Sep 29 2008

The Shy Solar Company

Posted by: Jonathan Marshall

Most new technology companies all but hit reporters over the head to get noted in news columns and blog items. A few extra inches of coverage can potentially translate into thousands of new orders and millions of dollars in new funding.

But Berkeley-based PVT Solar is trying a different tack: as soon as it reached the pinnacle of PR success--an item in the New York Times Green Inc. blog--the company promptly took down its web site, www.pvtsolar.com, citing concerns over intellectual property.

Was this a rare case of entrepreneurial modesty, or a genius marketing ploy to get people to troll the Web all the more diligently in search of the scoop on this company, which already enjoys the cachet of funding from Vinod Khosla, venture capitalist extraordinaire?

Despite his apparent shyness, company President Gordon Handelsman didn't mind telling the Times that his approach, although still a work in progress, harvests "around 100 percent more energy than a regular PV system."

The "secret" lies in making use of the waste heat from traditional solar panels. They typically convert only a quarter of the sun's energy into electricity. The rest becomes heat (or is reflected). By reusing that "waste" heat to warm water or rooms, PVT Solar's system can potentially increase overall efficiency.

Last February, Venture Beat listed PVT Solar as one of "Ten great cleantech startups on the prowl for funding." It cited company estimates that it could double efficiency at an additional system installation cost of only about 20 percent, "helping to reduce the time to break-even on the investment by 25 to 50 percent."

Another apparent convert was Joel Kauffman of Independent Energy Systems, who compared a PVT system against a standard solar hot water system of similar cost. The calculations he presented favored the PVT system with overall annual savings of almost $800, versus $400 with traditional models.

Of course, given the base cost of $22,000, the total payback time would still be considerable for either investment. So investors and buyers may want to wait until the PVT Solar web site is back up before betting the bank.

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