About Toledo Solar
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Toledo Solar continues an American success story
American engineers at Bell Labs demonstrated the first photovoltaic solar cell in 1954. Four years later, NASA launched solar panels into space. In 1984, Solar Cells Inc commercialized thin-film Cadmium Telluride solar panels in partnership with the University of Toledo, later resulting in the formation of First Solar Inc (FSLR NASDAQ). Today, CdTe technology powers 40% of the domestic utility-scale PV solar market and is expected to reach 60% in the next several years. CdTe Solar PV modules have proven themselves over the last several decades as the most robust, powerful, longest lasting solar technology in the world.
Toledo Solar now brings this technology for the first time to the residential and commercial building markets. Additionally we have brought next generation transparent CdTe solar films under grants from the U.S. Department of Energy. We are now also developing high-output transparent windows for the building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) market, and high-output solar products for the electric vehicle automotive integrated photovoltaics (AIPV) market.
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Meet Our Team
With decades of experience from various backgrounds in CdTe solar manufacturing, our team is fully equipped to be the leading innovators of solar energy solutions that our world needs today!
Aaron Bates - CEO
Aaron is a co-founder of Toledo Solar and serves as its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Aaron has accumulated 18+ years of experience in Private Equity finance, with expertise in turn around/work out and venture capital investments of companies in the manufacturing, health care IT, materials technologies, and thermal management industries. In 2004, Aaron founded Halo, a materials technology company specialized in retro-reflective coating methodologies and materials. Halo achieved $30M in recuring revenue within 4 years and experienced a strategic exit in 2011. Aaron transitioned his experience in 2013 to Signet Enterprises which consisted of over twenty manufacturing and service companies. Among the portfolio companies, Aaron was the founder and CEO of Signet Accel which was a dynamic integration, management, and analytics company in the Big Data Healthcare Analytics marketplace. Aaron also founded the Commercialization Executive Committee for the Ohio Federal Research Network (OFRN).
Mark Hartel - COO
Mark is a co-founder of Toledo Solar and serves as its Chief Operating Officer. Mark has been a leader in the manufacturing industry for over 20 years, including as a founder, owner, and leader of multiple manufacturing companies. Mark has led the Operations and Engineering efforts for both growth and distressed manufacturing companies in the Automotive, Aerospace and Telecom markets. Mark started his manufacturing career in 1992, at Baltic Tool and Die, Co, ultimately gaining ownership of the company as President and CEO and executing an exit event for BTD in 2003. He then moved onto the turnaround of a distressed manufacturing company, USIC Corp. He led the company to profitability within 6 months and increased revenue by 50%. In 2005, Mark started one of his current companies, Elite Manufacturing Industries, LLC, followed by Universal Mounts, LLC in 2006. Along with his work at EMI, he was a principle in the acquisition of assets of Clark Metal Products of Marion, Ohio and was a partner of Wonderbake, Inc. of North Canton, Ohio as well as the manufacturer of Wonderbake’s product line. Mark has engineered and manufactured products for multiple markets including; Automotive, Aerospace, Retail, Mining, Agriculture, Solar (CSP), Heavy machine/Heavy Truck, telecommunications. Mark holds a BSME from Cleveland State University in mechanical engineering.
Alvin Compaan, PhD. - CTO
Al serves as Toledo Solar’s Chief Technical Officer. Al is one of the world’s foremost experts and pioneers in the development of thin-film Photo Voltaic technologies. As a faculty member at The University of Toledo he started UT’s extensive photovoltaic research effort that led to the creation of Solar Cells Inc. and subsequently First Solar. Starting in 1987 at UT, Dr. Compaan built a world-class research effort focused on thin-film photovoltaic (PV) solar cells with a focus on II-VI semiconductors such as CdTe. He collaborated extensively with Harold McMaster and other founders of First Solar (originally Solar Cells Inc.). He was the principal investigator on three federal grants from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) that included sub-grants to First Solar. Since 1995 he has been the principal advisor to 20 Ph.D. and M.S. students and 13 postdoctoral fellows. In 2008, Dr. Compaan founded Xunlight and Lucintech Inc. which developed several flexible and transparent cadmium-telluride-based, solar-electric (photovoltaic) modules for windows, sunroofs, and flexible applications. Prior to establishing Lucintech, he was Distinguished University Professor at the University of Toledo (UT) where his research was funded by many different federal and state agencies and industrial companies. He has done collaborative research with many industrial groups in PV, holds 12 patents/ patent applications in the area of thin-film PV, and has authored more than 280 scientific publications. Al remains a Professor Emeritus at the University of Toledo and serves on the Board of Directors of the Ohio Environmental Council and is a long-time member of Ohio Interfaith Power and Light.