You don't become a solar installer/integrator to make millions of dollars or headlines, you do it because you're passionate about solar and want to change the world a little bit, one roof at a time.  Boulder, Colo.-based Astralux is an example of a this type of solar hero. 

"It's all about financials, solar is a commodity now," said Jesse Malcomb, VP of Biz Dev at Astralux. "Out-of-pocket costs are the real barrier and getting the that cost down is key." Interestingly, while California's SolarCity is working on leasing and imaginative financing for residential applications – PPAs are illegal in Colorado for installations smaller than 10 kilowatts.

Colorado doesn't have the world's greatest solar resources, but the state's utilities do offer some of the nation's highest solar rebates. Xcel Energy offers a $3.50 per watt rebate and Black Hills Energy offers the "nation's highest rebate" – $4.50 per watt, according to Malcomb. Colorado utility Xcel, despite its attractive rebate price, is not that friendly to solar – the firm recently tried to institute an interconnection fee for solar installations (see Ucilia Wang's article here). That effort was withdrawn due to public outcry, according to Malcomb.

While we're talking price per watt, the pre-rebate price to install solar has dropped significantly according to Malcomb – from about "$8/W in 2008 to $6.50/W this year." This makes life difficult for installers and panel manufacturers as the margins start getting tight – but it's good news for consumers.

Astralux actually has its' roots in the science of solar. Its CEO Dr. Randolph (Rande) Treece, has a background in PV materials, as well as sputtering and CVD systems for the deposition of thin-film PV. Despite these advanced materials roots, almost all of the panels the firm installs are crystalline silicon-based in order to maximize energy harvest from the available roof space.

It's always interesting to hear from installers about new products and Astralux' Malcolm had some positive things to say about microinverters.  "We've seen a huge increase in interest in microinverters," he said, adding, "Microinverters really help in installations with variable slopes, multiple orientations, and mixed string size."  He also noted that he has seen microinverter costs come down, and he raved about the monitoring capabilities and ease of set-up with microinverters. He specifically cited Enphase microinverters (see The Coming Disruption in the Inverter Market).

Greentech Media spends a lot of time covering the big guns in solar – Suntech, Sanyo, SunPower, etc. as well as the larger residential installers like Akeena Solar and Solar City – but it's the little guys like Astralux who are the foot soldiers of the solar revolution.

Astralux has installed a little over 1-megawatt of solar since 2008. This video shows off some of the company's fine workmanship.

Most solar conferences are powerpoint marathons, interrupted by coffee breaks and low-grade lunch food.

SolarTech forums don't settle for that.  Except for maybe the food part.

These are not high-tech meetings with deep dives into Tellurium supplies – they are nitty-gritty forums for installers, utilities, and regulators to figure out how to bust through the roadblocks that prevent residential solar in the U.S. reaching wider and faster deployment (see California's Top Solar Cities).

SolarTech's charter is to effect change in the solar installation process – and the organization wants concrete results.  

One of its stated goals is a 50 percent decrease in interconnection cycle time by 2012.
Another long-term aim of the SolarTech team is to define a plan to get to 3 gigawatts of PV by 2017. 

Doug Payne, the driven Executive Director of SolarTech defines interconnection as "The point from the system being approved to final inspection, connection to the grid, and getting the benefits of net metering."
 
Some of the process changes that SolarTech is working on:

• Online applications and tools (shared, automated, with FAQs)
• Streamlining the application process (permitting process, fees, consistency, communications and usage info)
• Simplified meters (real-time delivery)

Peter Rive, the Co-Founder and COO of SolarCity had some good comments:

• "You don't get your margin until the interconnection and the rebate is provided.  We will do anything to reduce that cycle time.  The working capital requirements when you scale this are enormous.  The industry is motivated and ready to invest time and effort to reduce cycle time."
• "You have to think of solar as a consumer product – and it's a freaking annoying product – you have to be home six or seven times during the course of the installation. It's more annoying than buying a house." (Both the Rive siblings are prone to cursing in public fora.)

But who owns this process?  How does the solar industry implement these changes?

"The California Public Utilities Commission needs to own the process" according to a CEO I spoke with. He didn't want attribution so as not to anger the CPUC.

The long list of VC-funded solar startups is starting to shrink.  We crossed Optisolar off the list, a victim of hubris (see Inside OptiSolar's Grand Ambitions) and it looks like SV Solar is soon to be history -- a victim of a poorly hatched business plan by neophyte staff and investors who should have known better.

SV Solar received $10.2 million in funding two years ago from partners at Bessemer with scant solar experience. The company funded a low-concentration PV firm (strike one), with a staff that had very little solar experience (strike two), based on some amazing cutting edge technology that they called -- a prism (strike 3).

Tough getting IP protection on a prism, I imagine.

The company’s value proposition was based on the high price of silicon at the time by investors who didn’t fully get the concept of supply and demand -- how the price of the silicon commodity was bound to drop as capacity was added.

Even when the price of silicon was high, you could see the flop sweat come over company spokespeople when they presented.  It was clear that even they didn’t buy their own story.

I’ve emailed Justin Label of Bessemer, the VC investor in the firm, but have not heard back from him.  Steve White, the CEO, responded via email with the following:

“SV Solar is actively seeking additional funding or other strategic alternatives. NDAs preclude further comment.”

According to Linked-In:

Tim Fischer, the VP of Business Development, still listed on the SV website, is now at 3M.

Lenny Sharp, the VP of Marketing, still listed on the SV website and phone directory, is now at Hitachi.

And according to a good source, the VP of Engineering at SV is looking for a job.

The last press release they issued was in August of 2008.

All of this adds up to SV Solar being in the startup death spiral.

2009 will be a year of attrition for weak startups in solar power and greentech.  It will be a gut-wrenching experience but it will leave the industry leaner and stronger in the 20-year solar boom to come.