Solar firm in financial hot water

A Rockland company that recently was awarded more than $575,000 from the state to help build a solar equipment manufacturing plant owes thousands of dollars to contractors and a former employee, and has a mixed track record in designing solar power systems.

Ascendant Energy Co. was one of 16 recipients this month of a matching fund from the Maine Technology Institute, aimed at start-up companies with innovative concepts that have development potential. It was the fifth and most significant state award for Ascendant. It also was a milestone for the owner and chief executive officer, Christopher Straka, who has been working on ideas to boost the efficiency of solar-generated electricity since 2003.

Straka's promise to create 40 well-paying jobs during a recession was welcome by state and city officials. The fact that the proposed Rockland factory would be Maine's first large-scale solar manufacturing facility and support the state's long-term goal of energy independence added to the appeal.

QUESTIONS ARISE

But some members of Maine's solar business community, including two former employees, question whether Straka can deliver on his promise, based on his past performance. They worry that the state's fledgling solar industry, which has been whipsawed recently by volatile oil prices, will suffer bad publicity if Straka's venture fails.

In interviews last week with the Maine Sunday Telegram, Straka acknowledged that his company ran into trouble last fall when the economy collapsed. He was forced to lay off workers and stop paying bills, he said.

But Straka also defended past design shortcomings and other misjudgments as typical of research and development in an evolving field. And he said the partnerships and financing he's lining up now will allow him to grow Ascendant and settle his debts.

"I feel badly that things happened the way they did, but I'm not running away from it," Straka said.

Straka formed Ascendant in 2002 after 18 years in computer technology. His impetus was an idea on how to refine the practice of concentrating sunlight to generate electricity and use waste heat to warm water.

After receiving a series of small grants, Straka received a $324,300 development award in 2006 from the Maine Technology Institute to further develop his "solar cogenerator." The concept has since undergone testing at the University of Maine. The concentrator would be one of two products made in Rockland. The other would be a solar-electric, or photovoltatic, panel built without the concentrator.

While conducting research, Straka has been generating revenue by installing conventional solar panels.

Sometimes, he combines research and business.

SYSTEM SHORTCOMINGS

Straka installed a photovoltaic system on an office building at 100 Foden Road in South Portland. The building is owned by East Brown Cow Management, a Portland real estate management company.

The system, which cost $40,000, mates standard photovoltaic panels with reflectors designed to increase power output. It also features a data collection system, so the owner could monitor system performance.

But the monitor didn't function properly, and Straka couldn't fix it. The owner, Tim Soley, wound up hiring ReVision Energy, a Portland solar installer, to evaluate system performance. ReVision found the panels worked to their design capacity, but that the reflectors weren't making any contribution.

That wasn't a complete surprise, Soley said last week. He knew the reflectors were an experiment. Soley said he's most disappointed in not being able to monitor the system, and that – three years later – Straka hasn't finished the job.

Soley hasn't soured on solar, though. He wants to buy more panels and boost output, to take advantage of the existing equipment. If so, he said, ReVision – not Ascendant – likely...

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