Henderson company has big plans for portable solar

By Dylan Scott

Friday, Oct. 22, 2010 | 2:05 a.m.

Ian Dixon’s dream started as a mere suggestion from his 11-year-old son, Michael. As the boy helped Dixon install solar panels on the roof of a house, Michael asked innocently why his father didn’t put the panels on the ground.

An idea was born.

At its office on Pabco Road in Henderson, Dixon and his company, Saving Energy Solar, on Tuesday debuted its newest product: A portable, personal energy trailer system. Call it PETS for short.

Able to fit on a towing trailer, PETS are a solar-powered, cost-effective source of electricity.

The real-life possibilities, Dixon said, are practically endless. The company has contacted the government about using the trailers in emergencies, but an energy consumer anxious to “get off the grid” might find one just as appealing.

Although no price has been set, if production picks up, Dixon estimated his units would be substantially cheaper than the $25,000 or so it costs to install a rooftop system. With the right space, about a quarter-acre, one PETS could power a house for 25 years, he said.

Or it could be airlifted onto a hospital’s roof in the aftermath of a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina.

Saving Energy Solar’s biggest asset is innovation, said Dixon, its CEO, who began his career as an electrical and mechanical engineer in the British Royal Army. He dabbled in real estate in the valley, but after the housing bust, Dixon came back to his roots, he said.

“It takes capitalism to restart an economy, people investing in their own communities,” he said.

Another brainchild that Dixon, who has lived in Las Vegas for seven years, and his company are developing is a solar-powered shower trailer that could power itself and purify water anywhere, even in a desert in Afghanistan, Dixon said.

For now, though, much of Dixon’s plans are still only that — plans — as he tries to take Saving Energy Solar from a research and development group to a manufacturing firm. He said he has met with hedge fund investors and foreign banks in search of financing.

If he can secure the funding, Dixon hopes to start a manufacturing plant on Pabco Road — possibly offering 500 to 1,000 jobs — and set up distribution hubs throughout the U.S., he said.

Henderson Mayor Andy Hafen presented Dixon and Michael with Certificates of Recognition at Thursday’s media event. Hafen’s father and two uncles live near Caliente, a town of 1,000 in eastern Nevada, and have lived on solar energy for 10 years, he said. So Dixon’s mission is close to his heart.

“This is a great opportunity,” Hafen said. “We need to also be sustained by entrepreneurs like Ian Dixon...Keep up the good work.”

Dixon pledged to do so. After all, he has lofty goals. His company’s motto? “Changing the Global Carbon Footprint.”