SWET is the gatekeeper. They hold the US patents. IP is one key.
They have forged relationships with CA and AZ State municipalities and governments to work to execute PPAs (which has taken YEARS) They have not executed yet but it’s been in process. See company update on application.
They have forged relationships with San Luis community and government to acquire and hold property for the project site. If you recall they also have key interest from Kenya. What I’ve been referring to as West Africa.
They have also forged relationships with the US DoE to help incentivize and/or finance. Years of relationship building, as well as pitch to private investors. See company updates.
My guess is it because of its size and concept (which has never been built elsewhere in the world) that proof of concept for CA PPAs, DoE, investors and (possibly) San Luis is/was key before any of it could move forward.
What’s the best way to build a like-scale model to test and not completely break the bank? Use an existing “tower” as a (less than ideal) prototype. If it works there, with all of its performance data results then it will work (even better) in an optimal location and optimal configuration. A location they already have secured, and design they have fine tuned through computer modeling.
It’s taken many many years to get here, but they’ve finally made tangible progress with the success of this prototype. The rest of the pieces that have taken YEARS to put in place are that are now beginning to come together.
You can’t just come in and repeat all the steps SWET has taken to get here that’s taken many years to build without putting in the time, else that “competition” would be behind and little chance to be first to market/license. Naturally someone could buy them out (including IP rights) and pick up the ball where they left off.
Pickett had an initial personal investment of over $10M into SWET. Now they’ve put years of energy into it and made the strides they have in all the areas mentioned above. And you believe Pickett would sell it all for $10M?
Good luck to longs who have been patient enough to continue to see this through. It’s no doubt been a high risk investment and not for everyone. Clearly.
DK
AI
