Advanced Energy Systems Coming to Bend

Apparently the solar systems installation industry of Central Oregon will get another competitor: Advanced Energy Systems.  The physical location is currently unknown but the Bend phone number is listed on the company’s website as 541-520-5590.

The above image is from an advertisement in the October 21, 2009 Cascade Business News and the following announcement was in the September Economic Development for Central Oregon Newsletter:

New Member: Advanced Energy Systems – Bronze
With a new office in Bend, AES Advanced Energy Systems has expanded from the west side of the Cascades. With 25 years of hands-on involvement in the renewable energy industry, Advanced Energy Systems is dedicated to providing the best experience possible for the business owner with the acquisition and operation of a renewable energy system. Advanced Energy Systems specializes in the design of commercial solar electric systems and commercial solar water heating systems.

New Path Renewables Owner Indicted for Theft

So as to not dwell on the negative three articles on this subject are included in this one post.  The first two articles are recent while the last one is dated one year ago.  Each article has duplicate details but some different information too.

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Bend solar contractor charged in million-dollar theft case
Victims include homeowners, high-profile local businesses
By Nick Budnick – The Bulletin – September 17, 2009

A Bend renewable-energy systems contractor who for years has been accused of shoddy work, unkept promises and worse was taken into custody Wednesday following his arraignment on 29 counts of theft, unlicensed construction work and racketeering.

Eric “Gabe” Wisehart, 38, was booked into the Deschutes County jail on $500,000 bail and was being held there Wednesday evening. He has not yet entered a plea, and his lawyer could not be reached for comment.

Deschutes County District Attorney Mike Dugan said, “This is a very large and (detailed) fraud, theft-type case that has probably in excess of $1 million of fraud. There are numerous, numerous victims not only inside Deschutes County but outside Deschutes County.”

Wisehart did business under the name New Path Renewables, Pac-Wind OR LLC and Solect Systems Inc. The indictment, which was issued Monday, describes a pattern of theft and theft by deception since 2004 committed against more than two-dozen customers. It expands upon documents filed in Deschutes County Circuit Court last year when detectives raided the house Wisehart shared with his wife, Sonia. His wife has not been indicted.

The documents accuse Wisehart of having repeatedly promised to install solar or wind-power equipment while collecting full or partial payment up front. Then, he frequently never completeed the job.

At times, he is accused of completing the job, only to return later to remove without permission equipment that he’d already installed.

Wisehart’s alleged victims include some well-known Central Oregon firms such as Pronghorn, Aspen Lakes Golf Course and Jeld-Wen, the developer of Brasada Ranch.

Christmas Valley Radar Site Interest Increases

Area solar activity heats up
Energy companies eye sites near Christmas Valley
By Keith Chu – The Bulletin – August 28, 2009

While government bureaucracy continues to hold up a proposed solar facility at a former military radar base in Christmas Valley, the proposal has attracted two developers to try and cash in on the solar power potential on other sites just south of the Deschutes County line, according to state and local officials.

About seven companies are interested in the radar site, state officials have said. But those companies, which the state won’t name, have been waiting for more than a year for the military land to become available for development.

Multiple Factors Drive the Price of PV Solar Down

More Sun for Less: Solar Panels Drop in Price
By Kate Galbraith – New York Times -August 26, 2009

When Greg Hare looked into putting solar panels on his ranch-style home in Magnolia, Tex., last year, he decided he could not afford it. “I had no idea solar was so expensive,” he recalled.

But the cost of solar panels has plunged lately, changing the economics for many homeowners. Mr. Hare ended up paying $77,000 for a large solar setup that he figures might have cost him $100,000 a year ago.

“I just thought, ‘Wow, this is an opportunity to do the most for the least,’ ” Mr. Hare said.

For solar shoppers these days, the price is right. Panel prices have fallen about 40 percent since the middle of last year, driven down partly by an increase in the supply of a crucial ingredient for panels, according to analysts at the investment bank Piper Jaffray.

The price drops — coupled with recently expanded federal incentives — could shrink the time it takes solar panels to pay for themselves to 16 years, from 22 years, in places with high electricity costs, according to Glenn Harris, chief executive of SunCentric, a solar consulting group. That calculation does not include state rebates, which can sometimes improve the economics considerably.

Swalley Irrigation District’s Ponderosa Hydro Plant Gets Stimulus Funds

Oregon canal piping projects win stimulus funds
From KTVZ.COM news sources – August 20, 2009

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced Thursday that the Bureau of Reclamation has identified two Challenge Grant projects in Central Oregon that will receive a $3.3 million share of $40 million coming to Oregon under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.  

Through the Challenge Grant Program’s Water Marketing and Efficiency Grants, Reclamation provides 50/50 cost share funding to states and irrigation and water districts for projects focused on water marketing, conservation and efficiency.  Projects are selected through a competitive process, based on their ability to meet the goal of improving sustainable water supplies in the western United States.  The projects include:

Main Canal Piping Project and Ponderosa Hydro plant, Swalley Irrigation District: $2,058,935 for this three stage/phase project that would complete piping of ¾ miles of canal, the design and construction of a 0.75 megawatt hydropower plant, and a solar telemetry project that would allow the District to use solar power for a system that monitors, measures and controls water.

The State of Eugene’s Solar Industry: An Editorial

The following editorial from Eugene’s Register-Guard suggests that Eugene should aspire to become a “center for the emerging solar power industry” as well as ”solar panel design and manufacture” based in part on Centron Solar’s decision to locate there. 

The editorial notes that, “[m]ost of the 30 companies involved in the consortium would never have heard of Eugene if it weren’t for Centron Solar”.  Actually, the real reason the consortium companies have heard of Eugene is because of Ocean Yuan, the President of Centron Solar.  Yuan graduated from the University of Oregon’s Lundquist School of Business in 1993 and feels that Eugene is “an ideal place for our foothold to establish a logistics center in the United States,” as Eugene is strategically located along the Interstate-5 corridor and can serve the entire West Coast.

It’s too bad that Yuan didn’t go to school in Central Oregon.  If he had maybe Centron Solar would have located it’s current 10 high-level managers plus the 200 to 300 additional employees it plans to hire within a year here.  Central Oregon can also be described as a “strategically located logistics center” – expecially for product design and sales – that can serve the entire West Coast. Plus we have much more solar powering sunshine than the Willamette Valley.

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A foot in the solar door
Eugene’s solar industry breakthrough still ahead
 
Register-Guard Editorial – July 13, 2009

It’s welcome news that a consortium of 30 Chinese companies in the solar power industry intends to establish its U.S. sales hub in Eugene. If Centron Solar’s sales model works as planned, 200 to 300 salespeople based in Eugene will be selling solar panels nationwide within a year. But Centron will not, in itself, bring a breakthrough of the kind Eugene has been hoping for, one that would make the city a center of the emerging solar power industry.

Chinese-Owned Solar Firm Lists Jobs for Eugene

Solar firm given warm reception
With Lane County unemployment at 14.2 percent, the new business is greeted with mostly open arms
By Sherri Buri McDonald – The Register-Guard – July 10, 2009

It’s not the leap that Portland and Salem took into the solar industry by landing major solar panel manufacturers. But a Chinese consortium’s plans to set up a hub here for solar panel sales in the United States could be Eugene’s first step into this emerging industry, said Desari Strader, executive director of the Oregon Solar Energy Industries Association.

“I know there’s another (solar) company kicking tires down there, as well,” she said.

Ocean Yuan is president of Centron Solar, a consortium of 30 Chinese solar businesses eager to gain a foothold in the potentially vast U.S. market.

Yuan told The Register-Guard on Wednesday that Centron Solar had leased a warehouse in west Eugene, assembled a management team of about 10 executives, and planned to hire up to 250 or 350 people in a year. About 200 to 300 of the positions would be “traditional white-collar jobs,” he said, and about 50 would be “green jobs,” assembling solar modules, or panels, for about $20 an hour, including benefits.

He said the consortium did not plan to set up major manufacturing or assembly operations in Eugene. Instead, the group plans to site assembly shops in multiple U.S. cities, closer to customers.

Centron Solar is moving quickly. It set up shop in Eugene two weeks ago, and on Thursday it launched its Web site, which listed seven open positions, including business development directors, technical support engineers and customer service representatives.

Good Questions Asked about Eugene’s Centron Solar

The following Eugene Weekly blog post raises some interesting and to the point questions about Centron Solar.  Is Ocean Yuan, President of Centron Solar simply doing a superb public relations job or is there something not quite right about Eugene’s newest solar industry business?

It is interesting to see the job listing posted for sales reps for Centron Solar on June 16, 2009 on Boston Craigslist by Ocean Yuan.

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Will Centron Solar Jobs Materialize?
by Alan Pittman – Eugene Weekly blog – July 10, 2009

Centron Solar has made front page news with the announcement that it may bring up to 300 much needed jobs to Eugene. But it remains unclear just how much substance Centron actually has and if all those jobs will actually materialize.

“Really, we don’t know what’s real here and what’s not real,” Bob Warren, a state business development officer for Lane County told the Oregonian.

“It doesn’t look like there’s a large upfront investment,” Jack Roberts, director of the Lane Metro Partnership told The Register-Guard.

Here’s some other details that also raise questions about the substance of the Centron Solar operation:

Chinese Startup Selects Eugene

Chinese startup based in Eugene wants to sell inexpensive solar panels in U.S.
by Amy Hsuan –  The Oregonian - July 09, 2009

A Chinese startup vying for a piece of the U.S. solar market has landed in Eugene, hoping to become a national player in the state’s growing photovoltaic industry.

Centron Solar, whose Web site went live Thursday morning, is moving fast to sell and distribute bargain-priced solar panels made in China to the U.S. market, expected to be the world’s next big solar player.

But the company didn’t even have a name until last month. It leased its Eugene headquarters and 25,000-square-foot warehouse within two weeks. Its first shipment of solar panels, worth $1 million, arrived from China just five days ago.

The company, the brainchild of Eugene resident Ocean Yuan, is moving so fast that it caught state economic development officials — and potential competitor SolarWorld — by surprise.

Chinese Solar Consortium to Put Sales Hub in Eugene

Chinese group plans local solar panel hub
Centron Solar’s planned sales site and assembly lines eventually could bring several hundred jobs to Eugene
By Sherri Buri McDonald – The Register-Guard – July 9, 2009

A consortium of 30 Chinese companies in the solar panel industry is setting up a U.S. sales hub in Eugene, the group’s president, Ocean Yuan, told The Register-Guard on Wednesday.

The group, named Centron Solar, has leased a 25,000-square-foot warehouse in west Eugene, has 10 high-level managers on board and has ambitious plans to grow to 200 to 300 employees in a year, Yuan said.

The group probably also will set up one or two solar panel assembly lines in Eugene, creating about 50 “green” jobs. Those positions would pay about $20 an hour, including benefits, he said.

The group’s members — mature manufacturers with proven technologies — have banded together to serve the vast potential market for affordable solar panels in the United States, Yuan said.

“Instead of coming in here by themselves and confusing the market with company names that the average American can’t even pronounce, we decided to combine forces and create an easy-to-pronounce, easy-to-remember name, which is Centron Solar,” Yuan said.