TM editors’ note: This article discusses a penny stock and/or microcap. Such stocks are easily manipulated; do your own careful due diligence.

In the battered and beaten solar sector, one company is still standing and getting ready to reinvent itself for what could be a very interesting sunrise. Ascent Solar Technology Inc. (ASTI), is going to be the company to put solar in places where solar is not usually found. They are looking to be more adaptive and flexible with what they call “niche solar” and with their new cutting-edge CIGS (Copper, Indium, Gallium, Selenide) photovoltaic technology on flexible, plastic substrate is set to go all over this world and beyond.

ASTI, like many solar companies, got its start as oil prices soared out of control. The world was desperate for alternatives to oil when many in the world thought that we were running out of oil and many solar companies surge on ‘”peak oil” optimism.

Solar companies soared and so did ASTI with their stock hitting a high of $248 dollars a share as the company and Wall Street felt they had a superior consumer solar product that could fit the needs of America and the world that was soon looking for ways to keep their latest smartphone charged.

They started a consumer business called “Enerplex” products that made solar and battery power banks for smartphones. It was a top-notch product with superior technology. Yet in the world of consumer products, sometimes having a better product isn’t the only key to success (remember Beta vs. VHS?). If consumers are not aware that a superior product is better, or even needed, they may settle for cheaper alternatives which they believe might satisfy their needs. Worse, the market was saturated with a flood of cheap Chinese knockoffs and it was difficult for consumers to initially discern the difference.

There was also the solar panel business that many retail companies wanted to buy from ASTI, but that business was hit by harsh conditions as major retailers started to go the way of the horse and buggy. One of their biggest customers, the Sports Authority, went bankrupt and closed its door. This led to people questioning the viability of this company and many predicted that ASTI would be just another victim to the solar craze and end up on the dust heap of solar history. There were concerns about their balance sheet after the retail business had challenges and the stock price suffered.