Fat Spaniel Technologies thinks the distributed energy business needs some more Web savvy.
The start-up company, which has software for monitoring performance of energy-producing systems like solar panels, on Wednesday is expected to announce an "open platform" designed for sharing energy information.
Fat Spaniel's hosted monitoring application reports how well a distributed energy resource like a solar array performs against expectations.
(Credit: Fat Spaniel Technologies)It is publishing an application programming interface (API) designed to encourage equipment manufacturers and other software companies to build applications based on energy performance data.
For many corporate installations, energy services companies install and operate solar arrays and sell electricity they generate back to the building owner.
Using the APIs would allow a developer to write an application that took the regular electricity output and combine it with a billing program, for example.
With its Insight Manager application, Fat Spaniel already provides basic reporting information on renewable energy systems, which allows corporate customer to ensure that wind, solar, or fuel cell generators are operating as they should.
Performance information is sent via the Internet to Fat Spaniel's data centers where customers, either homeowners or corporations, can view it over the Web.
By offering a common way to present and communicate information, Fat Spaniel hopes to encourage development of more specialized applications and grow the overall distributed energy generation market, said company President and Chief Technology Officer Chris Beekhuis.
"Once we have data collected on performance from sites and devices like inverters, we or others can bring other value-added services to bear," he said.
With better data interoperability, an energy services company could collect information from inverters (the devices that convert direct current to socket-ready alternating current) built by different manufacturers. The end customer, such as as corporation or utility, could then get a consolidated view of the overall performance from its building-management system.
The APIs will also allow inverter or solar panel manufacturers to publish diagnostic information and send it over the Internet. That data could be directed right to a service technician or, conceivably, fed into a Salesforce.com support application.
Publishing APIs is a well worn strategy in the software world, which is usually done to build up a network of connected products from third parties.
Beekhuis acknowledged that there is some risk in publishing the APIs because competitors could replicate what Fat Spaniel is already doing and undercut them on price. But he said he's comfortable with the move because the company's monitoring services are already well established.
"This gives comfort to the customer that there are many choices in how they can manage their system. That really helps direct the customer away from trying to build their own," he said.
The first APIs are focused on defining data formats and getting information from energy-generating gear back to Fat Spaniel's data center.
In the future, it intends to have Web services APIs that will allow energy systems to be controlled remotely, Beekhuis said.
Right now, Fat Spaniel-monitored systems have a gateway device loaded with its software that transmits information to Fat Spaniel.
Ultimately, the company would like to have its software embedded in more inverters and other power-generating devices, he said.
1. The company is energy or environmental technology related. 2. I like their products. 3. The market needs them. 4. The company is smart about building their business. 5. I'd like to own the company if I could (for the right price, of course!). 6. It is not already one of mine (my apologies to my friends Zenergy Power).
I have included cleantech companies big and small. Volume I surprisingly ended up with a lot more solar companies than I would have guessed, and no biofuels. Perhaps I really am a closet solar fanatic.
1. Sharp Electronics - In solar, still the biggest, and still growing. Enough said.
2. Det Norske Veritas - DNV is a massive 150 year old risk management firm. Their auditors underpin roughly half of the carbon markets. In carbon, audit and verification is everything. I could not leave them off.
3. IBM (NYSE:IBM) - What IBM is doing in smart grid is very exciting. They are part of a large proportion of the smart grid implementations that are in process, and a huge proponent of open standards. Smart grid is to electricity what fiber is to telecom. It underpins everything.
4. Applied Materials (NYSE:AMAT) - The future of photovoltaics lies in scaling thin film manufacturing process. Who better to do this than the dean of semiconductor capital equipment. I broke the story of Applied's entry to solar in the blogosphere in 2006, and if anything underestimated how hard they were pushing. The whisper mill has been whirring that the installations of their plants are not on track. Not only do I have faith they will get there, I think it is critical to the industry that they do.
5. Fuel Tech (NASDAQ:FTEK) - I wrote about them in 2007. The CEO John Norris is a long time friend and an excellent operator. Cleaning up coal is a huge business that needs to be done, and they do it well.
6. Fat Spaniel - Distributed power, solar included, is a ticking time bomb without independent monitoring. Fat Spaniel does it the best.
7. Smart Fuel Cells (XETRA:F3C.DE) - I wrote about them recently. I helped create a fuel cell business in 2002. This is the first fuel cell company in 5 years that has intrigued me. They actually ship product with solid gross margins. That is a start.
8. First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) - Lowest cost producer in the photovoltaic business. Guaranteed to make the list until dethroned.
9. Global Solar - I have been following this company for a long time. CIGS is very hard and has broken (or is currently breaking) hundreds of millions or billions of dollars worth of wannabes. This management team, led by Mike Gering, respects how hard it is. And since they have actually been running a pilot plant shipping product for 3 years, so we need to take note when they say they have cracked the manufacturing scale nut.
10. Schott - Long a major player in crystalline silicon photovoltaics, amorphous silicon photovoltaics and concentrated solar thermal, where they are one of the top manufacturers of solar thermal receivers. That balance is unique, and exciting.
Neal Dikeman is a founding partner at Jane Capital Partners LLC, a boutique merchant bank advising strategic investors and startups in cleantech. He is Chairman of Cleantech.org, and a blogger for CNET's Greentech blog.
First there was software as a service. But hot water as a service?
It's happening, says Chris Beekhuis, chief technology officer of Fat Spaniel Technologies, which makes software that monitors how well solar panels, solar thermal hot-water systems, and other energy equipment functions.
Hotels, government buildings, and utilities are all interested in deploying more solar thermal hot-water systems. (They are fairly self-explanatory: heat from the sun is captured and used to heat up water.) The federal government, in fact, has put out a mandate that 30 percent of the hot water in new or renovated buildings comes from solar thermal systems, with caveats depending on regional climate.
None of these companies, however, really wants to own the equipment or maintain it. This is where EnerWorks, a solar thermal specialist, and Fat Spaniel hope to come in. EnerWorks will make the system, while Fat Spaniel will provide information on how well the system works, collect data for carbon credits or other government programs, and schedule maintenance.
The owner of the building or leaseholder then pays a fee to a provider. Similar ideas are out there for solar panels for producing electricity.
"Laundromats, apartment complexes, hotel chains are all very receptive to going toward a service model," he said. Solar thermal systems are "a big operation burden to a building owner."
EnerWorks and Fat Spaniel have already signed a deal with a food conglomerate, which they declined to name. Food processors need water that hits about 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Hotel chains and homes need water in the 120-degree range.
Solar thermal water heaters were big in the sun belt in the 1920s in the U.S. Natural gas, though, was plentiful and cheap, and utilities began to lay down the infrastructure for natural gas, which displaced solar hot water heaters. (Those with a conspiratorial mindset will see something heinous in that, but don't forget--the sun doesn't shine all the time and current solar thermal systems are supplemented with systems that heat with gas.)
Solar thermal systems are big in Greece, Israel, Spain, and other Mediterranean countries and are making a comeback in the U.S. China is making huge investments both in manufacturing and installing solar thermal systems.
You see them in Canada. Mondial Energy, an early solar thermal proponent, has inserted solar thermal systems in Laundromats and senior living centers in the Toronto area.
Deploying Fat Spaniel's software to work with solar thermal systems, Beekhuis said, was fairly simple. The system effectively measures input and output, whether the underlying phenomenon revolves around kilowatt hours or therms. Fat Spaniel is one of the companies you see quite a bit on the clean tech conference circuit.
Fat Spaniel Technologies, which makes software that lets you know how much power you're getting from that new solar system, has raised $18 million in another round of funding.
The company has created software with an intuitive interface that monitors the amount of electricity that a solar, wind or another alternative energy system generates, how much it saves in carbon dioxide emissions, and other information. The software (along with an associated service) effectively lets consumers and business owners justify their investments. Additionally, if the power coming from a solar panel drops suddenly or an battery pack stops working properly, Fat Spaniel's Insight Manager will ping someone in operations that a problem may have occurred. The data tabulated by the company can also be used to apply for energy credits. In California, the state audits the performance of commercial-sized solar systems above 50 kilowatts before it awards credits.
Chris Beekhuis
(Credit: Fat Spaniel Technologies )It also brings a video game mentality to energy savings, founder Chris Beekhius has noted. Once you can see what you're wasting, you'll save more, he has said. (The company's name comes from his dog.)
Fat Spaniel has 1,000 installations in 12 countries so far, but most of the installations have been in the U.S., Beekhius said. Customers include Wal-Mart Stores and SunEdison, a utility specializing in green electricity. Fat Spaniel plans to use the funding to expand sales and marketing to international markets. Spain in particular, which has been growing rapidly, will be a target market.
In Fiji and Vanuatu, cellular companies have installed the software to track solar panels installed on remote antennas. Most of the company's customers are businesses, although it also has some residential customers. Fat Spaniel competes with Natural Logic.
Earlier, Fat Spaniel, which is one of the companies you see quite a bit at green tech conferences, raised $9.2 million. The investors include Applied Ventures, the venture arm of Applied Materials. Applied is expanding rapidly into the solar business by selling equipment and building factories for solar cell production.
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