Phoenix Business Journal, July 22, 2011

Solar company senses success

Federal grant could help Colnatec take its product to market

Premium content from Phoenix Business Journal - by Patrick O'Grady

Date: Friday, July 22, 2011, 3:00am MST - Last Modified: Thursday, July 21, 2011, 4:48pm MST

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Technology, Gilbert, Solar and alternative energy

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  Jim Poulin | Phoenix Business Journal
  Colnatec LLC manufacturing tech Sandy McPherson performs a quality control check in the production process of a solar sensor.
  

Colnatec LLC is looking to help develop the most efficient thin-film solar material on the market, even if it has to inch its way there one grant at a time.

The Gilbert-based company has parlayed a U.S. Department of Energy grant it received last year into a second phase, giving Colnatec an additional $450,000 to further develop and begin to market a sensor for thin-film manufacturing.

“We proved it would work, and Phase II is bringing it to product form,” said Scott Grimshaw, the company’s co-founder and chief technology officer.

Wendy Jameson, co-founder and CEO, said the goal is to find the sensor a home in the solar industry.
“It’s about finalizing the development to a commercial product,” she said.

Colnatec has been working on the project since 2009. Grimshaw has a patent on a sensor that can clean itself and work under high temperatures.

In the thin-film solar industry, the cells that eventually form panels are produced in long, ribbonlike strings. During production, many of the sensors that measure the film’s thickness tend to not hold up well under high temperatures and often need to be recalibrated. That leads to shorter runs, with cells at the end of each run being less efficient than those at the start.

Colnatec’s sensor allows for longer, more consistent production runs, creating solar panels that ultimately are more efficient, Grimshaw said.

The recent grant is the continuation of a $100,000 grant Colnatec received in 2010 from the DOE to try to prove its concept. The federal agency gave similar grants to 116 other companies last year, but Colnatec was one of only 22 that were approved for the second phase, Jameson said.

The company has received other accolades, too. Earlier this month it was featured on the White House website, in a section devoted to innovators and those who are changing the economy. That connection was made through the Arizona Small Business Association , Jameson said.

In addition, Colnatec was one of eight companies in the state to receive funds from an Arizona Commerce Authority program designed to reward innovation and technology. It was the only Valley-based company to receive funds, garnering $239,000.

Brian Sherman, business development director for the ACA, said Arizona needs to make a better effort to support companies such as Colnatec from a business development and financial perspective. The innovation grants, funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, were one way to do that.

“They’re a great example of the type of company we want to help in the early stages,” he said.

The ACA grant allowed Colnatec to hire a few people. The company’s current staff numbers nine, with two open positions. Jameson said the new DOE grant will help the company double its employment within a year as it moves toward a finished product.

The product may find a home outside the U.S. first. Jameson and Grimshaw have been traveling far and wide, from South Korea and China to Germany and the Netherlands, to find partners interested in testing the device.

Several Dutch and German companies have expressed interest, and they are willing to open up their manufacturing technologies to see how the sensor will fit into their production lines, Jameson said.
Developing global markets is a tough step for a startup, but something technology companies should look at during their initial growth stages, Sherman said.

“These guys are really smart and really aggressive and spending that precious money right now on a global strategy,” he said.

From the solar industry, Grimshaw said they can move into other high-temperature settings, including display manufacturing.

“It’s a question of us being able to meet the demand fast enough,” he said.

Connect with Patrick O’Grady at pogrady@bizjournals.com or on Twitter at @pogrady.

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