Ohio University

Athens-based Sunpower develops highly efficient, clean energy generators such as coolers, cryocoolers and compressors—all based on its signature product, the Stirling engine.

“We’ve already been selected as [NASA’s] new power source for deep-space missions, starting in 2014,” says Mark Schweizer, Sunpower president and CEO. NASA uses plutonium purchased from Russia to fuel its generators for deep-space exploration. “[Plutonium] is incredibly rare, and eventually will run out,” Mark says. When that happens, NASA will no longer be able to continue deep space missions. However, Sunpower’s unique Stirling engine generator has found a way to extend that resource. Using a comparable amount of plutonium, the Stirling engine will run for 100,000 hours without stopping — or 10 years.

Sunpower’s work with NASA means exponential growth, and that’s why the Innovation Center is a vital ally. “The nature of our work is contract-based. It’s hard for a company our size to invest in a larger building before a contract is approved]," Mark says. “We needed a professional space in Athens available to engineers, that allowed us to pick up the contract when it came and begin work.” Prior to the help of the Innovation Center, Mark says their "flexibility to grow" was "diminished." He noted that investing in a larger space on speculation of a contract with NASA or another large agency would have been an "unbearable risk” for the business, if the contract had not come through.

One of the company’s future goals is to expand its technologies beyond space operations. Having perfected the generator for the most challenging of environments, deep space, Sunpower engineers can now turn to scaling it for earthly use. “It’s a very natural translation” from deep space to remote terrestrial areas, Mark says. The generator, as well as other Sunpower developments, may also play a role in commercial applications and the renewable energy market. “Our biggest and best growth is still to come,” Mark predicts. “The Innovation Center allowed us to grow in a way…that we wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise.”

Doug Schaefferkoetter, R&D Business Manager for Sunpower, believes that the Innovation Center has been ideal for Sunpower. "The environment is conducive to development-type efforts," Doug says. "It's a perfect fit for us at this time."