Avista to test system for harnessing solar rays

Avista Utilities and a startup San Francisco company plan to test a new solar power system in North Idaho that could provide an electricity boost to help relieve peak summertime energy use.

GreenVolts Inc. will try out its utility-scale, sun-tracking solar array, billed as more cost-effective than traditional models, near an Avista substation in Rathdrum. It will be the first project at the utility’s new test bed for clean energy sources.

Produced by Spokane Valley-based Ecolite Manufacturing Co. and backed financially by Avista and other local investors, the prototype system could initially generate about 2.4 kilowatts, enough electricity for two homes, said Ed Caferro, CEO of Ecolite.

“It sounds like a very promising technology,” said Avista spokesman Hugh Imhof. “We think it can actually be competitive with some other forms of energy. … We like them so well that we’re actually investing in the company; we think it has that much potential.”

When coupled to create a solar farm, GreenVolts’ CarouSol systems could produce 1 to 20 megawatts of power at a price comparable to buying power from natural gas plants at peak times, a cheaper method than the typical array, said GreenVolts founder and CEO Bob Cart.

“This is not a science project,” Cart said. “This is happening now.”

Bids are out for several megawatts’ worth of the systems, and Caferro expects to make about 400 monthly in about a year, he said.

With about 200 employees, Ecolite expects revenues of about $20 million this year. Caferro already is expanding his 80,000-square-foot manufacturing plant by 12,000 square feet, and he expects to double his work force if GreenVolts takes off.

“It’s the biggest opportunity that’s ever come this company’s way,” Caferro said. “What I do in a year, I’ll be doing in a month when we hit traction.”

An initiative passed by voters in November requires Avista to use 3 percent renewable energy by 2012 and 15 percent by 2020. Renewable sources are a “big part of our thrust for the future,” Imhof said, adding that the utility also is investigating plants that can generate 2 to 3 megawatts connected directly to the grid for peak use.

“Something like this is extremely valuable to us,” Imhof said. “We are really just optimistic that this will work out.”

Avista has an average load of about 1,100 megawatts, and one megawatt will power roughly 750 homes, Imhof said. The utility forecasts average electricity sales growth of 2.3 percent a year over the next decade, he said.

Avista sometimes needs to buy electricity on the open market, a costly option if it’s available. That makes peak-solar a “very enticing proposition,” although it still could cost more than hydroelectric generation, Imhof said.

Avista’s new draft resource plan, expected to be released this summer, also calls for generating 35 megawatts using renewable sources other than wind and hydroelectric by 2017, Imhof said. GreenVolts’ technology could factor into that.

CarouSol systems include 176 units, each containing a mirror that focuses sunlight onto a one-centimeter-square solar cell made by a Boeing subsidiary, Spectrolab. The steel units rotate around a circular track and tilt vertically, allowing them to track the sun all day.

“Like you would use a magnifying glass to burn a leaf, we are using mirrors to burn or concentrate the light onto a solar cell,” Cart said. “It’s that concentration using relatively inexpensive mirrors to get a great deal more energy out of a dollar invested or an area of a site.”

Two computer processors control the device’s motors, and the system can compensate for wind, Caferro said. The system will be washed at night to remove dust.

Cart said GreenVolts will add more CarouSols, equipped differently, at the test site for comparison. The plant here could be “many megawatts” if the tests work, Cart said. The system requires about three acres per megawatt generated.

Some experts estimate rooftop solar arrays can cost about $10 a watt. Cart said power from GreenVolts’ system will be “considerably lower-cost,” competing with natural gas, which may cost $1 a watt for equipment but involve fuel and maintenance costs that solar power avoids. Cart also plans to cut costs by siting smaller systems, tied directly into power grids, closer to electricity demand.

Started about two years ago, GreenVolts employs seven and has raised about $1.5 million in venture capital. Last year, the company won recognition and more than $100,000 in a California clean-technology competition.

Caferro received GreenVolts stock options and a position as manufacturing partner for his work, and he has personally invested in GreenVolts, he said. Ecolite makes optical sheet metal components used in lighting fixtures.

While other solar companies approached Caferro, they wanted to install arrays on rooftops – a method Caferro sees as problematic because roofs can be sloped and covered with obstructions, he said.

Current and former employees of Itron Inc., a Liberty Lake-based supplier of gas and electricity metering equipment, have invested in or advised the project, Cart said.

Johnny Humphreys, chairman of the board at Spokane-based GenPrime Inc., called GreenVolts’ technology a “very worthwhile project.” He has looked into it both as a potential personal investor and on behalf of WIN Partners, a local group of investors, he said.

“It’s a typical startup, high-risk endeavor, like any new business,” he said. “But the saving grace in the whole thing, I believe, is just the payoff in the end, because it’s important work they’re doing.”

While GreenVolts may encounter competitors, there’s room in the market for rivalry, Humphreys said.