Entech Connections
I HAD NO IDEA THEY HAD THOSE CONNECTIONS/interests. this is exciting, doubly so if acq goes thru.
From our Euro friends:
Ambitious Partnership Exports Solar Power
An affiliation of federal, state and private U.S. organizations is exporting sunshine. By using technology and expertise from ENTECH Inc., a solar photovoltaic (PV) systems manufacturer, the Mid-Continent Technology Transfer Center (MCTTC) is leading efforts to commercialize solar power in India.
PV systems facilitate the direct conversion of sunlight into electricity through the use of solar cells. ENTECH, funded primarily by Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants from NASA and the Department of Energy (DOE), currently is developing miniature versions of its terrestrial PV modules. Made for NASA, they serve as a source of space power.
The MCTTC's idea to export solar technology originated from the National Association of State Development Agencies (NASDA), which had announced that it had money available for projects in India. But the idea took shape when ENTECH's vice president of marketing, Dr. Robert Walters, approached MCTTC project manager Alok Pant at a renewable energy conference last fall. Pant had mentioned in a presentation that the MCTTC could help companies export technology to India.
After an initial meeting between the two men, Pant secured help from NASDA, which awarded a travel grant funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development's U.S./Asia Environmental Partnership. He also has mustered help from the The significance of this partnership to India is the commercialization of sorely needed power without polluting the environment. And any technology that bolsters growth without harming environmental resources is essential to the United States as well as countries abroad.
Pant and Walters traveled to India in June to scout viable companies interested in large and small solar PV systems that can generate power for utilities, water heating, water pumping and the electrification of remote areas. The trip has led to talks with several potential joint venture partners for the construction of solar power plants and detailed discussions concerning licensing arrangements.
The project also has benefitted from a presentation U.S. Secretary of Energy Hazel O'Leary delivered in July to the Indian Solar Energy Center in New Delhi. Accompanied by ENTECH's president, Dr. Walter Hesse, O'Leary discussed an ENTECH PV concentrator module. The presentation was made as part of the Presidential Mission on Sustainable Energy and Trade to India.
As long as ENTECH has the support of alliances built by the MCTTC, the sun may never set on this project.
"You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline - it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer". F Zappa
