Solartonic has landed three new partnerships that the Ann Arbor-based solar company expects will help it bring its product, solarap, to new customers in Texas, Africa and the Middle East.
"They're market channels to get us to the customers in those markets," says Brian Tell, managing partner of
Solartonic.
The 3-year-old company is commercializing solar panel technology, solarap, that is flexible and able to attach to non-traditional surfaces, such as wrapping around the pole of a street lamp. The idea is to generate power during the day to power the light at night. Solartonic is aiming to install these in places, like in light poles in parking lots, along walking paths and other remote places.
"Places that are inaccessible where it would be too expensive to build out the infrastructure," says Harry Giles, managing partner of Solartonic.
Solartonic employs a team of 10 after adding three people over the last year. That staff is currently working to open new markets in North America, including one in Detroit.
"We're trying to ramp up our sales," Tell says. "We're working on a demonstration project at
NextEnergy Detroit we will debut in the fall."
Source: Brian Tell and Harry Giles, managing partners of Solartonic
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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