Concentrated PV

Bob MacDonald CEO of High Gain Solar (HGS) array manufacturer Skyline Solar takes a few moments to speak to CPV Today on what he hopes to help the company achieve over the next two years target markets the reasoning behind growing CPV popularity for large scale solar projects and his take on future consolidation plays.

Bob MacDonald CEO of High Gain Solar (HGS) array manufacturer Skyline Solar takes a few moments to speak to CPV Today on what he hopes to help the company achieve over the next two years target markets the reasoning behind growing CPV popularity for large scale solar projects and his take on future consolidation plays.

Q: What are you hoping that you can help the company achieve over the next two years?

A: Skyline will move from being a development company to a product company shipping megawatts of our HGS systems.

Q: Which geographic markets are you finding most exciting to target for your company's future growth and why? A: Sunny environments in Spain Italy California Arizona and Nevada followed by Chile and Australia which are all the leading markets. Customers in these markets have chosen CPV for innovation and price performance.

Q: Solar is a highly subsidised sector which will need more and more private funding as technologies manufacturing projects and companies build scale and reach the next level of growth. What are your thoughts on why CEOs such as yourself have a role in educating venture capital firms and utility companies of the benefits of CPV and obviously your company's technology in particular?

A: We are the innovators showing that CPV like the Skyline Solar Solution is the most scalable from a Capex point of view--to ramp to many megawatts. This is because CPV leverages cell manufacturing capacity with low cost reflectors and lenses.

Q:  Do you believe there will be a high rise in consolidation plays within the solar sector over the next five years? Please explain which segment you believe will generate the most activity and what the drivers will be.

A: The solar sector is large and there will be lots of segmentation and specialization as different solar approaches find their niches. For example with CPV in sunny markets special building built-in solutions and smaller systems for roof tops standards will grow driving down install costs.

Q: Which factors do you believe will drive CPV growth on a global scale over other solar technologies? What part do you believe corporate investors will play in feeding that growth?

A: As mentioned above CPV will be the winner in scalability in sunny high DNI markets due to cost and performance. About the company: Skyline Solar manufactures High Gain Solar (HGS) arrays which incorporate industry-proven silicon cells durable reflector materials and single-axis tracking into a complete easy-to-deploy system. Skyline HGS delivers ten times more energy per gram of silicon than traditional flat panel systems in sunny locations. Built primarily out of commodity materials with manufacturing processes available on a vast scale Skyline HGS dramatically improves financial payback and scalability thereby accelerating the solar industry's path to grid parity. Skyline was founded in 2007 and is led by veterans of the solar energy and high volume manufacturing industries. The company is funded by NEA other VCs and strategic investors. Skyline has also received funding from the US Department of Energy (DOE) to accelerate production. Skyline went from prototype to first grid connected customer in less than one year and is now engaging partners and end customers for production systems.