12/27/2022 0 Comments California air compressor![]() ![]() Because if you have to create your own kind of brand-new, bespoke kind of manufacturing method or creative supply chain, it is going to take too long and require too much money before you even get to market. First, I believed, and I still believe, that solar panel hardware should really leverage existing manufacturing and supply chains if it’s going to get to market and be profitable. Madrone: I think the big aha! moment was twofold. Garden: Did you have a big aha! moment for Sunfolding? So the transformational potential of my idea was important and what I kept coming back to. Especially if your focus is hardware because it takes so long to get to market, it really has to matter. Madrone: I think you hear this a lot when you talk to anyone who does startups: If it’s not transformational, it’s probably not worth doing. ![]() What was going on in your mind that convinced you to enter the Silicon Valley startup ecosystem? Garden: Committing to go all-in on a startup is quite the jump. And that’s what led me to create Sunfolding. ![]() And my experience led me to realize that even the coolest projects with ample funding weren’t enough if we couldn’t bring that technology to scale and have a real kind of competitiveness with oil and gas. I worked at a couple of companies first and learned as much as I could about the solar industry. So I switched over from robotics into solar. But landing your dream job, sometimes then you say, "OK, what do I do next?" And what I realized I really wanted to do was work on the energy transition and focus my career on the abatement of climate change. I ended up on the West Coast working at NASA and the Intelligent Robotics Group, which was a lifelong dream of mine. I got my undergrad and master’s from and spent the first part of my career in robotics. Madrone: My background was originally in robotics. Garden: So what is your background? What led you to solar trackers? So it ends up being a huge benefit for the cost, for the speed of deployment and for the long-term environmental impact of the site. And this is nice because you’re not spending the cost for all of that grading, and it's also really important from the environmental and long-term sustainability of solar power, because you’re not killing the ecosystems to capture the renewable energy. Because Sunfolding uses air tubes instead of steel, we can build on any kind of contoured land without needing to flatten it first. Madrone: Usually when you’re building a solar site, you have to do lots of grading to get a really flat base that allows you to align all the tracker systems. Garden: And why is flexibility so important when setting up solar panels? And we’re also creating a system that can be as flexible as it needs to be. So we’re literally replacing steel with air. We are using the air to transmit the force instead of the steel. Most panels are connected with lots and lots of steel to a motor and gearbox, which then moves the solar panels into the best position to capture the sun. And so what’s so neat about that is that you can create a machine that’s really simplified compared to everything else available on the market. #CALIFORNIA AIR COMPRESSOR INSTALL#We install black, lung-like pieces under the solar panel, which are each controlled by air pressure and connected with air tubing. ![]() And we’re making a new kind of air-compressed solar tracker here. Leila Madrone: Solar trackers are the mechanics that move the panels to follow the sun. Could you explain what a tracker is and how it works? Leah Garden: So this is the Sunfolding Tracker. Some questions and answers have been modified for length and clarity. Leila Madrone, chief technology officer and founder of Sunfolding, explains the mechanics in the most digestible manner below. If you’re unaware of what solar tracking is, don’t worry. Sunfolding, as I already said, is a solar tracking company. But I did attach a GIF of myself jamming to her music at the end of the newsletter. Don’t worry, the only singing I’m including here will be from Dolly herself.
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