moving parts than traditional solar panels (more things that can break and have to be fixed), and the cost of silicon isn’t very high at the moment. Currently, the three solar concentrating PV technology front-runners are Amonix, SolFocus and Soitec’s Concentrix.

Image courtesy of SolFocus.

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An Offer From SUBERNOVA for WWD Readers

Simon Mackie — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:00:51 +0000

SUBERNOVA is a brand-new online project management app for freelancers that helps to manage projects and clients, track time, and keep tabs on milestones and invoices. Unlike many of the project management apps we’ve seen, it’s built in Flash and the interface looks very sleek.

After a 30-day free trial, SUBERNOVA normally costs $120 per year, although the 40 percent launch discount means that a year’s subscription is currently priced at $72. But today Hex, the folks behind the SUBERNOVA app, have kindly offered full one-year licenses to the first six WebWorkerDaily readers to comment on this post.

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Semprius Stamping Out Thin-Film Solar

Craig Rubens — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:00:09 +0000

For researchers at the University of Illinois, the key to a good solar panel is all in how you slice the silicon. John Rogers and his team of researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have figured out how to slice monocrystalline solar wafers thin enough to be flexible and partially transparent but still maintain their high solar efficiency. The findings were published this weekend in Nature Materials. The slender silicon slices are then imprinted onto a substrate using Rogers’ patented microtransfer printing process, the technological process that is the basis for his startup Semprius.

Durham, N.C.-based Semprius, founded in 2005, is working on applying that microtransfer printing process to the manufacture of a number of electronics including LCDs, OLEDs, radio devices and large sensors. The company has also been developing a multijunction gallium arsenide cell for a concentrator module for the past year and a half, Semprius’s VP of Photovoltaics, Bob Connor, tells Earth2Tech. The company’s patent portfolio, as licensed from the University of Illinois, does include the possible use of monocrystalline silicon, but Rogers tells us that there are no immediate plans to commercialize his research in silicon. However, Rogers says he has already seen interest from larger solar players, and Semprius could license the monocrystalline silicon application to a third-party developer.

The potential of monocrystalline silicon being used in thin-film solar is exciting because until now it has always come in relatively thick, brittle wafers that were inflexible and expensive. That’s why thin film startups have been looking to other materials for photovoltaics. Nanosolar is working with copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS), First Solar has succeeded with cadmium telluride and OptiSolar is looking to scale amorphous silicon, monocrystalline silicon’s less-efficient but more malleable cousin.

However, while commercial monocrystalline silicon cells can top 20 percent solar efficiency, thin-film solar players are often struggling to reach 10 percent. John Rogers says that his team’s cells can hit 12 percent efficiency, and they’re still in the lab. With silicon prices coming down, microtransfer printing could be the key to cheap, mass producible silicon-based thin-film solar.

The key to the microtransfer printing technology is that it fundamentally separates semiconductor fabrication from the fragile substrate. After the “hot” process of semicom fab, a stamp picks up tens of thousands of cells at once and “prints” them onto a “cool” substrate, either flexible plastic or architectural glass. The result is a highly efficient, highly flexible solar cell that the researchers claim will be cheaper than existing silicon cells.

The company raised $4.7 million in Series A funding in April of 2007 from from Arch Venture
Partners, Intersouth Partners and Illinois Ventures. In July of that same year, Applied Ventures joined with an undisclosed strategic investment in the solar startup. Connor says the company is currently seeking a new round of funding.

Images courtesy of Semprius and John Rogers.

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