Rocklin, California-based JLM Energy laid off its workforce last week, halting one of the more unusual projects in the energy storage industry.
The startup, self-funded by founders Farid Dibachi and Kraig Clark, had scaled up a business around its Phazr battery, which attaches to solar racking and sits underneath the solar module. The company claimed it had thousands of units operational across California, Arizona, Connecticut, Hawaii and North Carolina, although its units are much smaller than typical battery products.
The Phazr concept applied the distributed logic of microinverters to the energy storage sector, promising modularity and easier installation. Its DC-coupled architecture eliminates the cost of a storage inverter and reduces roundtrip efficiency losses.
To succeed, though, it had to overcome the industry's instinctive reaction that the rooftop is no place for a lithium-ion battery.
JLM ran out of money to pay its employees after last week and is searching for new funding options, sources familiar with the company told Greentech Media.
The layoffs came shortly after a change in leadership: Chief Operations Officer Erin Clark, the former president of PetersenDean's consumer solar business, took over the CEO role from Dibachi at the end of May, ending the founder's eight year tenure at the helm.
At the time, Kraig Clark described the transition in leadership as a "natural progression" for a company of that size and growth trajectory.
“We have transitioned from a product development focus to market execution and rapid growth in a hot industry," he said. "It makes sense to have an executive with deep experience in the solar industry to lead our next phase of growth.”
Erin Clark reported then that sales had grown 425 percent from the previous year, on the back of the Phazr product.
As of Tuesday, Clark's LinkedIn page listed his stint as CEO as running from May to June 2018. The webpage now describes him as a contractor in the Sacramento area.
Kraig Clark did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication.
JLM also worked on financial innovations, securing a $25 million project financing facility from North Sky Capital's Alliance Fund II. That fund enabled JLM to offer commercial storage customers guaranteed monthly bill savings with no money down.
Solar installer Barry Cinnamon, writing this week for Greentech Media, gave the Phazr a generally positive review.
"JLM’s Phazr is a unique battery storage system that solves several problems typical with ordinary systems: It is very modular, the battery is easy to install underneath each solar panel, and no additional wall space is required," he wrote.
As for downsides, Cinnamon noted that the Phazr cannot provide backup power, and "the efficiency and longevity of rooftop batteries is not yet proven." That said, he expects that batteries, like microinverters and optimizers before them, can be designed to withstand the exposure of a rooftop deployment.
from GTM Solar https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/jlm-energy-lays-off-workforce-to-seek-funding
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