Solar Energy Consortium woos state for aid

Robert M. Miraldi
DailyFreeman.com
08/26/2007

When Vincent Cozzolino and Frank Falatyn first spoke to U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey about their plans for a venture into the rapidly expanding solar energy field, they were taken aback by Hinchey's zeal for the subject.
Cozzolino and Falatyn, two of the three founding members of The Solar Energy Consortium, bring considerable resumes in the semiconductor industry, a fact that was not lost on Hinchey.

With Cozzolino and Falatyn's strong connections in the technology field and the Hudson Valley, Hinchey, D-Hurley, knew this was an ideal opportunity to further the vitally important field of sustainable energy. "He said that if we were serious, he would make this his top priority," Falatyn said. "He basically said that 'Together we can make this happen.' In that regard, he was our champion from the beginning."

Hinchey was also a proponent of the consortium because it has the possibility of bringing renewed life to TechCity, the former IBM-Kingston plant in the town of Ulster. The consortium has plans to set up operations in a 300,000-square-foot building at TechCity.

Cozzolino, a former IBM vice president at the Poughkeepsie and Fishkill sites, has led global teams for IBM in China and worldwide. He is founder and executive director of the Institute for Business Innovation, a consortium in the Hudson Valley.

Some of Falatyn's more notable achievements, aside from being president of his own company, Fala Technologies, include being named New York's 2005 Small Business Person of the Year, serving as president of the Council of Industry of Southeastern New York and serving as a founding member of the Mid-Hudson Technology Council.
Getting political capital is vital for the project. To convince Empire State Development - New York state government's primary agent for economic growth and building - that the project is worthy of serious funding, the consortium needed serious political backing.

The consortium's approach in asking for funds is much different from that of other renewable energy ventures. In essence, the fact that the consortium is starting from scratch, albeit with some bright industry minds, had the potential to scare off the Governor's Office. Most projects of this nature come with the backing of large private companies and are viewed as a safer bet.

"The model here is to help small ideas bubble up and develop into manufactured products," said Falatyn.

While Empire State Development has been tight-lipped in its public response to the funding request, the agency has privately hinted that the consortium's model is not its model. Whether the state relents on the importance of such a model remains to be seen, but for now, Cozzolino and Falatyn are relying on the political heavy-hitters whose support they have enlisted.

Locally, that group includes Ulster County Legislature Chairman David Donaldson, D-Kingston, Ulster County Development Corp. President Lance Matteson, and Industrial Development Agency Chair March Gallagher. All three have reached out to Gov. Eliot Spitzer's office.

Hinchey has already secured $4 million in federal funding on behalf of the consortium to date. Those funds, which were appropriated as part of the defense fund and the Energy and Water Appropriations bill, will not be available until March 2008. Until then, the consortium will be forced to rely on private funding.

Aside from county political leaders, the consortium has enlisted the support of state Sen. John Bonacic, R-Mount Hope, and state Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, D-Kingston, both of whom have met with officials from Empire State Development. One factor that may help convince the state is the consortium's newly affirmed status as a nonprofit organization.

The consortium says its aim is to create "a solar technology cluster of manufacturing companies" in the state. "In order to progress with this technology and make it more pervasive, there is a need for fundamental research and development as well as technology support of those companies that are start ups in this field," the consortium said in a statement. "(The consortium) will sponsor this."

Aside from sponsoring research, the consortium also aims to become a center for competency in the field of solar technology that would draw in companies. Recently, Cozzolino and Falatyn met with officials from SUNY Binghamton, including the college president, in an effort to continue building their research team - a group of academic university partners. Cozzolino called it "a match made in heaven."

Increasingly, the property of academicians - such as the scientists and professors who will work with the consortium - belongs to the college they hail from, or the academics themselves. In the case of the consortium, the ultimate goal is not to bring in esteemed minds to conduct the research and development of solar products and keep it private. Quite the opposite, in fact.

"Research that can benefit the industry, and discovered by the consortium will be made publicly available in an 'open systems' like format," the consortium said. "Research that is funded directly by private companies but performed by our university partners, will belong to that company."

"We'll give it out," said Cozzolino. "We want to inspire competition."

This year's AT Kearney report - a report that gives long-term recommendations to the state about how to improve its economic future - reads as if it were made for the consortium. In the executive summary, the report says,
"New York's best hope for the future is to focus both statewide and regional investments on emerging sectors - especially nanotechnology, bioscience and cleantech," the report's executive summary says. "If New York is to enjoy a long-term economic renaissance - one that benefits every region - it must look toward the Innovation Economy."
Based on that report, one would think the consortium stands a good chance of eventually obtaining funds from Empire State Development. But the consortium's braintrust is certainly not going to rest on its laurels until then.
Speaking about the efforts of Senator Bonacic and Assemblyman Cahill to secure funds from the state, Cozzolino said, "We need them to rise to the occasion in a very big way... If it wasn't for state subsidy, the solar industry wouldn't make a whole lot of money."

The flip side is that renewable energy ventures are being undertaken at a pace somewhat similar to the number of dot-coms that flooded the market in the late 1990s. Additionally, solar energy is often regarded as the fourth option when it comes to renewable energy, behind biodiesel, nuclear and coal.

These facts have not scared off the Solar Energy Consortium. Its principals say they are confident that the New York City market, less than 100 miles south, will provide more than enough demand for solar power. As Cozzolino put it, "You're not going to see a nuclear reactor in Midtown. Solar in New York City is going to be vital."

What will also be vital for the consortium is figuring out how to incorporate solar technology into the city like no one has before. Large-scale solar systems that are laid out on the tops of flat shopping malls and warehouses are becoming a popular idea and a logical one. But that is not a possibility in a city that extends vertically. The consortium will have to enlist the help of scientists who can design systems to wrap around buildings, as well as blend into them.

It is one of the many challenging tasks the consortium will have to tackle as it continues to navigate a crowded renewable energy field.

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