On UGE’s Wind Sale and Our Future in Solar Energy
We initially started UGE in 2008 with the dream of bringing renewable energy to the built environment. So much has changed in the years since. And as the industry has evolved, so have we, with us taking another big step for the company by announcing the sale of our wind energy subsidiary on September 6th.
The first time we purchased solar panels, in 2008, we paid nearly $4/W. Today you can divide that by nearly 10. The growth and evolution of the solar industry in particular has been mind blowing, providing the kind of transformational change that the industry could only dream of. With declining costs and a rapidly increasing market, we have driven our strategy more and more towards solar in recent years, and are now a leading player in the commercial solar market.
That’s not to say we aren’t incredibly proud of everything we achieved in distributed wind. We first came to market with the UGE-4K in 2009, and later added to the portfolio with the eddy, eddyGT and HoYi! Wind turbines throughout 2010 and 2011. Though these products took us to the leadership position in the industry, we built on everything we had learned by launching the VisionAIR5 and VisionAIR3 wind turbines in 2013 and 2014. The VisionAIR5 was the first vertical axis wind turbine to ever achieve a certified power curve, and was also certified as the quietest wind turbine ever made. Across the entire product line, our turbines went on to power hotels, sports arenas, apartment buildings, city parks — and even the Eiffel Tower.
From the beginning, meeting our customers’ unique energy needs was our focus. Putting our clients first meant continually looking for ways to offer the best energy solutions. For the vast majority of our customers, solar now offers the most cost effective option to achieve both their sustainability and cost savings goals, which has seen our solar business grow far more quickly than our wind business since 2012. Since then, we have installed major solar projects around the world, including for hospitals in the Philippines, farms in Idaho, and a first-of-it’s-kind installation in the Caribbean. Last year we broke ground on the largest commercial rooftop solar portfolio in Latin America while announcing we would bring solar powered micro grids to Sandy-affected businesses in New York City.
While wind has been an important part of our history, we reached the conclusion that we were best positioned to deliver value to our clients by spinning off the wind subsidiaries, as was set out in our three year Strategic Plan. As Bloomberg recently noted, solar now offers the “cheapest unsubsidised electricity ever, anywhere, by any technology”; consider this our doubling down on a solar sector that we see becoming the backbone of the world’s energy supply by as early as 2030.
We’re grateful to our wind team for all of their contributions over the years. They have lots in store so be sure to keep an eye on them as they transition to V-AIR Wind Technologies. But for UGE, our future is in solar — and it’s looking bright.
