Tucson’s Global Solar is rising star
Andrew Johnson, The Arizona Republic /May. 27, 2007
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/0527biz-solar0528.html
Thin-film photovoltaic copper indium gallium diselenide is not a phrase that rolls off the tongue. It could find its way into the daily lexicon, though, if a Tucson firm has its way. Global Solar Energy Inc. is using the technology to build solar panels that can power everything from an iPod to a soldier’s tactical gear.
The company started in 1996 as a spinout business from UniSource Energy Corp., Tucson’s main utility provider. Last year its stock was purchased by SOLON AG, a German company that makes solar modules, and a private investor who owns 81 percent of the business.
The company is now receiving some local recognition. The Arizona Small Business Association named Global Solar Energy one of its 50 Arizona Companies to Watch for 2007. The organization selected growing firms from around the state that have between 10 and 100 employees and annual revenue of between $1 million and $100 million.
The company targets its portable solar chargers to campers, boaters and hikers. It also sells its panels to original equipment manufacturers, who use them in consumer products such as backpacks and suitcases, and the military.
It relies a type of thin-film technology called copper indium gallium diselenide, or CIGS, which has the highest efficiency rating among the various thin-film options, according to President and CEO Mike Gering.
Efficiency refers to the rate at which sunlight is converted to usable energy, he said. In addition to its plant in Tucson, the firm is building a plant in Germany that eventually will be able to generate 50 megawatts of solar energy.
Gering, a former CEO and retired fighter pilot in the Marine Corps, joined Global Solar Energy in 2001 after being recruited to the firm. “It was a fledgling enterprise, which sort of excited me,” Gering said.
No longer a fledgling enterprise, the company has benefited from attracting a diverse range of customers that include the militaries of several different countries and end consumers.
This year the company expects to grow its revenue 300 percent, Gering said. The company’s panels are distinctive in that they can sustain wear and tear without breaking, unlike panels made with crystal silicon, another popular technology used in panels.
“It’s very flexible,” Gering said. “You can walk on it. You can shoot a bullet through it.” Global Solar Energy is just one of three companies in the business association’s Companies to Watch contest harnessing Arizona’s plentiful sunshine to create and sell alternative energy solutions.
The others are Phoenix-based wholesaler PerfectPower Inc. and Tucson-based retailer the Solar Store. Both sell solar panels and other renewable energy products.