The idea for Bubbling Springs Solar, manufacturer of solar thermal collectors, began in a barn near Menomonie, Wisconsin. After disassembling an old solar collector, Mike Helfman had the idea to make the collectors himself. A friend in the solar industry encouraged him to do just that.
“He told Mike there was nobody in this area making solar thermal collectors, and there really should be,” recalls Helfman’s wife and business partner Luisa Gerasimo. “From there we did some prototyping and found a lot of support in Wisconsin for the idea of starting a manufacturing company to make solar thermal collectors.”
With support and encouragement from Madison-based Focus on Energy and a number of partners in the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Network, Helfman and Gerasimo turned their idea into a growing business. Today Bubbling Springs is the only manufacturer of solar thermal collectors in Wisconsin and one of just a few in the upper Midwest.
WEN Partners Jerome Johnson at the University of Wisconsin-Stout Center for Innovation and Randy Hulke, director of the Stout Technology Transfer Institute, helped the Bubbling Springs team find space at the UW Stout Incubator in 2007.
“It turned out to be a really good fit for us,” says Gerasimo.
In October of 2007 Bubbling Springs collectors obtained national certification by the Solar Rating and Certification Corporation.
“At that point we could actually start selling collectors,” says Gerasimo. “In 2007 we sold 37 collectors.”
In 2008 Bubbling Springs sold nearly 300 collectors and expects to more than double those sales in 2009. To accommodate its growing business, Bubbling Springs will leave the incubator and move into a significantly larger facility at the Stout Technology Park .
“Moving out on our own should make it possible to build more collectors faster,” says Gerasimo.
With rising energy costs and increased environmental concerns, more and more individuals and businesses are looking at solar energy. Federal tax credits for solar thermal equipment make this option even more attractive. Solar thermal is an effective, affordable alternative energy source for heating water in water parks, hospitals, homes and more. Bubbling Springs produces two sizes of roof-top solar collectors that are manufactured with minimal environmental impact in mind. The collectors are made with primarily aluminum rather than copper, which is used in most collectors on the market today; and fiberglass insulation is used rather than more commonly used foam products.
As Gerasimo and Helfman explore financing options to help fund the acceleration of their business, they don’t hesitate to contact partners in the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Network (WEN). On that list of contacts is WEN Regional Director Pat Dillon, who has provided valuable information on financing options and more since early in the business formation.
“She has sent me a lot of good information on workforce training grants, USDA-type things, renewable energy research,” recalls Gerasimo. “She also helped me with relevant market information when I was trying to do the business plan.”
Two other WEN partners that have helped Bubbling Springs are Maliyakal John, director of the WiSys Technology Foundation, and UW-Stout grants and research administrator, Sue Foxwell, who introduced Gerasimo and Helfman to research assistance available through the UW-Stout chemistry department. Today students and faculty from UW-Stout work with Bubbling Springs on an improved coating process that will increase absorptivity and decrease emissivity in the collectors’ absorber plate.
Source.wenportal.org
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