Torrance Outfit Wins Contract to Produce Solar Cells.

Amonix Inc., a privately held Torrance company that has been working in the shadows to develop advanced solar cell technology for the past decade, has been awarded a $3.5 million contract by the Arizona Public Service Co.

While the size of the contract is small by conventional standards, it is the largest of its type involving the use of high-concentration photovoltaic cells, which convert sunlight directly into electricity, according to APS and Amonix.

The deal is considered significant because it furthers the viability of alternative energy deployment at a time when energy is at the top of many political and business agendas.

Under the deal, Amonix is to deliver solar cells capable of producing 500 kilowatts of power - about enough electricity for 165 homes.

The technology uses lenses to capture and focus sunlight to 250 times its normal strength, reducing the amount of expensive silicon solar cells by the same factor. Amonix also claims its cells are far more efficient in converting sunlight to electricity than are traditional solar cells.

With larger-scale production, Amonix claims its technology could produce electricity at the cost of 10 to 12 cents per kilowatt-hour - potentially the least-costly solar-generated power on the market, though still more costly than power from traditional coal or gas-fired plants.

"(Generating a kilowatt-hour for 10 to 12 cents) will take a lot of things to go right in order for that to happen, but I think the goal is attainable," said Herb Hayden, solar program coordinator for the Arizona utility. "The company (Amonix) is a very strong player. They are the only ones doing it this way."

Amonix was founded in 1989 by Vahan Garboushian, who had previously founded Power Hybrid Inc., a defense electronics company he sold in a $35 million stock swap to M/A-COM Inc., now a division of Tyco International Ltd.

Garboushian said the technology that Amonix has developed is derived from prior defense work, in which satellite systems had to be "hardened" to withstand powerful space radiation.

High-concentration photovoltaic technology is not a new idea, but its advancement had been held up by the degradation that solar cells suffered after being exposed to concentrated sunlight.

"They had major problems in making the cells endure," said Garboushian. "We applied some of the (defense) technology we learned over a long period of time to the cells, and it really fit."

The company's existing Torrance plant has the capacity to annually manufacture solar power systems with a cumulative capacity of one megawatt. The company is seeking financing to build a much larger plant, a key to lowering production costs and making its technology more cost competitive with fossil fuel-powered plants.

Amonix hopes to sell its systems not only to utilities across the Southwest, but to Third World countries where it claims an Amonix system could supply an entire village's power needs.