Soliant Energy wins $4 million U.S. funding for Heliotube
Rodney Tanaka Staff Writer /March 16, 2007
Source: Whittier Daily News
http://www.whittierdailynews.com/business/ci_5420801
PASADENA – A local company’s solar power efforts received a $4 million energy boost. Pasadena-based Soliant Energy, formerly Practical Instruments, received $4 million in funding for its Heliotube technology from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar America Initiative. The initiative has $168 million in funding for 13 projects, pending congressional approval. Heliotube provides solar concentrator technology in the same flat panel form traditionally used by solar installers.
“We’re going to use this money to accelerate the evolution of our current Heliotube project,” said Charles Haythornthwaite, vice president of business development for Soliant Energy. “We believe we can nearly double the efficiency of a conventional (solar) panel, double the power of a conventional panel and do it in half the cost of a conventional panel.”
The other winners were more established companies such as Boeing, BP Solar and General Electric, he said. “We’re actually the youngest company to win the award,” Haythornthwaite said. “That’s very gratifying. It shows we’re moving fast. It’s the DOE acknowledging the tremendous potential of our concentrating solar panel.”
Soliant, formed about a year and a half ago, is partnering with industry leaders such as SunEdison, which will test and evaluate Heliotube panels, Boeing’s Spectrolab, Sandia National Laboratories and MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. Heliotube, expected to be released in October, is less expensive than conventional solar panels while producing more watts. A bright ribbon of light is focused on a smaller solar cell, generating as much power as a solar cell 10 times as large.
“We’re looking at ideal projects in Southern California that can benefit from this technology,” Haythornthwaite said. “We’re starting to take orders.” The award shows that people with knowledge of solar technology approve of Soliant Energy’s growth as a startup company, he said. “It’s pleasing because it acknowledges we’re on the right track,” Haythornthwaite said.
The companies selected represented the most promising technology to meet President Bush’s goal of making solar energy competitive with conventional forms of electricity by 2015, said Julie Ruggiero, spokeswoman for the Department of Energy. Conventional electricity costs 8 to 10 cents per kilowatt. Solar energy costs 18 to 22 cents per kilowatt, and the goal is to cut that in half, she said.
President Bush’s Solar America Initiative is part of his commitment to diversify U.S. energy resources through grants, incentives and tax credits and to spur widespread use of clean solar energy technologies.