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The Sun is producing some local high tech job opportunities

I was curious about what types of job openings existed at a couple local companies that work in the solar energy field.

Not all of the openings are for engineers, but many are. The Perrysburg First Solar location has a few IT openings for Microsoft types.

MWOE Solar

From MWOE Solar's Web site :

MWOE Solar, Inc., a technology spin-off from the University of Toledo, engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of photovoltaic modules that convert sunlight into electricity. The company was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Toledo, Ohio. MWOE is headquartered at 2600 Dorr Street, Toledo, Ohio. MWOE collaborates closely with the Thin Film Silicon Photovoltaic Laboratory at the University of Toledo.


From a July 2007 posting that pointed to a Jul 12, 2007 Blade story :

The fledgling solar energy company founded by a University of Toledo professor received $7 million in venture capital this week. This first round of funding from the Swiss company, Emerald Technology Ventures, and Washington, DC-based NPG Energy Technology Partners, means Toledo-based MWOE Solar Inc. can complete creation of a pilot production line to demonstrate its high-volume, low-cost method of making solar cells on a stainless steel substrate no thicker than a sheet of paper.

In the coming months, the company intends to increase its workforce from 18 to 40. Most of those workers would be very highly skilled people trained in physics or engineering. By 2008, the company will move into full production, Mr. Deng said. The company is located in a business incubator on the UT campus, but expects to relocate soon to an undisclosed location.

“We were impressed by MWOE’s technology – a company that can produce solar modules at grid competitive prices which are targeted at the fastest growing part of solar - grid-connected, building integrated PV systems – is a very attractive investment opportunity”, said Chris Sorrells is quoted as saying in a press release. Mr. Sorrells is managing director at NGP Energy Technology Partners, and will become a part of the MWOE board.


All current job openings listed on MWOE Solar's careers page :

First Solar

From First Solar's Web site :

First Solar has made the Promise of Thin Film a Reality and has become one of the fastest growing manufacturers of solar modules in the world. First Solar manufactures PV modules with an advanced thin film semiconductor process that Lowers the Cost of Solar Electricity.


All current job openings for the Perrysburg First Solar location :

created by jr on Sep 12, 2007 at 01:18:33 am     Comments: 2

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tags: technology   alternativeenergy   solarpower   

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Comments ... #

I was considering going back to college and transferring to UT and get a Physics degree. Their photovoltaics research is top notch in the country, some really fascinating stuff. It'll definitely be good for the economy as this kind of research spawns off companies and helps provide income for students graduating.

Tips hat to UT, now if only tuition wasn't so expensive I could go lol.

posted by jshriver on Sep 12, 2007 at 10:46:46 am     #



Some old and new news that's somewhat related ...

June 2004 posting titled Toledo loses business incubator that points to a corresponding Blade story, which states:

The loss of a state technology grant of $185,000 last year caused a six-month hiccup in services to the incubated companies. And it spelled the demise of the nonprofit incubation agency, the Center for Technology Commercialization, that had brought entrepreneurs to the downtown. The Toledo area suffered a loss of more than $1.2 million in Edison technology grants last year from the Ohio Department of Development's technology division, while grants for most of the other regions in the state increased.

The Center for Technology Commercialization helped fledgling businesses manage rent, provided common fax and copy machines, and provided business services such as arranging visits with possible investors. "I think the real issue was in general a lack of support for what the CTC was doing and a lack of attention to development of technology-driven businesses on the part of almost everyone that should have supported it," said Donald Monroe, Jr., a member of the board of the CTC.

Brian Friedman, who purchased the 14th Street building in 2000 and moved from Miami, Fla., to manage it, blames the Regional Growth Partnership and the city for letting the CTC fail. In keeping with the eclectic nature of the Uptown neighborhood, the four-story building's occupants came to include an eclectic mix of entrepreneurs designing optical devices, weather systems, energy-efficient cooling, and packaging systems.


March 2006 posting titled How Youngstown is going high tech.


Edison-Affiliated Incubation Services :


Sep 15, 2005 comment

The Development News is a free monthly publication produced by the Toledo Business Journal, and you can find it in some businesses around the area. The September issue contains an interview with John S. Szuch, chairman of the board, Fifth Third Bank, Northwestern Ohio. The topic was economic development.

Some excerpts from the interview:

TBJ: What do you see as the most important need in the business community?

JS: One of the most significant needs is the lack of leadership from the business community. Toledo used to have a network of the major corporations and banks headquartered in Toledo, which provided an ability to coordinate a group of powerful and influential leaders who exerted quite a bit of influence over economic development.

JS: I think this leadership void has been the single largest flaw that we've had. However, at this point, I think the privatization of the Regional Growth Partnership (RGP) should give business a concerted and focused voice. If the business community speaks out as a group through the RGP, it will have much more influence over events affecting our economic development. Revitalization of the RGP might be the single most significant event in the development of the economy of northwest Ohio in the last decade or more.

TBJ: What advice would you provide for advancing the economy in our region?

JS: To really move forward, we need to promote ourselves as a region, not a group of several localities. That's why the new privatized RGP, which will hopefully take economic development in northwest Ohio out of the parochial interests of the individual governmental units, should have a huge impact.

You can read more of the interview with Szuch if you click the link for that Sep 2005 comment. Szuch makes some other interesting points.


Sep 16, 2005 Blade story

In northwest Ohio just five days, the region's newest economic development chief has decided that the area is afflicted with "Eeyore syndrome." Like the gloomy, blue-gray donkey in the children's story Winnie the Pooh, people here are too focused on the area's problems to recognize the value of its assets, said Steven Weathers, recently installed president of Toledo's Regional Growth Partnership.

He plans to establish a "strategic retention" team to visit firms at risk of leaving the area. Even if exiting companies can't be persuaded to stay, the effort will be valuable because it will provide feedback about where the growth partnership should concentrate. If a particular industry isn't suited for the area, it is difficult, and counter-productive, to try to force businesses to stay, Mr. Weathers said.

Efforts would be better directed identifying and attracting businesses that can turn a profit in the area, he said.

Responding to a question about disappointment in Toledo over plans by glass-maker Owens Illinois Inc. to move its headquarters to suburban Perrysburg, he said he sees the development differently. As he read about reaction to the planned move in Toledo, he said he thought "they really should be celebrating that that company wants to stay and grow" in the metro area.

Similarly, he said, he doesn't think it is a loss for the region when a locally-based company decides to expand elsewhere, such as The Anderson's decision to build an ethanol plant in Albion, Mich. While regrettable that the firm bypassed Toledo, he added: "They're importing those dollars that are being spent here, and that creates economic benefit."

The area shouldn't worry about its lack of population growth, he added. "I'm really going for quality," he explained. "I don't want to say, 'Close the door.' But if you could stop the population where it is now and then increase the educational level, increase the job level, increase the quality of the wages, you'd have a great community."


Sep 26, 2006 story on the Regional Growth Partnership Web site :

Continuing its effort to transition toward a knowledge-based economy, the Toledo/northwest Ohio region has added a new resource designed to help grow and attract technology-related businesses. At a press conference this morning, Platform Lab announced its expansion into Toledo, promoting itself as a resource that will provide companies the ability to greatly improve their IT capabilities at a very low cost.

Platform Lab, which Gruetter describes as a “catalyst for growth,” provides the hardware, software, configuration and bandwidth, on demand, for companies anywhere. To be located on the UT Health Science campus (formerly the Medical University of Ohio), Platform Lab is a nonprofit information technology test and training facility providing organizations the means to conduct a variety of IT test projects and increase the quality of their applications, organizations and people without investing in expensive short-term assets.

Along with the University of Toledo and the Regional Growth Partnership, Gruetter also recognized the Northwest Ohio Science and Technology Corridor for its efforts in bringing Platform Lab to Toledo. The Corridor works with technology-based companies that might use Platform Lab’s services, assisting in the process toward commercialization. Local companies Betco, Pilkington and Dana have already committed to utilizing Platform Lab’s services. Platform Lab is expected to be operational within the next two weeks.


Jun 8, 2007 Toledo Free Press story titled UT incubators help grow technology into businesses :

UT is committed to nurturing and growing research and technology into viable businesses at a number of incubation facilities both on the main and health science campuses. The board also approved the new Technology and Incubation Center proposed on the main campus. The Mixed Use Technology Incubator will include flexible space for use by information technology and other new business start-ups developed from research conducted in engineering, physical science and business disciplines.

Funding is in place for the $3.75 million, 30,000 square-foot facility that will be built next to the existing Research and Technology Complex located at Dorr and Westwood. The banks of solar panels in front of that building represent the solar energy technology being developed at the Clean and Alternative Energy Incubator located there. UT has been involved in advancing solar cell technology for more than 20 years.

The nation's largest manufacturer of solar cells, First Solar Inc. of Perrysburg, is the product of research and technology originally developed at UT as McMaster Energy Enterprises. Another start-up, Integrated Thin Films, graduated from the incubator and became Solar Fields LLC also located in Perrysburg.

The existing incubator is already home to Midwest Opto Electronics, another product of UT research and tech transfer, Advanced Distributed Generation and Ugly Data Inc. with leased offices for Green Energy Ohio. The complex is projected to be fully occupied within the next 18 months, another reason for building additional incubation space.

The Center for Photovoltaic Energy and Hydrogen (CPEH) was established at UT last November with a $3.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense. Establishment of a DOD research center for alternative energy was UT's top federal research priority during fiscal year 2006. The CPEH center is working with lab space at the Research and Technology Center and the Physics Department in McMaster Hall on research to generate hydrogen from solar energy for the DOD. The program will work collaboratively with the PVIC program.

H2 Engine Systems, another UT incubator tenant, is working on a project with TARTA, comparing biodeisel and hydrogen engines with ones that run on a combination of both fuels.

In February, a 20-member consortium of corporations, universities and colleges, economic development organizations and venture capital firms, received a three-year, $11.6 million grant from the state's Entrepreneurial Signature Program to support technology-based enterprises and business in Northwest Ohio. Headed by the Regional Growth Partnership, the consortium includes UT where much of the research and technology development is based. About $6 million will be used to invest in more than 30 companies primarily focused in advanced materials and agri-biosciences, and $5.8 million for entrepreneurial services.


About Advanced Distributed Generation:

Advanced Distributed Generation, LLC. (ADG) is the Midwest’s leading photovoltaic system integrator. ADG is a general contracting company specializing in the design and installation of photovoltaic (PV) systems.


Jun 8, 2007 Toledo Free Press story titled Information technology firm finds home at UT incubators :

Ugly Data Inc. chose to locate in two incubators at UT that provide environments for small businesses to grow rather than at sites across the country. Dan and Amy Miller, the couple that owns the information technology company, are pleased with their decision to locate their new business at the UT incubators. The Millers said they chose to locate there after considering sites in Chicago and Atlanta.

Toledo offered the right proximity to potential clients from Fortune 100 companies to the small business environment of the incubators. It is centralized to Detroit, Chicago and New York, allowing the firm to have easy access to its clients. The university allowed Ugly Data to move into the incubator spaces, providing it with affordable space customized to meet the firm's needs with plenty of room to grow. It also offered potential to grow within the university as well as outside it.

Ugly Data is working with Platform Lab, another resident at UT's incubators, which provides testing and training service for the company and its clients. Ugly Data is a managed service provider that offers outside solutions for designing and hosting critical database server and security functions for companies that require control over their information technology applications. These types of clients rely on their hosting providers for 100 percent access and reliability, Dan Miller said.

posted by jr on Sep 12, 2007 at 01:05:43 pm     #