Vertical Solar Farm Co. Plans to Build Tower in India

Three Sixty Solar (VSOL:NEO;VSOLF:OTC) announced it has signed a letter of intent (LOI) to build a demonstration tower in South India.

The company builds the towers up instead of out to save space, rising vertically instead of covering acres of ground horizontally, leaving up to 80% to 90% more room for other economic or preservation purposes.

Under the non-binding letter of intent with Greenlit Energy Systems, an Indian renewable energy services company, the new tower will be used by a local university or similar institution with a potential connection to the power grid for net metering.

"I expect this initial demonstration to prove the utility of solar towers in their market, and I am encouraged at the prospects of working collectively to build the business" in India, Three Sixty Solar Chief Executive Officer Brian Roth said. "Understanding the space constraints in the heavily populated and economically developing region, I believe that our towers provide an ideal solution."

Three Sixty's technology is a "big deal" because most solar farms are in rural areas, leading to energy leakage while moving the electricity across distances and to market, Technical Analyst Clive Maund wrote. 

This high-density, clean energy solution is built on its own free-standing tower, meaning it can be built adjacent to structures requiring power, thereby minimizing line loss and maximizing energy delivery in cluttered environments where traditional renewable solutions are difficult to install.

In deploying Three Sixty Solar solutions as multi-tower installations, developers can capitalize on the spaces between towers to better leverage land assets for other revenue-generating activities. Each tower offers a reliable, clean energy solution with minimal environmental and habitat impact, maximizing power capture while at the same time minimizing utility structure footprint. 

The Catalyst: Better Land Use for Green Energy

Three Sixty's technology is a "big deal" because most solar farms are in rural areas, leading to energy leakage while moving the electricity across distances and to market, Technical Analyst Clive Maund wrote. 

In addition, the vast areas of land consumed by these solar arrays generally mean that it can't be used for anything else, so there is a serious opportunity cost loss as well, he said.

The company's vertical tower arrays can be built virtually anywhere, including in cities, and they take up little space.

"Three Sixty Solar's towers will eventually render all these vast acreages of solar panels all over the place obsolete," Maund wrote. "This being so, its stock has the potential to appreciate by many thousands of percent."

"(We) believe that this technology can be a great opportunity to increase the deployment of solar power in India," said Greenlit Energy Systems founder and director Abhiram Duvvuru.

Three Sixty Solar said the two companies had engaged with multiple fabricating organizations in India to make the towers, with the goal of finalizing the cost for a binding purchase order by January.

"(We) believe that this technology can be a great opportunity to increase the deployment of solar power in India," said Greenlit Energy Systems founder and director Abhiram Duvvuru. "We are looking forward to kicking off this initial demonstration in South India and to working with Three Sixty to deploy solar towers broadly throughout our country."

Greenlit Energy Systems provides design, engineering, installation, and operation and maintenance services for solar systems in India. It has delivered more than 10 megawatts of installed capacity in the last three years.

Towers Save Space

Solar power offers many advantages, but it generally takes up a lot of space. Three Sixty Solar's tower-based solutions offer a new space-saving twist.

When Three Sixty Solar signed its first LOI with Cattail Crossing Golf and Winter Club in Sturgeon County, Alberta, club owner Mark Beck said the club had been looking for ways to add renewable energy to the operation but couldn't find solar cells arrayed in a suitable configuration.

"The solar towers offered by Three Sixty are such a unique approach that we can easily make it fit and generate power for our irrigation systems, cart charging, and more," Beck said.

Most industrial facilities don't have enough additional land nearby to host a legacy solar array. Some compromise by positioning solar cells on their roofs, but these solutions can be expensive to maintain, unsafe for workers, and even cause considerable fire hazards.

In addition to reducing the land space requirement for installation, the company's vertical farms keep solar infrastructure off of commercial, residential, and industrial roofs.

Solar power uses photovoltaic cells and other technologies to capture the sun's radiant energy, which is efficient and renewable and mitigates environmental risks coming from options creating greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, the cost to install the equipment has dropped by 50% over the last decade, leading to the deployment of thousands of new systems in new markets.

Governments are giving big incentives, as well. Canada is targeting net zero emissions by 2050 and has launched a CA$964 million program, Three Sixty Solar said. The United States Inflation Reduction Act commits US$370 billion to fund green energy, and the European Union has an energy target of at least 32% from solar by 2030. The European Green New Deal envisions a climate-neutral continent by 2050.

Ownership and Share Structure

According to the company, about 21% of Three Sixty Solar is held by management and insiders. The CEO Roth owns 3.43%, founder and Director Peter Sherba owns about 30%, and Director Scott McLeod owns about 0.21%, Reuters said.

About 28% is held by strategic investors, and the rest, about 51%, is retail.

Three Sixty Solar's market cap is CA$7.15 million, with about 43 million shares outstanding. It trades in a 52-week range of CA$1.29 and CA$0.14.

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Important Disclosures:

1. Three Sixty Solar has a consulting relationship with an affiliate of Streetwise Reports, and pays a monthly consulting fee between US$8,000 and US$20,000.
2. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Three Sixty Solar.
3. Steve Sobek wrote this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an employee.
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