Read More Here.

I expect them to be late with their manufacturing facility… unless they started construction in 2005 or early 2006. But I think the numbers will work for someone in the next few years. I’m in “wait and see” mode. Someone is going to make renting solar panels work, and I consider this model superior to the ownership model. Is it going to be CitizenRE? I don’t know, but I’d be willing to bet (and I mean that literally) that in January 2012 there is more than one company in the US that is actually installing PV on people’s roofs and paying for it with a rental model.

1. Business model – This isn’t a new concept in commercial scale solar but is still emerging, and moving it to residential is a leap.

2. Manufacturing facility – I don’t claim to know the industry through and through but a new 500 MW facility isn’t on anyone’s radar. And you don’t just build it and pump out new solar panels. Once it’s built, the panels need to be UL certified, tested for state requirements (CEC), etc. The fact that they say fall 2007 either makes them liars or naive, regardless of the business model.

Having an NREL process that works in the lab is completely different from a factory assembly line high that cranks out 500 MW per year.

Examples of this include: First Solar, Evergreen, and Nanosolar

Here is a little history on First Solar (who make a 9% efficient CdTe module – no silicon)
Founded in 1999 (i.e., they had their patented idea)
http://www.ecoworld.com/Home/articles2.cfm?TID=303
Began significant production in 2005
http://www.firstsolar.com/company_overview.php
with 20 MW of production

Here is a little history on Evergreen (who draw the silicon in a thin layer out of the melt)
The were founded in 1994 (i.e., they had their patented idea) and hit sales of about $20 million in 2004
http://library.corporate-ir.net/library/12/123/123321/items/226441/Evergreen2007-01-09%20Needham.pdf

NanoSolar – thin film PV
Founded 2002 – hope to have initial production this year (2007). I bet it will be 2010 before they will be at full capacity.
http://www.nanosolar.com/history.htm

UniSolar has a similar story.

(Note they all claim to significantly reduce the production cost of cells as well.)

Everyone else makes the same old conventional crystalline panels at roughly the same cost.

Owning a patent or an NREL idea does not mean a production line cranking out MW’s in six months!

This is true for any high-tech industrial process.

IMO, If their Investors are satisfied and sign-off on the new (large) manufacturing plant (designed to cut the cost of their PV systems by about half through economies of scale) that’s enough for me. I truly hope they suceed to keep on building plants and maintain their deal to lock rates for Customers for 25 years.

Thanks Tom, for mentioning the Solar Water Rental program – I will check that out, too. Would be very cool – and I’d also like to see someone manufacture a lower cost Solar Space Heat option…that could potentially qualify for energy Conservation rebates. Let me know what you think is best in this arena, if you’ve got something…

One other thing I ran across when looking for this info:
“Solar Silicon is not an issue to Citizenre, as we have arranged for a technology license from NREL to manufacture our own low-cost (low-energy requirement) solar-grade silicon. As you know, the primary concern of the PV industry is control of the feedstock. We have made arrangements to supply our own SG-Si, which makes our primary material MG-Si – material that is highly abundant and guaranteed by one of our industry partners.

We are also aggressively pursuing additional means of SG-Si refinement, with an eye towards moving to carbon as the base material. Nevertheless, we are confident that what we have arranged for will supply us over the next 5 to 10 years of growth – meaning guaranteed SG-Si for all factories over the duration of their expected lifetimes (roughly 10 years) that are built in the next five to ten years.”

Here is an interesting article from Red Herring about the trend towards metallurgical grade silicon (MG-Si) mentioned above, which quotes the CitizenRe CEO David Gregg extensively.

http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=20157&hed=Solar%3A+Doing+the+Dirty

I don’t have any info about management other than the names on the website. Even bios are missing (or not up yet.)

Any info on the background of the principals?

2 kilowatt system @ $8/watt = $16,000
* $9,000 rebate from Xcel = $7,000
* 30% federal tax credit = $4,900
* Depreciation (estimated at 35% savings) = $3,185
* $500 from you = $2,685

2 kilowatts in Boulder, CO might produce 3,000 kWh/yr @ 9 cents/kWh is $270/yr – about a 10 year simple payback, not including the interest on the capital loan. Not spectacular but electricity prices will rise over time, which might reduce it somewhat.

Plus, you’re probably still responsible for the monthly utility fee, taxes, etc. I hope that this can work out but I’m skeptical of “too good to be true.”

Thanks for the link… I think I read about this in a press release from their partner, Enerworks. http://www.enerworks.com/. Tom.