Fort Worth, TX – February 13, 2009 – Entech Solar (OTC BB: ENSL.OB), a leader in concentrating solar energy systems, announced today that The Quercus Trust, the Company's largest shareholder, has agreed to cancel Warrants to purchase thirty-eight million (38,000,000) shares of the Company's common stock in accordance with the terms of a Warrant Cancellation Agreement entered into with the Company.
The Quercus Trust has decided to cancel these warrants in consideration for the Company's agreement to increase the number of shares available under the Company's 1999 Stock Option Plan, as amended ("the Plan"), from fifty million (50,000,000) shares to seventy million (70,000,000) shares.The Warrants will be cancelled upon approval of the Company's stockholders of the increase in the number of shares available under the Plan.
David Gelbaum, trustee of the Quercus Trust and Chairman of Entech Solar's Board, said, "This increase to theoption poolwill have the benefit of increasing morale at the company and of helping us attract good people in the future.Quercus believes in sharing upside with the employees."
About Entech Solar
Entech Solar is a leading provider of concentrating solar energy systems.Entech designs, manufactures and installs systems that provide both electricity and thermal energy for commercial and industrial applications.Entech uses its proprietary concentrating photovoltaic and thermal (CPVT) technology to deliver the ThermaVolt™ system, which produces cost-competitive distributed energy.For more information, please visit www.entechsolar.com.
Entech Solar Appoints Sean Rooney as Chief Operating Officer
FORT WORTH, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Entech Solar (OTCBB:ENSL.OB), a leader in concentrating solar energy systems, announced today that Sean Rooney has been named Chief Operating Officer for the Company.
Mr. Rooney joined Entech Solar in February 2008 as Vice President of the Company’s EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) Operations. Since then, he has implemented a new model for project management which has resulted in over five megawatts of solar projects being completed on schedule with high customer satisfaction. With the Company’s shift in strategy away from flat-plate projects to the production and installation of Entech’s proprietary concentrating solar systems, Mr. Rooney’s role has been expanded to include all manufacturing operations as well as its EPC business. His successful turnaround of the Company’s EPC installations made Mr. Rooney the ideal candidate to address the challenges facing Entech’s manufacturing operations.
“Although our engineering team has made progress in addressing the process and supply-chain issues discussed on the Company’s third quarter earnings conference call, the factory is not yet producing product suitable for certification,” stated Frank Smith, Entech Solar CEO. “Sean will bring the same sense of urgency, purpose, and discipline to our manufacturing challenges that he provided to our EPC projects at Fresno, Denver, Valley Center, and Ocean City. This appointment is part of the ongoing transformation of Entech from a research and development organization to a vertically integrated, product-driven, manufacturer and installer of advanced concentrating solar systems. Once we have established our manufacturing capability and achieved certification, we will have two channels to market – product sales to other integrators and management of our own EPC projects that incorporate Entech modules. Sean will have responsibility for the operations portion of our vertically integrated value chain.”
Mr. Rooney added, “I am very pleased to take on this critically important responsibility for the Company. Following my recent relocation from New Jersey to Texas, I am eager to provide leadership to our manufacturing operations.”
The Company is also augmenting its manufacturing team with additional personnel and training. Entech Solar has retained experts and is training existing staff in Six Sigma methodology to address process and supply-chain issues in a systematic, data-driven approach, employing best-in-class practices. Both of these developments support Entech Solar’s dedication to commercializing its concentrating solar ThermaVolt™ system.
About Entech Solar
Entech Solar is a leading provider of concentrating solar energy systems. Entech designs, manufactures and installs systems that provide both electricity and thermal energy for commercial and industrial applications. Entech uses its proprietary concentrating photovoltaic and thermal (CPVT) technology to deliver the ThermaVolt™ system, which produces cost-competitive distributed energy. For more information, please visit www.entechsolar.com.
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The pre-holiday Fourth Conference on Clean Energy at the Hynes Convention Center is long since over, but the event has traditionally proven to be a litmus test for the local clean energy industry.
Surprisingly, the event maintained at least a slight feeling of optimism for the long-term prospects of the local clean technology community, despite the plunging stock market, tightening financial environment and plummeting price of oil. If nothing else, its success bolstered the industry’s position among the region’s traditional industry heavyweights such as telecom, biotech and finance, and left attendees feeling that the industry has a future beyond next year’s event.
Some notes:
• Stealthy portable battery makerLilliputian Systems Inc.of Wilmington made an appearance at the conference, with new vice president of business development and marketingMouli Ramaniwalking the halls. Though the company had a small presence at the show, its big announcement came from its Wilmington facility, where Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick attended an event and helped the company announce the addition of 100 new “green collar” jobs through a planned expansion of its manufacturing plant.
The expansion comes as the company finally put a target date — 2009 — on the release of its portable fuel cell for wireless devices.
For the uninitiated, Lilliputian was founded out ofMITon research developed bySamuel SchaevitzandAleks Franz, Lilliputian’s co-founders. In 2003 they added CEOKen Lazarus, and despite raising more than $60 million in funding, the company has remained fairly quiet about its technology.
Over the past few months, a slow stream of information coming out of the company seems to indicate that it has solved the technology issues, and units could be forthcoming as soon as next year.
While such miniature, portable fuel cells have been researched both here and in Asia for years, they have always been “some time away.” If Lilliputian has indeed solved the technology issues, and has a device that can penetrate the $50 billion portable power market, it is no surprise the governor turned out for its expansion announcement.
When you consider the applicability of such power sources on everything from cell phones and music players to GPS units and laptops, 100 new jobs to get them out the door may be just the beginning.
• Two local companies used the conference to announce new funding. Cellulosic ethanol microbe developerSunEthanol Inc.announced its name change toQteros Inc.and brought in $25 million, while alternative engine technology makerReGen Power Systems LLCadded $5 million to its coffers.
What’s interesting about the two deals is that despite the Chicken Little syndrome that has many in the industry saying no “new money” is coming out of the VC community, both deals included new investors. Qteros’ new investors include Cambridge-basedVenrock, New York-basedSoros Fund Management LLCand energy giantBP PLC, joining previous investorsBattery Ventures,Long River VenturesandCamros Capital.
Despite being held during the heart of one of the worst financial weeks in recent history, the economic outlook of the clean energy sector was positive among attendees of the conference. The financial sections of the event, including the annual “investor pitch” sessions, where budding entrepreneurs pitch their company to potential investors, were among the most-attended sessions of the event.
• The atmosphere was likewise positive at the conference’s job fair, where a handful of companies still hiring people (rather than laying them off) fielded questions from a room packed with potential employees. According toMatthew Richards, the founder and managing director of renewable energy recruiting firmDanePartners, which sponsored the job fair, the abundance of job seekers wasn’t all that surprising, given the economy. The number of companies hiring, however, includingConservation Services Groupof Westborough,Satcon Technologies Corp.of Boston,Konarka Technologies Inc.of Lowell,Evergreen Solar Inc.of Marlborough andSecond Wind Inc.of Somerville, was encouraging.
Among the areas that were most active, said Richards, were green-collar jobs, those that require hands-on knowledge of technologies, both new and traditional. Sectors most active on the recruitment side included energy efficiency and demand-response companies, as opposed to core technology research companies in the wind, solar or biomass sectors.
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- 11/10/08 -- Vesta Capital Corp. ("Vesta") (TSX VENTURE: VES.P) is pleased to announce that on October 30, 2008, it entered into a letter of intent ("LOI") with 3GSolar, Ltd. ("3G"). The LOI provides that Vesta will enter into a share exchange transaction with each of 3G's shareholders, which will result in 3G becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vesta (the "Transaction"). The Transaction is intended to constitute Vesta's "qualifying transaction" under TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") policies. If the Transaction it successfully completed, it is believed that 3G would be the first Israel-based business listed on a Canadian stock exchange.
About 3G
3G (formerly, Orionsolar Photovoltaics Ltd.) is a developer of dye solar cell ("DSC") photovoltaic modules. DSC technology is a cost-effective alternative to silicon and thin film-based systems, providing a low-cost solar energy solution that produces electricity efficiently even in low light conditions. 3G focuses its efforts to develop DSC modules to serve off-grid markets, mainly in developing countries where in excess of two billion people live without electricity.
Hi, I am David Anthony. I am the Manager of 21Ventures (www.21venture.net) - I invest in 3 main areas, Physical Security, Mobile Computing and Clean Technology. I also have some interests in PIPE (private investment in public equity - check out on wikipedia)
