Martha Symko-Davies
Getting PV Technology to the Market
April / May 2010
Volume 8 Number 2
In 2001, when Martha Symko-Davies rode in the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic over three mountain passes through the Rockies, she beat a coal-fired, steam-powered locomotive to the finish line. Today, she is using her remarkable stamina to compete in another race—bringing new photovoltaic technology to commercialization by 2012.
As senior research supervisor for the subcontracted research and development group within the National Center for Photovoltaics, Symko-Davies leads the Photovoltaic Technology Incubator at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The incubator was established in 2007 by DOE's Solar Energies Technology Program under the Solar America Initiative. The primary objective of the incubator is to shorten the timeline for companies making the transition from prototype and pre-commercial PV technologies into pilot and full-scale manufacture; the companies are aiming to enter the market by 2012.
The incubator also strives to foster innovation and growth in the domestic PV industry and expand and diversify domestic market-ready PV technologies. To that end, Symko-Davies helps small companies avoid the valley of death between the prototype phase and pilot-scale production.
Her job taps into her passion for science that was fueled at a young age. Her father is a physics professor who encouraged hands-on science. He also encouraged women in science and promoted diversity in the field. “Physics just seemed natural to me,” Symko-Davies says. It's no surprise, then, that she earned her bachelor's degree in physics and her Ph.D. in materials science from the University of Denver.
Physical activity is also natural to her. Growing up in Salt Lake City, she learned to ski early on, and after meeting her husband she joined him in cycling. She still skis often and runs every day, which, she says, is necessary to keep up with her elementary school-age children.
Her adventurous spirit spilled over into her career. In the late '80s, when solar energy was much less in the public eye, Symko-Davies knew she wanted to be a part of it. “I chose to go to the University of Denver specifically because of the opportunity to connect with NREL,” she says. She landed an internship there, in which she pursued research under Bhushan Sopori, in the area of silicon solar cell performance. Because the lab was being funded at much lower levels at the time, her friends told her there was no future in solar energy. “But I took a gamble and it paid off,” she says.
After completing her doctorate in 1997, she began as a technical monitor and subcontracts manager in PV manufacturing. In 2002, one of the subcontracts she managed for the High-Performance Photovoltaic Program involved an NREL partnership with Boeing Spectrolab. They developed the high-efficiency metamorphic multijunction concentrator solar cell, which broke the 40 percent conversion efficiency barrier—making it twice as efficient as the best silicon solar cell. That feat earned an R&D 100 Award for NREL and Boeing Spectrolab.
Three years ago, after DOE consulted with her about starting up the incubator, she was chosen to lead the effort. She says the support from DOE has been key to the incubator's success. And it's not just about the funding.
“It's about the daily dialogue I have with the DOE and the NREL research staff,” Symko-Davies says. “Scott Stephens, our technology development manager, is great. He has a master's from the University of Delaware's Institute of Energy Conversion, so he really understands the science being developed. And our NREL program manager, John Benner, is very savvy with business and technology development. So we're always bouncing ideas off one another. It's that partnership that makes this program that much stronger.”
The incubator provides $3 million to startup companies in the form of subcontracts that are awarded through a solicitation process. Using those financial resources and the lab capabilities and the experience of researchers at NREL, each company has 18 months to develop its prototype to pilot-scale production. The pilot-scale product must work at a cost of less than $1 per watt to be competitive in today's PV market. The companies can now take advantage of NREL's new Process Development and Integration Laboratory, which not only allows them access to NREL experts, but to new deposition, processing, and measurement characterization capabilities.
It's not easy to land an incubator subcontract. “The companies that I work with follow their milestones and deliverable requirements in the subcontract very closely,” Symko-Davies says. “They truly deliver the hardware that they commit to in the subcontract language. Our intent is to encourage the company to grow to pilot-scale production very quickly. We are not interested in generating paperwork, but rather quantitative deliverables with performance metrics.”
Between 2007 and 2010, the incubator has been providing resources to 23 companies to bring their solar products to market. In FY 2010, the incubator's budget was boosted with $15.6 million in funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, for a total of more than $25 million. Four companies were recently selected for negotiations of a subcontract: Alta Devices, Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif.; Semprius, Inc., of Durham, N.C.; Solar Junction Corporation of San Jose; and Tetra Sun of Saratoga, Calif.
A related project, the Photovoltaic Technology Pre-Incubator, was established in 2009. It focuses on moving ideas from concept to commercially viable prototype. Symko-Davies oversees the subcontracts with 13 companies that are sharing $6 million in stimulus funds to develop their PV product concepts.
Over the years, as she has seen the rise in PV efficiencies, reduction in cost, and the production of reliable products, she has been proud that she followed her intuition into the field of solar energy.
“Starting this incubator has truly been a flagship program for DOE,” Symko-Davies says. “It's created jobs, potential for solar capacity, and competition in the solar industry. Some of the businesses we've helped started out very small and have become very successful. It's been amazing, challenging, and really fun.”
And “fun,” as defined by Symko-Davies, involves racing—helping solar startups sprint to market.
Karen Atkison is a writer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
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