New solar start-up positions Colorado as sustainable energy leader

Colorado State University has announced that an innovative method for manufacturing low-cost, high-efficiency solar panels is nearing mass production, which will bring hundreds of jobs to the region and potentially provide light and power for billions in the underdeveloped world. Already internationally known for research in the development of clean energy solutions, Colorado State is sealing the state’s reputation as a leader in sustainable energy production.

In a new factory, expected to employ up to 500 people, AVA Solar Inc. will start production by the end of next year on the pioneering, patented technology developed by CSU mechanical engineering Professor W.S. Sampath.

Reduced costs

Produced at less than $1 per watt, the panels will dramatically reduce the cost of generating solar electricity and could power homes and businesses around the globe with clean energy for roughly the same cost as traditionally generated electricity.

"Professor Sampath's technology has global reach and local impact," said Larry Edward Penley, CSU president. "He is solving a huge global challenge while at the same time providing jobs for the region's economy."

Technology development

Sampath has developed a continuous, automated manufacturing process for solar panels using glass coating with a cadmium telluride thin film instead of the standard high-cost crystalline silicon. The cost to the consumer could be as low as $2 per watt, about half the current cost of solar panels, and the cost is competitive with cost of power from the electrical grid in many parts of the world. In addition, this solar technology need not be tied to a grid, so it can be affordably installed and operated in nearly any location.

Sampath has spent the past 16 years perfecting the technology and patiently waiting for the market for solar technology to mature. In that time, annual global sales of photovoltaic technology have grown to approximately 2 gigawatts or two billion watts – roughly a $6 billion industry. Demand has increased nearly 40 percent a year for each of the past five years – a trend that analysts and industry experts expect to continue.

By 2010, the solar-cell manufacturing industry is expected to exceed $25 billion.

"This technology offers a significant improvement in capital and labor productivity and overall manufacturing efficiency," said Sampath. "The current market is more than $5 billion annually and additional markets are developing."

Start-up support

Colorado State's Office of Economic Development and the Northern Colorado Economic Development Corp. have supported the start-up, and the Colorado State University Research Foundation holds equity in the company as part of a licensing arrangement.

"We have an unusual situation in that there is more demand than there is supply," said Pascal Noronha, president and chief executive officer of AVA Solar. "The world has an energy problem. The time is right to solve this problem with a green solution, especially given that electricity consumption is going to grow astronomically."

Commercialization

Sampath, along with two affiliate faculty members and former students Kurt Barth and Al Enzenroth, formed AVA Solar in January to commercialize the technology. Since then, the company has raised two rounds of funding and recently was awarded a $3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar America Initiative. The company now employs 28 people.

The U.S. Energy Policy Act of 2005 provides incentives for purchasing and using solar equipment through 2008 – a credit equal to 30 percent of qualifying expenditures for purchase of commercial solar installations.

Said Sampath, "The key to expanding the U.S. market is to lower manufacturing costs so more people can afford the technology."

For more information about AVA Solar, access www.avasolar.com. See the related story, "The ‘magic’ of university commercialization."