Abound Solar - Colorado Company Goes Belly-Up

Abound Solar, a Colorado manufacturer of thin-film solar cells went under this week. Pressure from inexpensive Chinese products combined with poor management drove a promising company out of business in just two years.

The company spun-off research done at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO. Before re-branding itself as "Abound Solar" the company was called AVA Solar. AVA or air-vacuum-air, representing the unique assembly method used. 

The thin-film cadmium-tellurium photovoltaic cells produced by the company were the brainchild of Dr. W.S. Sampath. I wrote optimistically about Dr. Sampath and the company when they first announced their business plan. See this post for a more extensive background of the company.

I had hoped Abound...

California Raises the Bar on Renewable Energy

The State of California passed a law today requiring one third of the power supplied to the state come from renewable energy by the year 2020. All it needs is Gov. Jerry Brown's signature to be law.  I can't see him NOT signing it.

This might mark the beginning of what I have been predicting since Obama took office. A convergence of democrats and republicans on an energy bill in late 2011. Of course that lame energy bill brought to you by the three amigos - Kerry, Graham , and Lieberman didn't get passed last year.  It was too oily, and glowing red.  We now have the BP oil disaster and Fukushima fresh in the collective neo-cortex and are poised for RADICAL change in energy policy.  If we can pass a national energy bill that comes close to this Californina mandate we might actually wash off some of that stain left on our face by Mr Bush, and Mr Obama might just get a second term. What am I talking about, of course he will. No contender has even had the "equipment" to step out and say they are running against him.  The election is NEXT YEAR.   Come on Rush, come on Newt, come on Romney, Palin?  - What... what.

Alright, if we go into a double dip recession then they might try it. But all this public union busting has got them looking more evil than the most egregious of the teatards.

Keep your eye on the renewable sector tomorrow morning.  Top picks from me, Abound Solar, First Solar, Ascent Solar, Nano Solar, Advanced Energy, Vestas Wind, Iberdrola, and (even though they have received much negative attention lately) - General Electric.
 
Btw, what happened to being pissed off at AIG? GE may have received some back scratching from their well plumped congress people but I didn't see them getting the kind of unthinkably large bailouts some of those other giants got.  AIG is  old news I suppose, on to hating the next one. If we are going to talk about something over coffee tomorrow please let it be California and Jerry Brown's pending pen strokes!

PSA - Hey, if you like this website and want me to keep doing it support me by following TPG on facebook, sharing this or any post on your wall or, if you have some extra cash drop it in the tip jar (above the bearded bicycle gear man in the sidebar ----->).  Consider this as bad as my annual public-radio-like fund drive will ever get. I used to call them "the talkers" on PBS - "Mom make the talkers go away!" - Now I'm a talker : / but worse because you won't even get a DVD of Celine Dion fist pounding her chest for 2 hours with your donation. 

ABOUND SOLAR

I have written about this company 6 times over the last 3 years and each time I've thought they were near an IPO. Today I heard the first hint of news indicating the possibility for this fledgling solar cell company from Fort Collins, Colorado. The CEO of  Abound Solar - Tom Tiller - was quoted in this article indicating an IPO as something that might happen in the near future.  Perhaps I need to do a little source checking here as he is either misquoted or really does sound like a business-robot.

He said...

"We hit the knowledge to acquire this consort and create continuance in this process. If things go substantially and business markets are cooperative, as we intend toward the latter conception of incoming year, we strength study an IPO"

If I can translate to English, I think he is saying that  the technology they have developed has finally proven cost effective enough to warrant further expansion and possibly a public offering of  stock.  I'm not sure what language he is speaking in the last sentence but it seems positive.


The take home message?  Keep your eye out for this company going public soon.  Why?

Look at their biggest rival First Solar. This is what it did within the first year after going public.

$25 to over $300 a share in just over a year.

ABOUND SOLAR

"Abundance Emerges"

The company formerly known as AVA Solar has unveiled a new name - ABOUND SOLAR.

The vision of W.S. Sampath, Abound Solar is based in Fort Collins, Colorado and is embarking on large scale production of low-cost thin-film solar panels. Dr. Sampath is as much a hero as anyone could hope to find in this world. The idea of harnessing the abundant radiant energy that bathes our planet is not a new invention; in fact within the evolution of Earth’s biosphere it is a most ancient innovation. Human-made solar panels have been around long enough that the truly awesome globe-changing promise they offer has almost been forgotten. Perhaps the most precipitous obstacle for the coming of age for solar energy has been affordability.

For over 15 years, Sampath has nurtured a vision to develop technology enabling low-cost production of thin-film solar cells. By reducing production costs, sun-derived energy will be significantly more affordable. In essence, he has fulfilled that dream and will produce solar energy at approximately $1 per Watt bringing the cost down from $13 a Watt achieved by traditional silicon solar cell systems.

The story of this company is a literal ray of sunshine in the midst of the darkest economic times our generation has ever seen. The story of Abound Solar provides great hope accompanying the promise of renewal our president likes to speak of so frequently. The impact this will have on a global scale sends shivers through my fingers. When a child can educate him/herself anywhere in the world by illuminating a book with energy from the sun, even as darkness falls democracy and free thought will prevail. As Thomas Jefferson said "where the press is free, and every man able to read, all is safe." A world full of illuminated minds is a safe world. Barriers to affordable energy keep stone aged philosophies alive on our globe today and as Nikola Tesla foretold, only equal access will remedy that.

Freeing ourselves from the current addiction to fossil fuel represents perhaps the greatest challenge in our world today. Will Abound Solar be the company to rise to the challenge and bring solar energy capabilities to the masses? Time and the market will answer this question. But, Abound Solar certainly has the hope and support of Tom Paine's Ghost.

It has been an inspiration to witness a man with such noble intentions turn a dream into reality on such a scale. As Thomas Paine might say - May the merit of our ideas rather than the weight of history pull us from the brink on which we find ourselves.

SOURCE: Solar Industry Magazine, PV-tech.org

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