Magnolia Solar Corporation, Inc. (OTCBB: MGLT)
Magnolia Solar is a Delaware Corporation incorporated in January 2008. The Company was formed with a vision to realize and participate in the green energy revolution of America. The founders of Magnolia Solar understand the success, security and bright future of our nation relies in the energy independence. To fulfill the promise of green technology, Magnolia Solar has assembled a world-class management team to implement its product and business strategies. The Company's R & D team has demonstrated experience in conducting state-of-the-art research to determine technology trends and then develop products to meet that demand, significantly ahead of the competition. The founder and CEO have substantial experience in successfully introducing new technology in a robust market. The Company is working to protect its intellectual property and adding key technical personnel to validate and commercialize new generation of solar cell technologies.
Magnolia Solar's mission is to commercialize its nanotechnology-based, high efficiency, thin film technology that can be deposited on glass and other flexible structures. This technology has the ability to capture a larger part of the solar spectrum to produce high efficiency solar cells, and incorporates very unique nanostructure-based antireflection coating technology to further increase the solar cell's efficiency thereby reducing the cost per watt. The Company's goal is to increase its solar cell efficiency from the present thin film solar cells of 8%-10% to those rivaling crystalline silicon based solar cells at substantially lower cost.
Magnolia Solar has experienced Management team with expertise in Optical, Electronic and Solar Cell Technologies for Space and Terrestrial Applications. The President and CEO of Magnolia is an industry veteran with over 25 years of experience of Product Development and Management with Fortune 500 Companies such as Tyco, Honeywell, Loral, Lockheed-Martin and BAE Systems.
Magnolia Advantage
Magnolia´s thin film solar cells offer - substantially lower cost than crystalline solar cells, use less expensive materials, significant gains in efficiency vs. other thin film cells and modules by application of proprietary nano/micro technologies; and, has the potential for lowest cost/watt solar technology.
At Magnolia Solar, Inc. their main priority is to provide customers and business partners with unparalleled R & D, product development, manufacturing strategy and new generation products in solar cell industry. Their solar cell solutions address three primary goals:
§ Efficiency - Magnolia employs multiple approaches using nano/micro materials processes and a proprietary composite design to a broader spectrum of light energy.
§ Cost - Unlike high cost multi-layer triple junction solar cell design, Magnolia technology uses a proprietary inexpensive materials and process to reduce cost per unit power.
§ Manufacturing - Their solutions are developed to enable scalable manufacturing strategy at lower cost per unit.
Magnolia Corporate
Their leadership, business model and technology defines their success. They strive to assemble a diverse and talented group of associates to drive their business in a thriving solar cell industry. Magnolia leadership is committed to green revolution. Their approach focuses on overall efficiency to deliver renewable, economical, scalable and environmentally safe technology. Magnolia Solar management is guided by the Company's core values of care, integrity, teamwork, commitment and excellence.
Magnolia Solar has a well defined strategic approach that includes:
- Seasoned executive management and technical team
- Extensive industrial experience with advanced degrees
- Key technology development funded by US federal government agencies such as DARPA, DoD, and NASA
- R & D base in Micro and Nano technology for solar cell
- A robust network of technology partners
By one estimate, some two billion people at present have no access to electricity. Their vision is to deploy solar power everywhere, since many of those without electricity are not connected to the power grid. Of all the sources of electricity, solar power is the only modularly scalable power source. Traditional sources of electricity such as hydro, coal, nuclear, and natural gas require setting up a plant that connects to the supply grid. Even wind energy farms have to be centralized to generate several hundred megawatt power to be cost effective. In comparison, solar power can be an effective source of electricity for projects that require from a few kilowatts electricity to several hundred megawatt power. The scalability of the solar electric power makes it the unique technology to deploy wherever there is no grid or when large electricity generation is needed to supplement output of a power plant to meet electricity requirements during the peak demand hours.
Magnolia plans to become a major supplier of solar power by serving both commercial and defense market. By supplying high efficiency, low cost solar panels, they expect development of applications that will help sustain life in areas with no grid. There are several applications that can benefit this decentralized power market. These applications include power to extend hours of economic activity, access to telecommunications, preservation of medical supplies, and improvement in night-time security. For the defense markets, Magnolia is developing its technology of flexible substrates so that the power modules can be packed and stowed when not in use. Their vision is to provide a portable source for their soldiers to recharge batteries for electronic gear while on filed missions away from a base.
Magnolia is developing its technology in the New York's Capital Region and plans to establish its first manufacturing facilities in this area to create high-paying technical jobs in the United States. Based on recent developments in the solar photovoltaic market, while many silicon crystal technology based manufacturers have moved overseas to use cheap labor, companies using thin-film technologies have continued to sustain operations in the U.S. By adding high value in its product, Magnolia expects that it will create high paying jobs in the U.S. while competing effectively with foreign manufacturers.
Many state governments or agencies have established aggressive goals to use renewable energy to meet a portion of their electricity requirement. For example, New York has established an aggressive goal commonly referred to as 30x15, which aims to acquire 30 percent of its electricity requirements from renewable sources. By providing a domestic source of cost-effective solar power, Magnolia's vision is to help state and federal governments meet their targets of renewable energy deployment while creating high-paying jobs in the United States.
They combine best business practices and nanotechnology: The key to their long-term strategy is the people they work with. They hire the best technical talent they can find and encourage them to explore and innovate. Their employees are working with some of the world-renowned experts in nanotechnologies of interest to them. This team is working to develop several nanotechnology applications that have the promise to significantly enhance the efficiency of thin-film solar cells and lead to one of the lowest costs in the industry.
They keep capital cost low by leveraging existing facilities, rather than use investor funds: Magnolia Solar established its research office in the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering's (CNSE) Nanotech Center in the State University of New York, Albany, New York and in Rensselear Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. Collectively, this gives them access to about $6 billion in capital resources. By using these facilities for the development of their technology, they are deferring the expenditure of capital costs until their technology and the manufacturing process is well defined. This approach avoids the pitfall of spending investor funds on capital equipment which may not prove to be the most effective approach for manufacturing and significantly reduces the technology risk inherent in any developmental effort.
They use government grants for product development: Their highly talented team has been very successful at attracting grant funding from the state and federal government. They have already announced several awards that have Magnolia Solar has received. This government funding has supported most of the thin-film solar cell developmental effort so far. Magnolia Solar continues to seek new opportunities to access grant funds from various governmental agencies.
They have highly talented employees and members of the technical advisory board: Magnolia Solar's team is highly talented. About 80 percent of their technical employees have doctoral degrees in their fields, are experts in Nanoscale materials technologies, are industry veterans with an average of over ten years of experience in technologies related to the development of thin-film solar cells, and have previously received funding from the government for technology development.
Magnolia has developed a number of revolutionary new thin film solar cell technologies that employ nanostructured materials and designs. Magnolia's transformational approach to thin film solar cells is based upon breakthrough discoveries in nanostructured solar cell designs and optical coatings engineering.
Magnolia has developed anti-reflective coatings that are far superior to what is being used in the industry today. Most solar cells suffer from a reduction of efficiency due to reflection of some of the incident sun light away from the solar cell. The energy in the reflected light is not converted to electric power and the loss of this power affects the efficiency of the cell. Their anti-reflection technology reduces the loss of power due to reflection of negligible levels, thereby allowing more sun light to be absorbed for a higher efficiency.
The engineering employed in their technology is designed to increase the photovoltaic operating voltage while capturing a larger part of the solar spectrum, and the unique nanostructure-based optical coatings to minimize reflection losses which enhances the light trapping within the photovoltaic devices. Their design uses nanostructure to horizontally scatter light that enters the cell to substantially increase the travel path of the light. This innovation addresses another shortcoming of the traditional solar cells where the travel path, particularly in thin-film solar cells, is small and therefore all the energy that enters the cell is not converted to electric power.
With this approach, Magnolia is aiming to dramatically enhance the power-generating capability of photovoltaic systems by developing low cost, thin film technology that delivers unprecedented levels of electrical energy per unit area. Magnolia has filed several patent applications for its revolutionary photovoltaic solar cell device designs and methods of manufacturing. The technologies related to these patent filings address the fundamental performance limitations in existing thin film solar cells. These technologies result in higher solar electric conversion efficiency by increasing both the voltage and current output of thin film solar cells.
Magnolia is working in several directions to help drive the cost of solar power down to achieve parity with power delivered by the electricity grid. In pursuing this quest, they use revolutionary photovoltaic solar cell device designs and methods of manufacturing.
There are wide disparities in the consumption of electric power among the countries of the world. In the United States they consume about 12,900 kilo-Watt-hour (kWh) electricity per capita annually. In contrast, that number is about 2,175 kWh in China and about 465 kWh in India. As they pursue grid parity in solar photovoltaic technology, we seek to help provide electricity to the about two billion people in the world who do not have access to electric power at present with a viable alternative. Their quest is help reduce these wide disparities in electricity consumption.
They believe that as disparity in electricity consumption is reduced, increases in power consumption will help improve economic life for people who have no or limited access to electric power.
They seek to be a part of the many forces in the world that are working towards improving economic life in the developing parts of the world. They aim to help accomplish this goal while reducing dependence on fossil fuels and helping to reduce carbon emissions by providing a low-cost, high efficiency modular source of electric power that is at par with what the cost for electricity is in most of the developed world.
In addition to developing economically viable commercial products, Magnolia is also seeking to develop solar cell products for military ground forces, avionics and space systems.
Leadership
Dr. Ashok Sood is President, Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Magnolia Solar Corporation.. He is a 35-year industry veteran with experience that includes developing and managing solar cells, optical, and optoelectronics technology products for several major corporations, including Lockheed-Martin, BAE Systems, Loral, Honeywell, and Tyco International. Dr. Sood was instrumental in development and managed optical and optoelectronics technology for these companies as a TechnologyManager in the optoelectronics group and worked to develop ribbon silicon solar cells, CdTe, CdS and HgCdTe, GaN/AlGaN, ZnO semiconductor devices. Many of the technologies and products developed have become large product lines at these companies. Dr. Sood received his Ph.D. and M.S. in Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and has an M.S. and a B.S. in Physics (Honors) from Delhi University in India.
Dr. Yash R. Puri is Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and a Director of the Magnolia Optical. He has many years of photovoltaic technology and applications experience both in the private sector and in the academia. Dr. Puri is also a Professor of Finance at the University of Massachusetts and has been Chairman of the Management and Finance Department, and acting Associate Dean. Dr. Puri holds a B.S. in Physics, a M.S. in Solid State Physics, and a M.B.A. from the University of Delhi. He also holds a M.B.A. in Finance and a D.B.A. in International Business from Indiana University, Bloomington.
Mr. Egerton is executive vice president for product development at Magnolia Solar. Mr. Egerton has over thirty years of experience in development of microelectronics, optoelectronics and nanotechnology specifically in silicon, GaAs, HgCdTe, ZnO devices and processes. Mr. Egerton has the experience and the expertise in taking R+D technologies and transitioning it to manufacturing and reducing product costs. He has developed both electronic and optical devices and associated fabrication process while improving yield and lower cost for several technologies. Mr. Egerton is co-inventor on 4 patents and five pending patents. He has authored and co-authored twenty two publications in technologies that can be applied to photovoltaic solar cells.
Dr. Roger E. Welser is the Chief Technology Officer at Magnolia Solar, Inc, where he is responsible for leading the development of next-generation solar cells employing advanced nanostructured materials and coatings. Prior to joining Magnolia in August of 2009, Dr. Welser served as Director of Technology and New Product Development at Kopin Corporation, a leading manufacturer of III-V device materials and innovator in the area of nanosemiconductor materials. At Kopin, Dr. Welser conceived, developed, and deployed a next generation III-V transistor structure for power amplifiers in mobile phone products. Dr. Welser has also pioneered the development of quantum structured and other advanced solar cell designs, and was a Fellow of the NASA Graduate Student Researcher's Program. Dr. Welser received his Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Yale University in 1995 and an undergraduate degree with honors in Physics from Swarthmore College in 1989.
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