Solar panels as affordable as a new bicycle? I know what you are thinking, your crazy! Alas, I am not. Oakland, CA based Veranda Solar, is a new start-up solar company by Capra J'neva and Emilie Fetscher, both recent grads from Stanford University. As part of their Master's project in products design school, J'neva and Fetscher dreamed up these flower-shaped solar panels as "a starter solar system that expands as your budget does," J'neva says.
Veranda panels start at $600 each, but how the panel is designed gives the customer the option to purchase more later and snap them together. The solar inverter, which converts the direct current (DC) electricity from the panels to alternating current (AC) electricity that can be used in the electric grid, plugs right into a wall socket. The small design is perfect for those living in smaller accommodations such as apartments or condos.
One of the biggest problems with solar panels is the enormous cost! The price can easily exceed $30,000 to cover a single residential roof. J'neva began asking who really wanted to have solar power and realized it was the 20-something generation, people who typically have smaller budgets but aspire to live greener lifestyles. Most of the interested customers she knows over 30 are looking to spend $2,400 to $4,000 on panels; folks in their twenties will spend much less.
The next step for Veranda Solar is to raise more money so it can start producing panels. They are seeking to raise $1.5 million. J'neva won a $124,000 prize in September 2008 from a European green design competition called Picnic Green, which allowed her to hire a few employees and move forward. She recently gave a short talk about her company at the Cleantech Forum in San Francisco and was approached by an interested investor afterward. No deal has closed yet.
Meena Kapur
said on May 19, 2009