Power Of The Urban Wind: Mariah Power CEO Mike Hess (Part 6)

SM: What impact do you expect the stimulus bill to have on your business?

MH: We have a couple of things. The stimulus package which gave rebates such as the 30% federal tax rebate has been extremely helpful in terms of what it is doing. The economy is still hurt because people are still holding onto their cash. I am not a big fan of the stimulus package itself because it is too focused on infrastructure. It is about building structures such as factories or buildings. It is not necessarily market based. We got about $3 million in grants to help us expand our plants next year. We got a grant to build a new building if we choose to. However, we are a startup so we do not have the cash to do that. Most of those grants have a three-year window, so we will see how far we can get in that time to determine if we can take advantage of those grants.

Long term, we have to look outside of the United States. We can look at the EU. In Africa we can do remote power in areas that struggle for energy. We have a very low-cost unit that they can put up to drive their power needs.

SM: Are you servicing Latin America, India, or Africa right now?

MH: I am in discussions with different companies there to license distributions so we can start selling the product there. It takes time to build up a dealer network. If I start now, I might have a dealer network in the EU by next year.

SM: Where are you starting in the EU?

MH: Some of the first conversations we have had were in Denmark. We are working with folks there for distribution for Scandinavia and northern Germany. We have already been certified by EDF in France and we have 15 units there. We are putting in some units in downtown Paris. The more we can put units in the field and get people to see and use them, the more people will be attracted to them. They are aesthetically pleasing and virtually silent.

SM: It is very difficult for companies to venture out and try to create their own market. Your market seems to be materializing.

MH: As I sit here today and look, I wish I had built a slightly bigger one first. I think we would have had an easier time introducing the product and getting it to market. However, we probably would have had a harder time getting it developed.

SM: A bigger product would have gone to the rural areas first, right?

MH: Yes. The propeller versions were so staked out in the rural areas that it would have been a difficult challenge to get people to accept it. By putting them into botanical gardens or sustainable sites, people can see the logic of what you are doing. You can create mindshare and get people to buy into what you are trying to do in the long run. A lot of our dealers bought in and spent the first six to nine months just getting up to speed with the technology. They are just now starting to sell units.

This segment is part 6 in the series : Power Of The Urban Wind: Mariah Power CEO Mike Hess
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