Westinghouse Solar: Why the Solar Tribe Should Love It

Last week I attended the American Solar Energy Society Conference in Phoenix. I had made a note to myself before arriving to visit the Andalay booth on the trade show floor. I wanted to find out how the new plug-and-play product was doing. On Thursday the exhibit floor opened and I made my way to Andalay. When I got to their booth, somebody handed me a miniature soccer ball that read “Westinghouse Solar.” Tim O’Sullivan, sales manager for the newly named Los Gatos-based company formerly known as Andalay, told me this was just being rolled out. It’s brilliant!

As Renewable Energy World, Greentech Media  and Brighter Energy point out, this is not an acquisition by Westinghouse. It is a deal to use Westinghouse’s name worldwide. I believe it has game-changer potential. If the plug-and-play product differentiation that Andalay has introduced, as well as the Lowe’s retail distribution channel had not put it’s product into the mainstream as a solid solar consumer product, the Westinghouse name most certainly will.

What a great story. Not too long ago, the word on the street was that Akeena, which had gone public through a reverse merger, had burned through its capital efforting to roll out a solar installation business. Then in September, 2007 Akeena announced partnering with Suntech to create Andalay. Behind the scenes, the company was pioneering the plug-and-play concept. In early 2009, Akeena announced an agreement with Enphase to co-develop and market the first AC solar panel. At the end of 2009 came word that Lowe’s was going begin offering the Andalay do-it-yourself solar panel. Now, Lowe’s has the Westinghouse brand.

My hat’s off to Barry Cinnamon, Akeena CEO who seems to be pushing all the right buttons, creating the opportunity for great sound bites like:

“Since George Westinghouse founded the Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 1886, the world’s electric grid has operated on AC power,” said James F. Davis, vice president, Westinghouse Electric Corp. “For over 100 years, Westinghouse has literally set the standard for reliable electric power and home appliances. We approached Akeena when our research indicated that their integrated solar-panel technology could help make solar mainstream. Akeena’s safe and reliable AC solar panels are a perfect complement with Westinghouse’s heritage. We are pleased to introduce Westinghouse Solar as the newest member of the exclusive Westinghouse family.”

Or maybe you would prefer this quote from Barry himself:

“Since the beginning, we’ve worked consistently to make solar more mainstream. We began as a rooftop installer. We then designed our own easy-to-install solar panels that gave customers superior reliability and aesthetics. We improved our design by manufacturing higher-performance AC panels, and built a dealer network that has grown to more than 25 states and Canada. We then partnered with Lowe’s Home Improvement stores for installation services, along with the first do-it-yourself solar panels stocked on retail shelves.

“Now, with the exclusive rights to the Westinghouse Solar brand, we look forward to accelerated growth without large up-front brand investments,” explained Mr Cinnamon.

The Solar Tribe should love this new development. Anything that causes solar to become more mainstream is good for the industry as whole. At one of the ASES marketing workshops I had heard that consumer focus groups had repeatedly raised as one of the barriers of broad scale adoption the question: ”why is there no Nike in solar?”  The combination of Lowes and Westinghouse can only help the industry as a whole. Too bad Home Depot is still stuck with BP Solar, but that’s another story

Plug-and-play is here to stay.