New Hampshire, USA --
Amonix, the clear market leader in installed high concentrating photovoltaics (HCPV), has shut down its North Las Vegas manufacturing operation a little more than a year after its much-hyped opening.
The company, however, faced considerable challenges over the past few months. In December, CEO Brian Robertson was killed in a plane crash, and the company had yet to name a permanent replacement. Then, in the spring, the company announced layoffs at the 150-MW facility that at one point employed as many as 700 workers.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, a former employee on Wednesday said the plant has been idle since May 1, and management had been dealing with a high rate of module performance issues.
A list maintained by PV Insider shows the company has 16 projects in operation (12 in the U.S., and four in Spain, and seven American projects listed as pre-operational. The company had been busy supplying modules for Cogentrix’ 30-MW Alamosa solar project in Colorado, which became operational in May, making it the largest such installation in the world. It remains unclear what the plant’s closure means for Amonix staff at its Seal Beach, Calif., headquarters. In its statement issued Thursday, the company cited lower than expected CPV demand in the southwest for the closure, and said that the company will be restructuring rather than shutting down altogether.
CPV is still in the early stages of market development with only 88 megawatts (MW) installed. Of that, Amonix has put in 65 MW, according to Lux Research. But being the frontrunner didn’t help the company escape financial pressures. In fact, it probably hastened its troubles. According to a report written by Ed Cahill of Lux prior to the announcement, Amonix appeared to have scaled up too fast and too soon. The company expanded its operation before the market was in place and before it proved it could obtain third-party financing.
Financing continues to be a challenge for HCPV, though some companies are making headway. With Amonix on the sidelines, other smaller companies with better financing sources and larger distribution networks are quickly moving ahead to capture a utility-scale market that is expected to thrive in hot, dry climates like the Southwestern U.S., Mexico, parts of South America, Northern Africa, the Middle East, India, China and Australia.
SolFocus has recently secured financing from Morgan Stanley, which Cahill says bodes well for the financial viability of large installations. The California company recently announced plans for a 450-MW facility in Mexico that would be built in 50-MW phases. And other companies like Semprius (Siemens) and Greenvolts (ABB) have received investments from large companies with major reach. French energy giant Soitec, meanwhile, is ramping up operations with a new HCPV manufacturing facility in San Diego, in part backed by $25 million from the DOE. According to Cahill, SunCore is also positioning itself to capture the Chinese HCPV market. The Chinese company has installed 6 MW of projects to date. But it has a production capacity of 200 MW and expects about 50 MW of installations in 2012.
Below, Ed Cahill of Lux Research talks about HCPV technology and its efforts to bring down costs. The discussion occurred at Intersolar North America in mid-July prior to the Amonix plant closure.
Its probably 3rd party (front co's for big oil) that did it again as they have so many times in the past , buy controlling share and then drive decisions to force co into bankruptcy (restructuring, which means no production) .. "they" did same to Uni-Sol/ECD the solar shingle co that had a light weight solar shingle you could hold up with your little finger, that OUTPERFORMED the silicon types (which require the heavy glass 2 sided enclosures)...
Expect higher gasoline prices as a result. "Someone" torpedoed the Citicar "CommutaCar" co in sebring FL, (congressional muppets required at big 3 and "others" requests to make safety crash testing so extenstive that not even Henry Ford could have survived the barrage of expenses (in 1905 when he started out)... thats another way they kill of competition (big biz hates small biz, and big oil hates alt energy)... VERY SAD TURN OF EVENTS ... meanwhile JAPAN has just ramped up its expected alt energy projects to 300 MW and growing everyday??? USA last place in the alt energy race? why? (by design of the Super Rich (SR). who don't care if they bankrupt the USA. (heck 24 of the 25 richest in the world DO NOT live in USA)... prepare for more (price hiking) wars, more blocking of Alt energy (always next year infinitum), and more illegal price fixing as well, and as always without any investigation whatsover from govt?
you can bet big oil is rejoicing !
Lead in ad was Hoku/Idaho running adds on the low cost environment for business in ID. Hoku stock price is 0.04. This ahead of a story on the failure of Amonix. Classic.
I first read this story elsewhere and the thing that has me is the CEO's death. What's the real deal? Is it the guys death or bad technology? It seems since no interim CEO was named that the writing was on the wall. Who was going to take that gig with little DOE money left or crappy stock options? Perhaps Mr. Robertson did himself and family a favor by dying (life insurance). HEY OOHH!!
Comment
5 of 13
Anonymous
July 20, 2012
While on one hand it's sad to see the demise of start-ups like Amonix, on the other hand their failure as a business enterprise was entirely predictable. It's business 101. If you're going to manufacture and sell a product, you have to be able to sell it for more than it costs to produce, and you have to have enough customers willing to buy what you produce. Amonix had neither.
While the CPV technology being developed by Amonix had a better COE metric than most other commercial PV solar devices, it still wasn't really good enough to be cost competitive in the energy market. And all the subsidies in the world would not have changed that fact.
I hope someone will continue working on the Amonix CPV concept because it seems to have some potential. But I also hope that they'll have the common sense to wait to market the product until it is truly ready.
What they do is force bad decisions at board room level by sheer volume of largest shareholders (disguised as 3rd party alt energy co's that are really controlled by Oil monsters); those types of decisions involve buying high and inefficient methods that doom the alt energy projects to failure, then in turn, they use artificial failure to promote the idea that there is no alternative to oil /gasoline. IE UNI-SOL/ECD, once prosperous , taken over by 3rd party, now in restructuring (bankruptcy with no production at all; we called them and asked to buy some solar shingles.. they passed us around from one office to another, or disconnected, after repeated attempts, they said they really don't have anything to sell ????? ) DECEPTION HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT !
I think we need to step back, and not judge too quickly, a playable solar technology like Amonix has. These 100, 500 or 1000 sun efforts may only make sense in a spanish desert, but compared to a 5 or 10 acre field full of conventional panels, they do seem more efficient, especially if you value space. Nowadays, of course, we don't ('cept for national parks)with our short term mentality, but we probably should, because at some future point, others will.
great post,I learn so many things about things from this post the Renewable Energy cost of projects and many other.Thanks for sharing this valuable information.
http://www.blinkx.com/watch-video/scientific-american-frontiers-hydrogen-hopes/eq6zw6U1fv6MpAh7c5IWsQ skip to time 17:30 for the ovshinksy lt wt solar shingle !!!!
Orion Solartech site looks interesting, but I don't think they are using the all important air gap that allows for escape of hot air between the 2 roofs (see orig comment above). You see we live in FL and we rarely worry about cold (or snow being a problem). In fact we save most when the house is in the shade thus the dbl roof with air gap between. They also don't seem to show the "whole roof" area as being used, as we would say to do. COSTS: we keep getting max of $3-4 per solar PV watt installed.. I would daresay theirs is at least 10-20 x higher. We look for "elegance" meaning in our minds, simplist, highest efficiency for the lowest cost, and fewest parts (especially moving parts). Just a tracking system drastically adds to cost, but there are some that are passive using no energy, just the heat from the sun to boil a liquid which gradually changes the weight distribution which moves the panels to approximately track the sun... NASA at cape has demo area with one like that, but that requires "pedestal" and limits panel area unless adding many pedestals or fewer bigger pedestals which cost $$. On the other hand, the double roof gives you a 2nd roof, puts your whole houes in the shade, also PV generation, and sheds rain as well. We thinking with cheap solar panels similar perhaps to ovshinsky's solar shingle (super light weight no glass and out performs silicon based glassed types over 12 day and even generates in non-direct sunlight (runs in the rain as his documentary with alan alda shows (this was UNI-SOL/ECD.. which was bought out and driven straight into bankruptcy by some 3rd party co (controlled by oil traitors ?).
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11 of 13
Anonymous
July 24, 2012
j-davis,
Amonix was doomed by simple market economics, and not by some diabolical oil/gas company conspiracy. In fact, what most people fail to appreciate is that if Amonix's long term business model actually made sense, then oil/gas companies would happily have poured huge amounts of money into the company. Oil/gas companies like to make profit on their investments same as anyone else.
j-davis did not look at the Orion Solartech site in depth or long enough. If he were to look at figure 17 in the "details" pages he would notice a cross section of a structural PV-Thermal panel with an air gap between the panel and the rigid insulation. This example would produce electricity and hot water while expelling or utilizing the hot air between the panel and insulation.
Trying to figure out where the 10 to 20 times the cost comes from. It is simple extruded aluminum ($0.84 lb today)and the company is working out the pricing and engineering now.
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13 of 13
Anonymous
December 19, 2012
For those who visit this page on 12/19/2012, you'll note that there really is no one who cares about the acres of Amonix 7700s in the Field. Do they work? Are the power production figures available to the public? Do you remember how excited the NREL was about Amonix?
It seems they (NREL) lost their interest in these projects about a nano second after the deal was done.
As for Edward Cahill of Lux, does he consider the extreme challenges of keeping the environment out of the HCPV enclosures? Did the Lens material hold up? did they keep the water out? the bugs out? The dirt and dust out? How many photo cells failed?
Is Lux interested enough in the results to research it? If not what good are they?
It seems to me HCPV is fer promoting,and it has been done very well. One thing that can not be found in the Solar Industry are people who look at what's important, that be the KWHs put through the meter and whether the technology can EVER pay for itself. Who gives a crap if the cell is 90% efficient if it burns up long before you can pay for it? I think there's a term appropriate here.. Gang Green. Scammers love this technology, they pretty much have the pond all to them selves!
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Steve Leone has been a journalist for more than 15 years and has worked for news organizations in Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, Virginia and California.
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