Stan Ovshinsky by OnInnovation
In ECD files for Chapter 11 protection, the Freep reports that:
The shakeout in the solar power industry claimed another victim Tuesday as Auburn Hills-based Energy Conversion Devices (ECD) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced plans to sell its assets, including its main subsidiary, United Solar Ovonic. (links are our addition)
The move brings to an end the 51-year history of one of the most innovative companies in the state, a pioneer of nickel-metal-hydride batteries and thin-film solar laminates.
"I have tears in my eyes thinking about it," said Stanford Ovshinsky, ECD's 89-year-old founder who retired from the company in 2007. "It's more than sadness. It's grief."
ECD is the latest victim of an industry-wide convergence of over-supply and the drying up of subsidies. What may be lost in the story is the significance of Energy Convergence Devices as a force for innovation. For more about that, check out this OnInnovation interview of ECD founder Stan Ovshinsky - click his name for more at OnInnovation.com.
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