Arizona solar-power clients in lurch

Perfect Power owner Lynn Paige said the company has cash-flow problems because energy grants that were supposed to provide substantial funding of the solar systems aren't being approved quickly enough. She pledged to deliver the systems or refund all customers by the end of the year.

Treasury officials would not comment on the situation. Government e-mails sent to Paige suggest Perfect Power's grant applications were incomplete. In them, officials point to problems with submissions and warn of potential denials.

Industry experts and owners of other solar companies in Arizona said that the grant program is fraught with risks for solar companies and that some built business models based on future payments from the government without the financial reserves to cope with delays. They describe the situation as a high-tech gamble that some companies lost.

Residential solar-power systems cost $15,000 to $40,000. The Section 1603 grant program, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, offered developers cash to offset 30 percent of the costs. Although the program was not available to homeowners, some companies tapped the grants to sell residential solar systems as leases. A company would install and own the system, then lease it to a homeowner.

Program rules required developers to complete installations before they could apply for reimbursement. But funding was not guaranteed, and even after systems were built, the government delayed approval of some applications and denied others.

"The (grants) appeared far too simple and attractive. That is where the problems began for inexperienced groups," said John Casey, CEO of GreenFuel Technologies in Phoenix, a solar-power and alternative-energy contractor. "I assure you, these groups have brought the problems on themselves."

Perfect Power, once viewed as a market leader in the solar-power industry, does not have the capital to immediately refund or build solar systems for all the customers who paid up-front fees, Paige said.

More than 40 percent of Perfect Power's business is tied up in the grants. Company officials have recently scaled back operations, moved the Phoenix-based company headquarters to a more affordable location and are working on a schedule to repay or deliver systems to customers, Paige said.

"We didn't tuck tail and run as some companies have done, or change our name five ways from Sunday or file bankruptcy," Paige said. "We have stayed the course and are working very hard to be the business we purport to be."

Paige pointed out that Perfect Power fronted the cost for nearly 200 residential solar systems it built under the grant program. She said long-delayed government reimbursements were supposed to be used to pay for the next round of projects.

Denna Bodfield of Queen Creek said she bought into Perfect Power's lease program in December under assurances that her system would be up and running by April.

"In this particular case, I feel like a sucker," Bodfield said, adding that e-mails from Paige left her frustrated. "You don't tell people that they are going to have a power system in four months and then push it back and push it back."

For months, Bodfield said, Paige would not give her an answer about installing her system or refunding her money. Bodfield obtained a refund in July. The check was issued on the same day Bodfield told Paige that Bodfield was being interviewed by Call 12 for Action.

Of 102 customers waiting for solar systems, 23 have requested cancellation of their leases, Paige said in July. As long as she can raise capital from projects unrelated to the grants, she will be able to front the costs for the remaining 79 customers by the end of the year, she said.

"All canceled leases will have to come from our current cash flow," she said.

Source: http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2012/08/17/20120817arizona-solar-power-clients-lurch.html#ixzz23o3XYzwl

George Douglas - GDI Solar Power Box

With Tropical Storm Ernesto threatening to put a damper on Independence celebrations two weeks ago, Olympic- and Jubilee-frenzied Jamaicans were sent scurrying to the supermarkets and hardware stores to stock up on food and other supplies.

From where George Douglas sits, those preparations could be significantly boosted if more Jamaicans had their own emergency power system utilising solar energy.

Douglas is aware of the high cost of acquiring a solar system. "Solar energy is very expensive, (and) most Jamaicans don't have money like that," he said.

That is why the inventor has introduced the GDI Solar Power Box. At $65,000, he says it is very affordable and could make a world of difference during the testy hurricane season.

The GDI system includes an easy-to-carry- around power box, which has the capacity to light up a 65 watt 110 volt/50 htz LED lamp. It is completed by solar panels.

Said to be a dependable emergency unit, Douglas told The Gleaner the GDI Solar Power Box is good for operating a television set, radio, fan, blender and other small appliances including an iron (though with limited capacity). It can also "bring a kettle to boil" with water for your favourite tea during the storm as well as power up security lighting for the home.

src backed

The project, according to Douglas, has had the backing of the Scientific Research Council (SRC), which "is assisting with research, materials and the patent". The council had previously lent technical support on Douglas' DBH Genesis Solar 3-Phase Pump which powers up an entire household.

At the same time, Douglas, who named Tropical Battery as one of the few entities to have thrown their support behind him by providing him with batteries, is lamenting the lack of support for persons like himself who, he says, have innovative ideas that can help the country.

"Technology has no limit. We [Jamaica] don't have to pay the kind of money we are paying in oil bill right now," he said of the general lack of regard for home-grown inventors.

Protégés, brothers Duane and Demar Thomas agree.

Duane, who assists with the communication side of things as well as building some of the equipment, said it is difficult to pitch their inventions to most persons because of "stereotypes", especially since they do not wear jacket and tie to work.

He is certain, however, that "if persons take [an] interest in this it could help them reduce their energy costs".

For Demar, who recently completed level two mechanics at the Jamaica German Automotive School, the group's inventions are a constant learning curve.

An inventor since he was 10 years old, Douglas' passion grew from hours of watching his technician father and the popular '80s television series Airwolf, on the then JBC TV. A steady diet of aviation books and geographical and scientific channels also helps him "restructure" and make his inventions "more efficient."

He fessed up to The Gleaner: "I used to steal my father's car parts (for my inventions).

Source:http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20120816/news/news4.html

Sunflowers inspire more efficient solar power system

Unlike other "active" solar systems that track the sun's position with GPS and reposition panels with motors, electrical and computer engineering professor Hongrui Jiang's concept leverages the properties of unique materials in concert to create a passive method of re-orienting solar panels in the direction of the most direct sunlight. His design, published Aug. 1 in Advanced Functional Materials and recently highlighted in Nature, employs a combination of liquid crystalline elastomer (LCE), which goes through a phase change and contracts in the presence of heat, with carbon nanotubes, which can absorb a wide range of light wavelengths. "Carbon nanotubes have a very wide range of absorption, visible light all the way to infrared," says Jiang. "That is something we can take advantage of, since it is possible to use sunlight to drive it directly."

Source: http://phys.org/news/2012-08-sunflowers-efficient-solar-power.html#jCp