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Solarplannedpanel lant
p
AVA Solar could
hire 600 workers
within two years
BY TREVOR HUGHES
TrevofRughesdcoloradoan.com
A Fort Collins company has
big plazas to help homeowners
start running their electric me-
ters backward with the help of
low-cost solar panels.
AVA Solar, a spinoff of Col-
orado State University, wants to
have its manufacturing plant
up and running in about a year;
with as many as 600 employees
within two years, said CEO Pas-
cal J. Noronha.
The plant is planted for the
southwest comer of Interstate
25 and Prospect Road.
While city leaders am excit-
ed about the potential new
jobs, it's the low-cost solar pan-
els that have Noronha charged
up. Homeowners who install
the panels costing about
$15,000 to $20,000 can pump
electricity into the national grid
when the sun is shining.
"The sun shines for about
eight hours in a day," Noronha
said."Utilities are willing to take
that energy and make your me-
ter run in reverse. Once you
have (the panels) in place, the
energy is free."
Noronha said most home-
owners would be able to make
back the cost of the panels
Within 10 years, leaving anoth-
er 20 years to gather free solar
energy before the panels need
to be replaced.
Noronha has been reluctant
to discuss the company's plans
in detail because so many start-
ups fail within a few years. But
he's hoping that the combina-
tion of private and CSU fund-
ing, along with a huge demand
for clean energy, will quickly
propel AVA into the top eche-
lon of solar companies.
Solar energy is particularly
attractive in rural areas because
the panels can power individ-
ual homes and shops without
the need for transmission lines
and expensive power plants.
AVA uses a different type .of
material than usual to make the
solar cells, which its inventors
say is cleaner and cheaper than
the Lmirent method.
The technology was devel-
oped by CSU researchers, and
the university is financially
backing the companyA scaled -
down manufacturing plant is al-
ready operating at I-25 and Mul-
berry, Noronha said, and things
are looking promising for scal-
ing up.
"If we can do that, if we are
fortunate to do that, then them
should be infinite demand," he
said Wednesday evening at a
community meeting to discuss
the project "Where the upper
limit is, we couldn't tell you
right now"
Noronha said he plans to
have the entire factory eventu-
ally become a "net zero" con-
sumer of energy, by using some
of the panels it makes to power
the plant and possibly the of-
fice building it wants to erect
nearby.
The project is currently
working its way through the
city's planning process. A for-
mal hearing before the city's
planning and zoning commis-
sion is set for Dec. 6, although
that is for the overall layout of
the 142-acre parcel. A separate
set of hearings will be held for
the actual manufacturing facili-
ty and office building.. ,