Become a Member

“Spray-on Solar” — What’s Siegel’s $3 “Utility Company Death Blow” Stock?

Powering New York City with a device that's thinner than a business card? There's got to be more to the story, right? (spoiler alert: Right).

The intro to this ad came in an email promo from Jeff Siegel, and you can see why it’s generating a lot of questions here at Gumshoe HQ:

“I believe this will go down in history as mankind’s single greatest invention…

“One that’s going to alter the entire course of modern civilization and deal the death blow to every utility company in America.

“Because this team somehow unlocked the single largest source of energy anywhere on Earth.

“Not in a lab at MIT… not on a deepwater rig… not buried beneath the sand of an OPEC nation… but in a tiny office building in the Arizona desert.”

And the headline of the actual ad continues to lay it on nice and thick:

“Endless Clean Energy Perfected at Last…

“From a device slimmer than a business card!

“No batteries, generators, solar panels, or “energy metals” needed…

“It could turn every $1,000 into $95,000 or more…”

And that “endless energy” idea really got Gumshoe readers ginned up, the questions poured in right away about this ad for Green Chip Stocks ($99/yr)… so let’s take a look.

This is from the order form that pitches the “Solar Window in Every Home” special report:

“Its invisible, see-through coating can go on ANY window — on ANY building — to capture sunlight and convert it into electric power.

“It can turn every skyscraper, house, hospital, and school into its own ‘power plant’ — capable of generating endless clean electricity, 24 hours a day, seven days a week!

“This is a solar breakthrough that literally just crushed every barrier the industry faces to become a true energy leader… and potentially put electric companies out of business.

“It can be applied to any home or office building — on site — to start generating clean electric power immediately…

“WITHOUT any expensive construction.

“And WITHOUT changing the existing structure or aesthetics of the building. It integrates seamlessly….

“This is a chance to lock in a ground-floor opportunity on a revolutionary technology — a tiny $184 million company with the potential to become a household name.”

Siegel goes into some detail about how he discovered this stock and this “secret” technology… and the bells started ringing. Here’s what he wrote:

“… I tried contacting this elite tech company’s office for months.

“But every aspect of this company’s cutting-edge technology was shrouded in secrecy.

Are you getting our free Daily Update
"reveal" emails? If not,
just click here...


“In fact, I couldn’t even get a straight answer from the administrative assistant during the company’s business hours. My emails, letters, faxes, and calls all went unanswered.

“If this company really could do what it claimed, it’s been kept under tighter wraps than the alien landing at Roswell.”

But then he heard about a secret “demo” project…

“I was beginning to have my doubts… and was about to abandon the whole thing until one of my contacts reached out to me with a stunning piece of news.

“See, over the past 30 years, I’ve built a Rolodex that includes family offices, political insiders, angel investors, and some of the biggest players in the global energy arena.

“And one of them sent me a video of an exclusive demonstration of this firm’s secret technology from inside a physics lab at a Florida university….

“The lab was standing room only. Physicists, company executives, a CNBC team, and a few others gathered shoulder to shoulder around a bisected model of a home in the center of a dark room.

“At first glance, it looked like any other scaled-down house — there were no rooftop panels, no wires, no tinted windows.

“But as the CEO explained shortly before the blinds went up, the windows were sprayed with the company’s one-of-a-kind formula.

“You couldn’t tell anything had happened to them. They looked like regular windows you’d find on any house or office building.

“Then the curtains went up and the sun’s rays hit the windows…

“Immediately, the lights inside the house turned on.

“As far as regular, expensive, and boxy solar panels are concerned, it was nothing special…

“Except there were NO panels. And the glass was completely see-through.”

Which is interesting, because that implies Siegel wasn’t at the demonstration — but he used to say that he was present for the unveiling… here’s the language he used the last time he teased this same stock, a couple years ago:

“And I got word that one of the company’s researchers would be holding an exclusive demonstration of its secret technology inside a physics lab at a Florida university later that day.

“That was all I needed to hear. I didn’t care about credentials, how I would get into the building, or that I would stand out like a sore thumb, surrounded by physicists and faculty…

“I booked the first flight out of BWI, scribbled down the address, printed a map of the campus, and grabbed my camera.”

And last time he went even a little further in describing the awe of the moment, sharing his tale of being amazed at the model house in that lab, and how the sunlight coming in through the curtains immediately generated power and turned on the lights in the house, without visible solar panels… and then, even more exciting, the drapes were closed and the house continued to generate power by using the energy from the lights in the lab.

“If that didn’t have the image of enormous profits flooding every mind in the room, the CEO took it one step further…

“The blinds shut, cutting off all traces of sunlight, and the lights in the lab turned on.

“Somehow, the rays from the regular incandescent bulbs were still enough to power the lights in the house.

“As the CEO explained, these cells are 1,000% more powerful when it comes to extracting energy from artificial light sources — enough to keep power running, say, from nothing but the glow of streetlights at night…

“All from a material that could be sprayed on ANY window on ANY building — even at room temperature!”

So yes, this is a repeat of an ad that Jeff Siegel has been using to lure subscribers to Green Chip Stocks and some of his predecessor newsletters for quite some time… and not just a year or two, for more than a decade he has been yelling at the top of his lungs about the urgency of getting in on this hot new technology innovation. He still uses pretty much exactly the same words today as last time I updated my look at this company, in 2020…

“I must warn you: If you’re looking to score a profit of that magnitude, you don’t have much time to wait around…

“You see, this company is already working on some pretty major contracts that could blow the lid off this thing in a matter of days. I’m talking about giants capable of sending this tiny $184 million company’s share price skyrocketing with a single order!

“So it’s no surprise that over the past few weeks, the buzz surrounding this company has started to send its share price north.

“And by as early as next week, we could see every trend-chaser on Wall Street accumulating shares of this little solar gold mine.”

So yes, this is yet another resurrection of a very old teaser pitch for SolarWindow (WNDW).

For some context here, that “top secret” demonstration that Jeff Siegel talks about was almost twelve years ago, at the University of South Florida in Tampa, and he’s using essentially the same language to describe it, almost word for word, as he did when I first covered a very similar teaser from Siegel for what was then called his Power Portfolio newsletter, about a month after that demonstration on October 25, 2010.

And here’s what the company’s stock performance has looked like since then — over the years it’s been teased a few more times, mostly by Siegel and, later, by Kent Moors for his Energy Advantage newsletter, and it has had its ups and downs and changed its name along the way (from New Energy Technologies to SolarWindow Technologies), but has struggled to make any commercial headway. This is the chart, starting when my article appeared in October of 2010:

WNDW Total Return Level Chart

For context, here’s what it looks like if we add First Solar (FSLR) and the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) to the chart — First Solar was riding a bit of a hype cycle in 2010, so, if you’re looking for a ray of sunsine for WNDW, the returns from FSLR since that day have been even worse:

WNDW Total Return Level Chart

To be fair, Siegel did predict back then that the stock would go from 62 cents to $4.21 in “a few years”, which would be $12 or so given the 3:1 share consolidation they did a ways back (or “reverse split,” if you prefer)… and it actually did get there during the wild hype cycle of early 2021, when lots of “story” stocks surged along with the meme-mania stocks like AMC and GameStop. (The short-sellers jumped on the name at the time, of course, because there was no possible justification for the company briefly reaching a $1.8 billion valuation, and the company objected… but the short sellers ended up with a nice profit).

Part of the challenge here is that we’ve seen this product developed over the past 15 years or so in the hands of a microcap company (it had a market cap of $50 million or so back in 2010, and they’ve sold a LOT of stock along the way but the market cap is still only $180 million, and the only way they can push it forward is by raising money and trying to get commercialization deals with companies who can contribute capital or license their still-not-ready-for-production technologies.

They did make an ex-Softbank hire a couple years ago, bringing on John Rhee to join the Board of Directors and help to open up an arm of the business in South Korea to spur some business, they hope, in Asia, where most solar panels are made… and Rhee went on to agree to acquire majority control of SolarWindow from its largest backer, Harmel Rayat, long known (and sometimes sued) as a stock promoter. Rhee immediately hired some former LG executives, and talked about moving to the manufacturing phase in South Korea.

But then, last month, the Board of Directors fired Rhee as CEO, and Rayat’s firm moved to block the sale agreement and refocus on the US and on their R&D partnership with NREL… which probably means the commercial push is at least going to be on pause for a while as the courts get involved, which means it’s again awfully hard to have any confidence about the commercial prospects or the timing. This is all reported in SEC filings, but definitely not in press releases, so the company is not really talking about what’s going on right now, and they didn’t have a conference call last quarter.

The engineering has come some way over the past decade, despite what look to me like very low R&D spending (some of which is subsidized by NREL contract research support). They haven’t done any big demo projects in a couple years, but did gradually increase the size of the windows they showed in these demonstrations, and they did announce about a year ago that they had made another big leap in efficiency with their SolarWindow thin film solar devices. From what I can tell, we’re nowhere near the point, even if we ignore cost, where large structural glass panels (like for a skyscraper) would be replaced with these near-transparent solar panels… but we’re probably closer than we were the last few times I looked.

And yes, making these panels is technically a process that involves a thin film spray/liquid, similar to a lot of manufacturing processes for displays and semiconductors, but despite the implication Siegel tries to make in his pitch this is NOT something you spray on an existing window to “make it solar” — it’s just a process in the fabrication of the window pane. Yes, you could theoretically replace existing windows with “Solar windows” if this technology becomes commercially viable one day, but it won’t be something you do to existing windows. And similar to conventional solar panels, you’d need a whole mess of wiring and equipment to harvest the electricity generated by these thin-film, semi-transparent photovoltaics.

I am not saying this to downplay the appeal of the idea… just the near-term hope for the investment. I would love to see every skyscraper generating a trickle of electricity from every window, it would create a lot more jobs and, in combination with improved battery storage, would cut down on the need for coal and gas power plants. It just doesn’t seem like they’re making very fast progress in going from “demonstration concept” to “proving commercial viability” and “actual commercialization.”

To share a little of my perspective and past skepticism, this is a little excerpt of what I said ten years ago when I first looked at this stock:

“… maybe Siegel’s right, maybe these guys will be to First Solar what IBM was to Smith Corona … I’m just not holding my breath….

“That’s not to say that you can’t make money from early stage technology companies, of course, just that you’re not going to be making money because they’re making money — this company, like many, is still proving its technology and trying to develop a commercial product, the stock may well move based on the recommendations of fairly high-volume newsletter folks like Jeff Siegel, but those moves aren’t going to be predictable (unless you happen to know what Siegel will say, and when he’ll say it … and even then, no guarantees). Like most stocks where the teaser writer promises lottery-like returns, it’s worth remembering that yes, most lottery tickets get torn up and thrown in the street in front of the 7-11.

“I don’t know what will happen with this company, and to a layperson the technology for both their products looks really cool … but that’s not enough reason for your friendly neighborhood Gumshoe to plunk down the college fund on this gamble. If I look more deeply into the company and change my mind, I’ll let you know.”

And here’s what I wrote in 2015, when Kent Moors was pitching the idea and betting on the fact that they were promising “commercialization by January 2018” (they were looking to raise money at the time):

“SolarWindow remains a very cool story, even though it appears to me, after viewing the presentation, that the actual demonstration windows so far are quite small and pretty deeply tinted and in need of the next iterative advancements in the science. But with at least two years until commercialization and no partners that I can see who are providing up front capital to fund them to that level (and signing license agreements), and only a very theoretical grasp of the potential economics of the product, it’s very, very speculative… and, as a story stock, there’s absolutely no relationship between the stock price and the actual operating business — it’s still a venture capital investment, it might hit or it might miss, and we won’t know for many years whether it hits or how much the technology is actually worth.”

I haven’t changed my mind yet, for what it’s worth, and I’m not terribly tempted to invest here. They’ve still reported no revenue over the 15 years since they reported their “windows generate electricity” breakthrough and began to refocus the company (called Octillion at the time) away from the “motion capture” power generation idea and toward “solar windows” … and those who’ve been paying attention, like Jeff Siegel, presumably, have been able to enjoy a long string of overpromising from the company along the way as their predicted path to commercialization has always extended out into the future.

This is how the company positioned itself at the beginning of 2020, in their CEO letter, when they got a little less specific in their “commercialization promises” than they had been in the past:

“Our goals are clear: to bring SolarWindow transparent electricity-generating glass products to market.

“With more than $16 million in cash and no debt (FYE 2019), we enter 2020 with ample financial and personnel resources in place to pursue our near-term goals.

“Currently, one of our priorities is to secure a joint venture manufacturing, production and marketing partnership.

“In anticipation of a possible joint venture agreement, we have ordered high-volume specialty-coatings equipment for our SolarWindow™ glass process, and are working towards creating the unique fabrication processes required to manufacture our electricity-generating glass products.”

That’s down to about $9 million now, they’ve used roughly $5 million in the past couple years (spending stalled in 2020, so I guess they were mostly hibernating at that point). And though they don’t issue press releases for their quarterly or annual reports, they do still have to file them — so you can see their latest quarterly report here. The good news? They say they have enough cash to get through the next twelve months, but they are no longer as forthcoming about what goals they’ll reach through that spending.

And the primary warning/risk factor? They have a control investor who could shake things up on a whim if he wanted (Harmel Rayat or John Rhee — depending on how their current lawsuits shake up, one of them will control roughly 70% of the shares). Rayat had reached that majority ownership after providing the company with $20 million in new cash that kept them afloat in 2018, so maybe it will be someone else who steps up to fund them in 2023, little passive shareholders like you and I are really riding in the wake of those folks. But that’s not the primary risk to the operating business… the big picture risk is probably similar to the risk we would have thought critical a decade ago — this is from the 2021 10-K, with the language about the same as it was a year ago:

“We have come to the point where larger, faster, and more precise equipment is necessary for all facets of technology and product development to continue and to be able to come to market with a commercially viable product. We, however, cannot accurately predict the amount of funding or the time required to successfully commercialize our technology. The actual cost and time required to commercialize these technologies may vary significantly depending on, among other things, the results of our research and product development efforts; the cost of developing, acquiring, or licensing various enabling technologies, changes in the focus and direction of our research and product development programs; competitive and technological advances; the cost of filing, prosecuting, defending and enforcing claims with respect to patents; the regulatory approval process; process manufacturing; marketing and other costs associated with commercialization of these technologies. Because of this uncertainty, even if financing is available to us, we may secure insufficient funding to effectuate our business plan….

“Commercialization of our technology will require significant further research, development and testing as we must ascertain whether our technology can form the basis for a commercially viable technology or product. If our research and development fails to prove the commercial viability of our technology, we may need to abandon our business model and/or cease doing business, in which case our shares may have no value and you may lose your investment. We anticipate remaining engaged in technology and product development for (a) specific product(s) through at least December 31, 2022.”

Overpromising is not necessarily the kiss of death, particularly in this segment of the market — Elon Musk spent years lying overpromising, and was able to use that marketing skill and his new-energy evangelism to raise incredible amounts of money, eventually build beloved products for at least a niche audience (so far), and build Tesla into a giant.

This doesn’t strike me as a Tesla-type company on the marketing or leadership front, and they don’t have a marketing figure like Elon Musk at the helm (though they did try to harness the magic by appointing one of Elon’s kids, Alexandra Musk, as a VP for business development a couple years ago)… but to some degree they’ve been at least trying to push the PR buttons for the past dozen years and have been making big promises about the long-term potential and have raised some money, so maybe they’re attempting to do their part in the “junior Musk mode” — I imagine it’s mostly the persistent failure to advance to a commercial product, exacerbated by the penny stock status and huge control shareholder, that’s holding them back from getting some broader appeal with mainstream investors. Hope springs eternal,

If you want some other perspective, there was an interesting piece from IEEE called “The Dawn of Solar Windows” in January of 2018 that mentions a few of the pending “transparent solar” projects that were in the lab at that time, including SolarWindow’s as well as some competing projects, and highlights some of the promise and the technological challenges those projects face.

To be fair, I was very skeptical of Tesla a decade ago (and more recently), too, and Tesla even had a product that was actually for sale at that time… so maybe I’m just too skeptical or cynical for these kinds of investments. Thankfully, you get to decide what to do with your money — so what’ll it be? Ready to jump on board the “solar window” train? Think it’s the breakthrough the world needs, and that they’re actually making enough progress to turn it into a product someday? Share my skepticism? Worried about the state of the company with the lawsuit between the new CEO and the former (maybe) controlling shareholder? I’d love to hear either way, just use the happy little comment box below to share your thoughts…

Irregulars Quick Take

Paid members get a quick summary of the stocks teased and our thoughts here. Join as a Stock Gumshoe Irregular today (already a member? Log in)
guest

12345

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

15 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
joseph Artone
Guest
joseph Artone
June 27, 2022 2:56 pm

Sounds like the future in a fireball of solar flares, think I’ll pass for now. Thanks for sharing!

Add a Topic
13040
timcoahran
Irregular
June 27, 2022 3:10 pm

I’ll repeat a little magic debunking on the idea itself. This window will never have a greater efficiency (read power per sq foot) than regular PV panels. Engineering folk tend to begin with assessing the total energy available in a resource, before thinking about how to harvest it. ANY square foot of sunshine is going to have X possible watts, and no more (attenuated by latitude, humidity, etc).

These partially transparent window panels, by definition, don’t even TRY to stop all the light that falls on them. Also, they don’t attempt to be placed at the best angle to the sun. Their primary advantages are that they can utilize locations that would otherwise go unused, and they might be located close to the point of final use (avoiding some electricity transport losses).

My educated guess is that they will not drive any utility scale power company out of business (as is sometimes breathlessly suggested). Will they someday get enough “cool factor” to make money for the company? That question is completely “above my pay grade!” I’ve been notoriously poor at guessing what buyers are going to consider emotionally “Cool.”

Add a Topic
5221
Add a Topic
3678
👍 461
Jimbo
Member
Jimbo
June 27, 2022 3:23 pm

Always do the opposite of anything Kent Moors says and you will make money.

Add a Topic
1567
👍 21716
👍 21716
Tacman
Member
Tacman
June 27, 2022 5:00 pm

It seems to me, what they admit by not having as yet created what they refer to as the unique fabrication processes required to manufacture their electricity-generating glass product, -is that they’re really nowhere’s for bringing the idea to fruition. Easy to demonstrate a concept you’ve yet to create. A fairy-tale at best. But then, whoever thought we’d have a big screen TV set less than a half inch thick? This company has been dragging their feet. What they really need, is to seek out Hunter Biden as executive VP!

Todd Johansen
Member
Todd Johansen
June 27, 2022 5:03 pm

I read an article about a company based out of Los Alamos that had real world prototypes of solar windows. They are not publicly traded but do have contracts with some traded companies. https://ubiqd.com/solar/
Also doing something related to increased yields from greenhouses related to their glass. Thought someone might be interested in this.

Add a Topic
5045
Rick Robbins
Guest
Rick Robbins
June 27, 2022 7:38 pm

Reminds me of a company that I bit the bullet on about 0 or more years ago. XSunX had come up with solar windows. Then it went into installing solar panel car ports and now the shares are pharma.

Add a Topic
13040
shaffled
Irregular
shaffled
June 28, 2022 1:19 am

Mr Moors has apparently pasted away in his sleep last weekend (June 18-19). His articles about his intrigues while working as an undercover operative for ‘mother’ where fascinating and informative. RIP Mr. Moors.

Lillian Mooradian
Irregular
Lillian Mooradian
June 29, 2022 10:16 am

Thanks for your insights into this promotion. Your information keeps me grounded and I appreciate that very much.

Sharon
Sharon
June 29, 2022 10:12 pm

Me too! Travis, no telling how much money I would have lost without you. Thanks for all your hard work.

👍 19
Richard Field
Guest
Richard Field
July 3, 2022 11:33 am

anybody know the fon no or address of SWDW corporate. I have a patent entitled Solar Window 4137098

Add a Topic
13040
Mikey
Irregular
Mikey
July 4, 2022 2:53 pm

I bought this year ago and they promised that within a year this stock will explode. Well, it did, all the way down. I exchange several emails with the CEO, and he kept encouraging to hold on. I suggested to him to contact the auto companies and convince them that, if possible, to spray the outside of cars with their coating to generate solar energy for vehicles of the future. That fell on deaf ears. I finally sold all my stocks at a loss. WNDW has been a pie in the sky.

Add a Topic
13040
Add a Topic
5045
alboer
July 16, 2022 11:42 pm

I have been looking at a company that is ahead of all others in this technology. If you are looking for a front runner check out Ubiquitous Energy ( Ui). I am still researching, I have see some of there work. I am not sure of the true size of the market. And the life cycle vs PayPayback on investment in this system.

Add a Topic
11385
frank_n_steyn
Irregular
September 15, 2022 3:00 pm

This sounds a great deal like what you would hear someone (I believe he would have been called a “barker”) shouting at one of those old-timey carnivals. Step right up ladies and gents, see the magic spray on light-bulbs, and over there … the bearded lady.

👍 471

We use cookies on this site to enhance your user experience. By clicking any link on this page you are giving your consent for us to set cookies.

More Info  
34
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x