Solar company takes a shine to South Poway Business Park

“We wanted to be in the greater-San Diego area, where we could draw from a pool of high-tech workers and settle into a large building with room to grow,” he said.

The company, which was founded in 2001 at Idealab in Pasadena, designs and manufactures a solar system almost exclusively for companies with lots of square footage. It reccently opened a 126,000-square-foot facility at 14100 Danielson Street in the South Poway Business Park.

Budano, who has 25 years experience in corporate leadership, was formerly the president of Xantrex Technologies before joining Energy Innovations in March.

His previous company is a $250 million solar inverters and power electronics manufacturer in San Diego.

In Poway, Energy Innovations has 25 employees, but is expected to grow to about 100 people by year’s end, ultimately expanding to 450 workers five years from now, Budano said.

He projects in five years his company will be making $500 million in revenue.

Currently, EI is attracting international companies in Europe and other locales, businesses that see the need to “go green” and not only be environmentally sensitive, but want to save money by using a system that is much more energy efficient, he said.

Those clients are located in Portugal, Korea and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

“We have a range of customers — typically, someone who wants to try out new technology,” Budano said.

While it might seem odd to have named their system Sunflower — he explains that the first prototype actually had mirrors placed in what looked like petals.

“If you’ve ever watched a live sunflower, the face of the flower actually turns, as if tracking the sun,” he said. “That’s what our system does — inside the unit, the lenses move to capture solar power.

“Our system provides double the sun power that others produce,” Budano said. “We use Fresnel lenses which convert energy from the sun into a 1,200-to-1 concentrated ratio onto a high-efficiency cell.”

The lenses are a composite structure made with silicone on glass technology, according to Budano.

The Sunflower system can be placed on a roof top, or car port and is easily moved to a different site.

That flexibility, being able to “unplug” it, appeals to commercial clients, Budano said.

A typical solar system manufactured by his company is expected to last 25 years, he added.

“In the future, we expect to be working with school districts, military bases and others,” he said.

For more details go to www.energyinnovations.com.