Satcon Counting on Utility-Scale PV Power For Long-Term Growth
Satcon, a manufacturer and supplier of utility-scale power conversion equipment, is counting on green power to support its long-term growth.
Speaking at the Thomas Weisel Partners Alternative Energy & Natural Resources Conference now going on in New York, Satcon CEO Steve Rhoades told attendees that his company is poised to benefit from government supported green energy investments in the U.S. and abroad.
He said:
Satcon has been in a lot of businesses over time but since I joined the company about a year-and-a-half ago the sole focus of the company has been on renewable energy power conversion.
Satcon develops large inverters suitable for utility-scale and large commercial photovoltaic (PV) power projects. PV systems use inverters to convert direct-current (DC) electricity from the photovoltaic panels into alternating-current (AC) electricity that can be either fed into the power grid or to a building. PV projects must account for the cost of replacing inverters, which have shorter lifetimes than PV panels — typical inverters come with 5-year warranties, compared to 25-year warranties for PV panels. Satcon inverters use a modular design, which can save operating costs for project owners: When equipment fails, individual components are replaced rather than the entire inverter.
Rhoades adds:
We’re pouring all of our sales and marketing energy into [green power]. That’s where the growth in the company over the last few years has come and that’s where we see our growth going forward.
The U.S. government funds flowing into cleantech over the past months have been good for Satcon, which finished the month of October with $24 million in backlog orders. Overall the Boston company has identified $140 million in potential sales to PV project developers backed by American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds.
Of the $23 million the company raised via its stock offering in June, the company has burned through $6.7 million, Rhoades said.
Separately, Satcon announced today that it would supply conversion equipment for Exelon’s 10-megawatt Exelon City Solar photovoltaic PV project being developed in the city’s South Side.
