Maker of innovative home wind turbine reaches manufacturing stage
WESTBROOK, Maine — June 6, 2013 – This week Pika Energy has taken a major step toward commercialization by moving into its new company headquarters in Westbrook. Newly hired Director of Operations Bill Hetzel will build out the space to launch production of the T701 Wind Turbine and related electronic components. Pika Energy will go to market later this year with its initial suite of products that enable homeowners to own cost-effective wind and wind-solar hybrid energy systems.
Pika Energy moved to its new location at 35 Bradley Drive, #1 in Westbrook, increasing the company’s footprint from a basement start-up operation to a 4,300 square-foot manufacturing facility. The currently 8-person company plans to add technicians, engineers, and business employees as its scales its manufacturing operation. President and co-founder Ben Polito said, “This is an exciting time at Pika as we transition from an R&D operation into a leading manufacturer of clean distributed generation systems. Today Pika has achieved two key milestones on this path by moving into an expandable facility and adding a deeply experienced manufacturing leader to our team.”
Director of Operations Bill Hetzel recently joined Pika Energy from his longtime role as Plant Manager at Tom’s of Maine. Over his 13 years at Tom’s, the manufacturer grew into a nationally-distributed leader in all-natural, premium quality toothpastes and personal care products. Hetzel shares roots with the Pika Energy co-founders with his masters degrees in chemical engineering and management from MIT.
“I joined the Pika team because I saw incredible potential in the REbus DC microgrid technology,” said Bill Hetzel. “The lean manufacturing operation we are building at our new facility in Westbrook gives us a great chance to be successful in the future landscape of the renewable energy industry.”
Pika products will be available for sale in North America in mid-2013.
About Pika Energy, Inc.
Founded in 2010 by MIT-trained engineers, Pika Energy develops high-performance, cost-effective small wind turbines and related electronic components for the residential market. Pika Energy’s X3001 inverter and T701 Wind Turbine run on REbus™ DC Microgrid, an intelligent energy networking technology that makes it easy to build flexible, plug-and-play clean energy systems. The company’s mission is to build distributed clean energy systems that give customers faster payback on their investment. For more information, please visit: www.pika-energy.com.