Many states increased their clean energy patent production from 2011 to 2012. For instance, according to the Clean Energy Patent Growth Index (CEPGI), California increased its clean energy patents by almost 25% to 345 and Michigan increased its patents by almost 10% to 202. One remarkable increase was seen in Colorado, where the number of clean energy patents doubled in 2012 to 43. While still only sixth on the list of US States in 2012, this is a very positive result and outlook for the future of Colorado clean energy patent assignees.
Other top Clean Energy patent states:
(click the image for a larger version)
Listed below are Colorado’s totals for the top 3 clean energy sectors in 2012 and the top 3 clean energy patent owners in
Colorado for this period:
|
TOP 3 SECTORS FOR CO CLEAN ENERGY PATENTS |
|
TOP 3 ASSIGNEES TO CO CLEAN ENERGY PATENTS |
||
|
Industry Sector |
Patents |
|
Assignee |
Patents |
|
Solar |
25 |
|
PrimeStar Solar, Inc. |
7 |
|
Wind |
9 |
|
Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. |
4 |
|
Bio |
3 |
|
Alliance For Sustainable Energy, LLC |
4 |
Colorado’s 25 solar energy patents in 2012 are more than the rest of Colorado’s clean energy patents combined. These 25 patents also rank them fourth among US State solar assignees for 2012. More than half of these patents come from the Top 3 assignees in Colorado. Although Colorado had a breakthrough year, questions linger as to whether it can repeat its success in the future without a strong patent assignee presence.
The greatest contributor to Colorado’s 2012 clean energy patents was PrimeStar Solar, Inc. While you may be unfamiliar with
the solar panel manufacturer PrimeStar, you may be familiar with the company that bought it in 2011, General Electric (GE).
Initially investing in the company in 2007, GE became the majority stockholder of the company in mid 2008. In addition to its
purchase of PrimeStar, GE invested over $600 million in an effort to build the nation’s largest solar panel manufacturing
plant. While things were looking up for the Colorado based manufacturer, optimism began to fade when GE announced the layoff
of about half of PrimeStar’s employees. Thus the investments made by the Department of Energy and GE to build a plant in
Aurora, CO never came to fruition. This past year, PrimeStar was still producing clean energy patents and in August of this
year, First Solar, Inc. acquired PrimeStar Solar’s IP. Following the purchase of the IP, First Solar and GE began a
partnership to further future solar research.
While a shadow has been cast over PrimeStar, the other two top assignees, Advanced Energy and Alliance for Sustainable Energy,
remain poised to continue their research in solar clean energy. Advanced Energy has been providing thin-film manufacturing and
solar energy solutions worldwide. Through its solar energy division, Advanced Energy supplies photovoltaic inverters and has
become the third-largest inverter company globally. Lately, Advanced Energy showcased its newest solar inverters at a
conference in San Francisco. The inverters are designed for utility and commercial solar projects and provide robust solutions
to a range of projects from small rooftops to large ground-mounted systems (for the press release, see here). Advanced Energy
continues to rise in the solar inverter market, as well as the stock market.
The Alliance for Sustainable Energy is made up of Battelle, a global research and development organization, and MRIGlobal, a
non-profit research organization. Together, the Alliance operates the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden,
CO. The NREL is also the U.S. Department of Energy’s primary national laboratory for renewable energy and efficiency research.
This past October, the NREL issued a report regarding solar photovoltaics. In its report, the NREL proposes a new roadmap to
reduce the “soft cost” (e.g. permits, inspection, overhead, financing, etc.) of photovoltaics by 2020. Currently soft costs
are the majority of costs for residential projects and some commercial projects as well (click here for more information).
Other than this general research, the Alliance continues to be a strong assignee of patents especially from researchers at the
NREL. For more information on NREL technology, click here.
Although Colorado’s previous top assignee has fallen into troubled times, the general outlook for Colorado clean energy looks
very “bright.” Through the first two quarters of 2013, Colorado has maintained a steady stream of patents with 25 halfway
through this year. If Colorado keeps this up, they should be able to eclipse last year’s 43 patents mark with the help of its
solar energy assignees. For more information regarding clean energy patents see www.cepgi.com.
TOP 3 SECTORS FOR CO CLEAN ENERGY PATENTS
Industry Sector
Patents
Solar
25
Wind
9
Bio
3
TOP 3 ASSIGNEES TO CO CLEAN ENERGY PATENTS
Assignee
Patents
PrimeStar Solar, Inc.
7
Advanced Energy Industries, Inc.
4
Alliance For Sustainable Energy, LLC
4