By Thomas Heath
Monday, April 26, 2010; 2
I caught up with Roy Dunbar on the telephone as he was fending off hungry herons trying to poach at his koi pond outside his McLean home.
The former chief executive at Herndon-based Network Solutions has launched a new business called President Solar, which will distribute rooftop photovoltaic (PV) solar panels to solar companies that install the panels for residential and small commercial customers.
Dunbar has invested $500,000 already, and probably will invest another $500,000 in the near future. And he wants to make money.
"I have actually been involved and interested in solar for quite some time," said Dunbar, 49, who left Network Solutions last fall. "On the roof of my house is an 11-kilowatt system."
Although the systems can cost thousands to install, Dunbar said federal, state and even local tax breaks and rebates could induce residents and businesses to take the plunge. Solar customers also can sell solar renewable energy certificates to utilities and others on a secondary market.
He has an office and warehouse in Fairfax County and three employees. He is buying the panels in volume from a supplier in Eugene, Ore., called Grape Solar.
"What we are doing is distribution," he said. "But with this market getting so hot . . . I am toying with the idea of setting up an assembly plant," which would manufacture the panels.
The market wasn't hot enough for BP Solar, a unit of the British oil giant that last month announced plans to stop assembly at its Frederick plant because of a big drop in prices for solar systems.
"I know it flies in the face with what just happened to BP Solar, but you might be able to put [a factory] together that makes 60 or 70 jobs on a local scale," Dunbar said.
PVs contain a solar photovoltaic material that converts solar radiation directly into electric current. Dunbar said the solar panels on his roof had stored enough electricity in batteries to keep his home's critical systems running for more than four days during February's "Snowmaggedon."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/23/AR2010042303966.html
