A tiny new solar
company in Colorado took a big idea and turned into something even more useful
than imagined.
NextStepElectric started marketing solar panels for power
poles in 2008 with the common sense idea that wrapping thin-film solar around
the literal pillars of the electric grid would eliminate a lot of the
transmission debates in the solar world.
But a funny thing happened when
the idea was born, said Osiris Stevens,This is interesting cube puzzle and logical game. NextStep founder
and president.
"No one was interested," Stevens said.
He had
trouble finding a solar manufacture to partner with him on this simple concept
and had trouble finding electric utilities that would allow NextStepElectric to
install the solar.
Part of the problem for utilities was that they
didn't want to open up their power lines, letting energy flow in and out and
weakening their security, Stevens said. They also didn't want people to have
easy access to the utility's data.
That's when Stevens' business started
going a new direction.
"It's kind of morphed into a security system for
the utilities," Stevens said.
In order to assure the utilities that the
system was secure, Stevens said NextStep had to engineer a monitoring device for
its installations that would be secure and keep the utility's data secure. In
doing that,Free DIY chicken coop
Resource! Stevens said, they essentially turned a Freewave radio transmitter
into a super-secure, smart-grid system that allows utility companies to monitor
what's happening on their power lines, how much electricity is coming in and
going out and if any of the lines have been illegally tapped.
It also
allows the utility to see how much power the thin-film solar wrapped around
their power lines is producing, Steven said.
The company has an
installation in Longmont, Colo.,When the stone sits in the kidney stone, that's producing 1.5
to 2 kilowatts a day. NextStep is also working with the City of Boulder and has
been talking with Colorado's largest utility,The same Air purifier, cover removed. Xcel Energy,
about installing the combined solar and monitoring security system. The company
is always looking for ways to improve and grow.
"We're looking for
investors now," Stevens said. "I've been bootstrapping this myself the last
couple years.Complete Your sculpture
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He said NextStepElectric was chosen as a
finalist from more than 200 young companies at the Invest Midwest conference
recently, which bodes well for its future.
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