Introduction
        For two years a USA solar panel manufacturer has been making a claim that violates the laws of physics. They claim to have a solar panel that outputs 2.3 kw/m^2, whereas the total power in bright sunlight is 1 kw/m^2 (approx @ earth's surface).  For reference conventional solar panels in bright sunlight output about 140 watt/m^2 (14% efficiency).

        Here is the true story of how I stumbled onto a million dollar solar scam/fraud, and how I pried open a look at the underlying crackpot physics when I discovered a recently published patent application by the DBK president. This is a fraud that the law somehow does not seem to be able to shut down.

Beginning
        I stumbled upon DBK Solar, a manufacturer of solar panels for homes, quite by accident. A local solar installer had a booth at a local fair in the fall of 2007. In their booth they had a large solar panel (5 ft x 3 ft, approx) that was marked 3,000 watts. At the time I basically knew nothing about solar panels, but as a power engineer I knew 3,000 watts was quite a bit of power, so being curious I dropped in and asked, "How many amps and volts?"  The man in the booth said he didn't know, saying the technical guy had just stepped out, so I picked up a sheet on the 3,000 watt panel and left. Unfortunately I did not really look at the panel.

What, 3,000 watts?
        It didn't take too long to realize that DBK's 3,000 watt panel was barely believable. Technology almost always evolves incrementally. If a new panel to the market can put out 10%-15% more power than competing products, then it's a significant technical advance and should be a strong product. DBK was claiming their panel puts out x18 (1,800% !) more power than competing panels the same size. Maybe a misprint, did they mean 300 watts? Nope, they state flat out you can replace 18 competing panels with one of theirs. DBK's web site on first glance looked real and (sort of) impressive. I was puzzled. This was either a world class breakthrough or a major scam.

Beyond the laws of physics
        The clincher that this was a scam soon came from physics. Having previously studied up on global warming, I knew that the total power of sunlight at the earth in space (above the atmosphere) is 1,370 w/m^2. When losses in the atmosphere are accounted for, the max solar power at the earth's surface (sun overhead, no clouds) is roughly 1,000 w/m^2. A little math showed the collecting area of the DBK's 3,000 watt panel is about 1.3 m^2 = (1.74 yd  x 0.90 yd x 0.836 m^2/yd^2).

        Hence even if every single photon from the sun (at every wavelength) was captured and converted to electricity (an impossibility), the most power the DBK panel could put out, assuming mirrors are not used to concentrate the sunlight, is 1,300 watts = (1,000 w/m^2 x 1.3 m^2). This would be for a panel that's 100% efficient. Most commercial solar panels this size put out about 200 watts (or a little less) for an efficiency of (200 w/1,300 w x 100%) = 15%, only a little better than solar cells of 40 years ago.

        Doing a little web surfing I found that what I had figured out about DBK Solar in fall 2007 others had figured out a year earlier. Goggling DBK Solar and scam brings up a bunch of hits. Anyone who knew anything about solar panels knew something wasn't right here. One guy was so upset he started a web site called Solar Scam.

Scam to fraud
        A claim of 3,000 watts indicates it is clearly a scam, but it's not a minor scam of the Ginsue knife variety. Each of these panels sells for $22,000! They are pieces of capital equipment. It would be more accurate to call this a major fraud.

        A further conclusion is that these 3,000 watt panels do not exist. You cannot make what the laws of physics forbid, and you cannot deliver what you cannot make. DBK in their two years of existence has obviously not manufactured or delivered a single 3,000 watt panel. Nor has the panel been photographed, tested, or approved by anyone, contrary to their claims.

How does this scam work?
        If your stupid enough, or gullible enough, you can order panels direct from DBK, and they will take your money. Of course, they demand 10% of the final cost up front, that's $2,200 up front per panel folks, to get put on a (so called) "waiting list". Not to worry though, the 10% deposit is labeled as "refundable". Good luck on getting a firm delivery date!

        From DBK's web site (see screen captures below) it appears that what DBK is primarily doing is selling dealerships. DBK is the scammer, the dealers are the scammees. My local DBK dealer (as of fall 2007) had his own web site (Solar Edison LLC) and the only panels that he indicated that he sold were make by DBK Solar. His site said he had been active at fairs and shows for months (pushing DBK panels), which appeared to be true. Rechecking his web site in March 2008, I find all mention of DBK Solar is gone. Now under products on his site I find only this, "Solar Edison represents a number of PV component manufacturers". (I had advised him months earlier via email that DBK Solar was a scam.)

        I've had email correspondence with another DBK dealer, who had been to DBK in Calif for training and told me some interesting stores. I tried to convince both DBK dealers that DBK panels could not possibly put out 3,000 watts hence DBK must be a scam, but clearly failed with my email correspondent. He is a true believer, hoping to make a million dollars (a week!) and promising to send me newspaper clipping when the technology hits the papers. Big bucks must be involved here, because DBK dealerships are being sold worldwide. I found a web site of a DBK solar dealer in Kuala Lumpur, Indonesia.

Dealer demo story
        One DBK Solar dealer with whom I communicated via email told me about his trip to DBK Solar headquarters in Calif where he went for training. He said most of the time was spent discussing contracts, but he and the other dealers were taken to see the factory, and what they were all waiting for, a demo of the 3,000 watt panel.

        First, the factory. They were driven, he said, to a large, impressive factory building and looked inside. It was empty. This they were told was the building that DBK Solar was negotiating to rent to make the production panels. (Everything with DBK Solar is either planned, proposed, will be or coming real soon!)

        Second, the demo. I was very curious as to how they could demo something that can't exist. Here is the story I was told by the DBK dealer.

        He said they rolled the panel out on a push cart in a warehouse under a skylight, and while still inside the warehouse under the skylight panel power output was already about 2 to 3 thousand watts. Wow! They then rolled it outside, and even though it was cloudy day and they made no effort to orient it toward the sun, the power output increased to 4 to 5 thousand watts. All the dealers were incredulous, he said!  Why, the dealers asked, are you rating this panel at only 3,000 watts? We want to be conservative, DBK told them.

        I asked in a followup email if the panel during the demo was connected to anything (a load). The answer was no, they just used meters to measure the power. Some of the dealers he said had even brought along their own power meters.

How did they do it?
        Assuming the DBK dealer was telling me the truth, and I think he was, then the question is how did they do it? How did they convince these new dealers that the panel was either putting out thousands of watts, or was capable of putting out thousands of watts? I have two ideas.

No load power measurement
       If the panel was not connected to resistors or light bulbs (a 'load'), then the panel was not actually putting out any power at all. For a panel to put out power there must be someplace for the power to go. A bare panel will have a voltage, but no load means no current, hence no power coming out (P = I x V). However, even without a load there is a way to get a rough measurement of the panel's power capability.

        To measure power (capability) without a load the voltage is measured (unloaded), and then the panel output wires are shorted and the current is measured. You get power by multiplying the voltage times the short circuit current. Typically this power number will be a little on the high side, but it is in the ballpark. A 200 watt GE solar panel, when measured this way, yields 266 watts (see spec below), 33% higher than the 200 watts it can actually put out.

First idea -- thin batteries
        I was told the panel was pretty thin with a bottom covered in plywood. The simplest way I can think of to fake high power is to hide some thin batteries under the panel. Typically the leads only need be shorted for a second or two to read the current, so it wouldn't take too much battery to get high current for a reading. High voltage batteries might also have been switched in to boost the open circuit voltage reading. Some skill, and likely additional (hidden) switches to switch batteries in and out, would probably be required to make it appear that the panel power was responding to the illumination.

Second idea --- Series/parallel switching
        Another idea I had was to add switches (hidden in back) to modify a conventional panel by changing its cells back and forth between series wired and parallel wired. In a normal solar panel the 60 to 72 silicon diode cells are all in series. The same current (5A to 8A) flows in all the cells and voltages of all the cells add up. However, it might be possible to modify a conventional panel so that groups of its cells could be switched back and forth from series to parallel.

        The idea would be to measure the voltage with the cells switched in series, and measure the current with the cells switched in parallel. In parallel mode the current of the cells will add. DBK claims their panel puts out x18 the power of a conventional panel. Looking at the online pictures of their test panel it looks like it has 72 cells. Suppose they hid 18 miniature series/parallel toggle switches in the back that were each wired to groups of four cells. Switching groups of four cells into parallel would increase the panel output current x18. (Of course it also reduces the output voltage by 1/18, but in parallel mode the voltage is not measured.)

        If each group of four cells was putting out, say 5A, then in parallel mode the meter would measure 90 A = (5 A x 18). Mirabile dictu, the power reading of the panel appears to have been increased by a factor of 18, just like DBK claims! A further advantage of this approach would be that the panel power would appear to change in a natural manner as panel illumination changed, but with all the power readings x18 higher than normal. Just an idea. I have no evidence that this is how it was done, but the integer relationship between 72 and 18 is suggestive.

Third idea ---- Use a capacitor (4/5/08)
        A poster in 2006 on the Energy Portal (see below) suggested another, quite simple, way the power reading could have been faked. If a large capacitor was connected to the panel output, it would be (slowly) charged to the voltage of the panel. When the panel (with parallel connected capacitor) is shorted to get the current reading, there will be high current pulse for a fraction of a second as the capacitor discharges. Most meters can be set to measure peak currents and 'hold' the value. When such a high peak current reading (mostly from the capacitor discharge) is combined with the open circuit panel voltage, the result will be a greatly increased (and erroneous) power capability for the panel.

Perfect scam?
        How can such a fraud continue for two years in the USA? It's very disturbing that the law has not shut this down. (I myself field a complaint with the state attorney general, but never even received confirmation that it had been received, much less acted on.)

        What bothers me is that these DBK scammers may make a clean getaway. They delay and delay making any deliveries, raking in as much money as they can from dealerships and wait-list fees, and then they will probably just declare 'bankruptcy', closing the scam and leaving everyone holding the bag.

DBK blog postings
        I found the following three blog postings (on two different sites) about DBK dealer relationships that are very revealing.

        I sent DBK my $4000 and then asked for my money back. The president Darry L Boyd Sr. put in writing that I would have my money back in 10-12 days. That was 4 months ago. They will not return my money and I know that they do not have any solar panels that work. (posted Dec 2007)

       New Solar Photovoltaic Cell Efficiency Record: 42.8%. The engineers at DBK Engineering www.dbksolar.com have proclaimed a FIL 3000 watt solar panel that is 70% efficient since 2005. They have stated that they don't care if anyone believes them or not, they perform demonstrations for interested investors that walk away unshakeable in their beliefs in these 50 lb. 1.3 sq.ft. meter panels. At their last demonstration the panels powered two 1850 watt hairdryers with the panel propped up in the shade of the afternoon. The watt meters showed they were producing 2800 watts plus with out any loading. Two of my partners flew from the east coast to California to attend this demonstration and are convinced that the Company and the panels are real. They are prepared to order one (since one replaces 18 of the nearest competitor's panels) at the cost of over $10,000.00. Also the franchise fees are $4,000.00 to reserve an area code and then $100,000.00 when you have sold $1,000,000.00 worth of systems. I will give anyone that can prove to me, so that I can prove to my partners, a $1,000.00 (One thousand dollars) that these panels and the company are a scam. If no one can do it, then I will join them and laugh all the way to the bank. If they are proven to be real then I will eat a dead crow live on U Tube after a public announcement and apology. ps. I am building a website this weekend with all the research that I have done so far. www.solarscams.com but none of it is definitive proof one way or the other. OH yea! They stated they are not interested in the Nobel Prize. George W. Penington

Michael Flynn said at September 12, 2007 08:26 AM:

        I visited DBK Solar in Carlsbad for a training session. They didn't get into the technical aspects of the product. They didn't get into the installation aspects either. They did show us a panel that produced 4100W indoors under a skylight and 5100W outdoors in the parking lot on a cloudy day. They downplay the output, encouraging us to stay conservatively at 3000W. I brought my own meter just for my own piece of mind. I'm not an expert, but don't you need a load to get an accurate reading of the power generated? We visited a very impressive facility that they were negotiating a lease on but they have not moved into it yet, after 6 months. I did purchase a dealership, on a gamble, and have kept in touch since. They have applied for certification in California and Florida has agreed to rubberstamp whatever California does. I can't sell the systems in Florida without the approvals, you can't apply for the rebates without approvals. The company is very secretive and odd, but I haven't given up yet. ndxtrader7@aol.com

        Yikes, this is a patent application describing DBK's 3,000 watt panel! I have downloaded it and read it. This patent application is self filed by the inventor (Boyd) without a patent attorney. It was filed on March 2, 2006, which is the month DBK announced their 3,000 watt panel. Here is the US patent office link to it.

            US Patent Application No 20070204899
         Photovoltaic cell solar amplification device

         It starts by showing (prior art) a conventional 5 x 3 panel rated at 165 watts with 36 cells each 6.6A. DBK's panel "Solar Integrated Circuit" is shown with the main solar cells wired to an integrated NPN transistor that (magically) multiplies the output current of the cells. The is referred to as "solar energy amplification"! The NPN transistor current gain (beta) is described as typically 25 in the text, and in the figure the output current is shown as the 6.6A multiplied by 25 (Iout = 25 x 6.6A = 165A).  The power rating of Boyd's 5 x 3 ft panel is shown as 2,970 watts = (165A x 18V), where 18V is 36 cells at 0.5V/cell.

        The application is very short and vague as hell. Four different band gaps are supposedly being used to absorb visible, ultra violet, infra red and deep infra red. There is zero information as to how this is done, no material information, no doping profiles, no nothing. The circuit configuration (with the NPN) makes absolutely no sense. The application starts by stating (correctly) that the solar spectrum has 1,000 watts per square meter, but how this absolute power limit is bypassed goes completely uncommented on.

        On top of everything else the patent application contains the most astounding typos  It looks like it was never even proof read. For example, fig 3 has the Max Power Current = 1,320 amps (was supposed to be 120 amps)! In the text instead of the clearly intended photon the word is proton.  Here's a typical sentence "The proton with this wavelength strikes the semiconductor dope electron and hole layers creating an electro magnetic electric field across the junction."

Review of DBK's patent application
        Basically what Boyd is claiming is that by integrating a bipolar transistor with a current gain of 25 into a solar panel he can multiply the current coming out of the cells by the current gain of the transistor (6.6A to 165A), and do this with the panel voltage remaining (nominally) unchanged. (Boyd appears to incorrectly use the unloaded voltage of 0.68V/cell for his conventional panel and the correct loaded value of 0.50V/cell for his new panel.) The huge increase in panel current to 165A combined with the voltage dropping (for unexplained reasons) from 25V to 18V gives a power increase for the panel of 18. (165 watts x 18 = 2,970 watts). A x18 power increase is totally consistent with DBK's marketing claim that one of their panels replaced 18 conventional panels.

       The physics and engineering in this patent application are complete and utter nonsense, total gibberish.

        There's nothing subtle about this patent. It's the electrical equivalent of a perpetual motion machine. For every 1,000 watts the sun puts in Boyd's invention with its solar energy amplification puts out 2,300 watts!

        My guess is that Darry L Boyd is a crackpot inventor and may in fact have convinced himself that he had made a huge breakthrough. It explains a lot about DBK. I can see him saying to himself, now all I have to do is work out the details. And he apparently wanted the patent application published (on the patent office web site), because he paid the patent office's $300 publishing fee.

        However, there are glaring inconsistencies, which should be obvious even to a crackpot. DBK has always concealed the amps and volts of their panel, which is the question I asked at the DBK fair booth. The panel output voltage is now revealed in the patent application to be only 18V. Yet DBK markets one of its panels mated to various (DC to AC) inverters all of which require a minimum input voltage of 150 V. The pairing obviously cannot work. This just shouts fraud.

Power amplification claim
        Boyd in his patent application claims he has invented, "A method for power amplification of photovoltaic generated source." What crackpots, like Boyd, don't understand is that in an isolated system (like a solar panel) it is impossible amplify power. You can't get out more power than the sun puts in, period, it's impossible. To claim otherwise is the electrical equivalent of claiming to have invented a perpetual motion machine!

        But a crackpot might retort, 'A transistor can amplify current (true), and a transistor's output power can be higher than its input power (also true), therefore isn't it obvious that transistors can amplify power?' Well maybe to a crackpot, which might explain why Boyd has a transistor (NPN structure) integrated into his solar panel, but real engineers understand that what is really going on is that the power in a transistor's output comes from an external power supply.

A look at the DBK Solar web site
       This section has a bunch of screen captures from DBK Solar's site (http://www.dbksolar.com). Most were captured on 3/5/08. Here is the DBK 'Welcome' (sounds impressive, no?). Notice they "unveiled" their 3,000 watt panel in March 2006, so we are now about two years into the scam/fraud.

       "DBK  is a designer, manufacturer and builder of alternative energy systems: solar panels, solar systems, fuel cells, solar based fuel cell generators and solar based fuel cell  power plants in California, America and throughout the World. We design, build, package and install module solar power plants, solar based fuel cell generators and solar systems for homes and the commercial sector. Our focus is on reducing the cost of using and producing electric energy to our clients. DBK is your one-stop provider for your clean fuel (solar) energy needs."

       "DBK’s technologically advanced solar electric power products (solar cell systems, solar based fuel cells, and solar based fuel cell generators) offer high quality and customer value. They are all based on crystalline silicon, the material of choice for efficiency and reliability for more than 25 years. In March of 2006, DBK unveiled the world must efficient and powerful solar panel 3,000 watts. We are going to be offering a full line of photovoltaic (PV) cells, solar modules, fuel cells and complete packages for residential, commercial and industrial systems."

DBK's other sites
        DBK has several other web sites besides solar that together try and give the impression that it is a large energy company. The potemkin village that they have build (online) is quite remarkable. Below is a screen capture from the DBK corporate site --- http://dbkcorporation.com

        If you Google DBK Solar Utilities of California or DBK Solar Utilities of Nevada you get only one hit, this site. What do you think is the odds that these companies actually exist?.

        In 5 min online I located the above image. It is in fact the Rote Jahne Solar Park in Saxony, Germany, and at 6 MW (peak) it is one of the largest solar panel arrays in the world. It's built with about 100,000 60 to 70 watt (60 to 70 V @ 1A), thin film cadmium, 10% efficient, modules made by the USA solar company, 'First Solar', based in Arizona. Surprise, surprise, DBK had nothing whatsoever to do with it!

Competitor solar panel
        Here is what a spec on a real solar panel looks like. Below is a screen capture from GE 200 watt solar panel, which is about 12% bigger in area than the DBK 3,000 watt panel (GE GEPVp-200 solar panel spec). (Notice it is speced and tested at 1,000 watt/m^2, which is the standard test value for bright sunlight on the earth's surface.)

        I am attaching Darry Boyd's patent application for his 3,000 watt solar panel with power amplifying technology. Note the correspondence address on the application is the address of DBK Solar, its filing date matches the date DBK 'unveiled' its new panel, and its 3,000 watt rating and power boost factor of 18 matches DBK's marketing claims, so there is little doubt that this discloses the technology underlying DBK's revolutionary solar panel claims. It's also likely that the identification of Darry Boyd as DBK's president by an unhappy DBK dealer is correct.

A patent application is not a patent
        Note below is not a patent, not a provisional patent, it is just a patent application. While patent applications from companies are virtually all written by patent attorneys, anyone is free to write an application and submit it directly to the patent office and some individual inventors do. The patent office normally sits on applications for about 18 months, and then if you pay a steep extra fee (currently $300) it makes them public by publishing them on their web site. The fact that an application is on the patent office web site does not imply that patent office has reviewed it or has in any way approved of it. It only means only that the application was received over 18 months ago and is awaiting review.

        The structure on the right marked (110, 115, 135) is the (magic) 'power amplifying'  NPN transistor that (supposedly) boosts the current and power out of the panel. From 6.6A to (about) 120 amps (1,320 amps I think is a typo) and from 165 watts to (about) 3,000 watts, both boosted by a factor of 18, which is exactly the boost factor DBK claims in their marketing literature. The three other PN structures (supposedly) capture different parts of the solar spectrum and (somehow) assist in the (theoretically impossible) power amplification.

Footnote
       You can find all US patents (& published patent applications) on the US patent web site, but to see patents in full (with the figures) takes special software, since patent page "images" are in an oddball .tif format. So to circumvent that problem I downloaded Boyd's entire patent application and have attached it except for two figures, one of which duplicates the cover figure and the other is a minor, auxiliary figure.

DBK principals & addresses (3/19/08 update)
        Darry L. Boyd, San Diego CA. (Founder & President) --- In dozens of listing for different products on powersourcing.com Darry L. Boyd is the contact name for DBK  A 2007 blog posting identifies him as president of DBK Solar, 300 Carlsbad Village Dr. #108A,  Carlsbad, California 92008. An alternate address for Boyd --- Darry Boyd • P. O. Box 32761 • Palm Beach Gardens, Florida 33410 • (877) 325-7693.  Another alternate address for Boyd (from his 2004 patent filing) is Darry L. Boyd, P.O. Box 261358, San Diego CA, 92196. Possible residence --- DBK Corporation, 6809 Corintia Street, Carlsbad, CA 92009. (DBK Solar locations are given as Carlsbad, CA and Palm Beach Gardens, FL). Darry L. Boyd may also be know as Darry K. Boyd (see below).

        The picture of Boyd below was found on the (2006) web site of a Malaysian DBK Solar dealer.

       Deborah Valentino, Vice President Marketing, DBK Corporation, Carlsbad CA  --- (from a signature on Feb 20, 2008 letter to Senate Majority Leader,  Harry Reid, from American Council on Renewable Energy). A powersourcing.com lists the DBK contact as,  D. Valentino, 300 Carlsbad Village Dr. #108A,  Carlsbad, California 92008,  (877) 325-7693,  (760) 918-6643. In Dec 2006 a blogger posted this email he received from Deborah Valentino of DBK

         "As for the rumors I'm sorry to say I know of the website you have mention and they are an oil company who really doesn't want our customers to use solar. Our solar system does what we say it does. The system has been third party tested and is approved by the IEC. We are having a demonstration of the system for Dealers within the next few weeks and we may have another one for purchasers if we get enough participates, if you are interested in viewing this demonstration I will put you on the list and please come and view the JIL-3000 here in San Diego, CA." (Dec 2006 blog posting of an email from Deborah Valentino of DBK's San Diego office)

         Patent application 20050174992 A1    self written patent filing by Darry Boyd and Ray Files
                                                                            (Feb 9, 2004)

        Young Yang, Ph.D., DBK Corporation, 300 Carlsbad Village Dr. Suite 108A #327, Carlsbad, CA 92008, 877-325-7693, 760-918-6643 (fax)  (from a 2006 DBK email posted to a blog)

        (3/28/08) The web site of my local DBK Solar dealer (Solar Edison LLC, Salisbury MA,  www.solaredisonllc.com) appears to have recently gone down. According to a local newspaper story (below) as of Feb 20, 2008 they were expanding, though by that time DBK Solar no longer appeared in their product list.
        http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080220/NEWS/80220006/-1/BIZ&sfad=1

     (3/30/08) It's not just a solar scam --- Here is a fuel cell blog posting from a guy who says he is a "dealer for www.dbkengineering.com" and "I control DBK distribution for the 936 area code." He is trying to raise 13 million dollars from investors to build a 10 meg DBK solar/hydro plant in Texas. Yikes!

   http://www.fuelcells.org/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=7&topic_id=176&mesg_id=403&page=

        (4/3/08) A lot stuff from DBK's site also appears on a fairly large site called ParaSolar.net, which is based in Malaysia. Parasolar boasts of planning to invest billions of dollars in DBK technology (!!) by building 50-200 mw solar installations in Asia by 2010!  For perspective the 6 mw German solar plant (included in this essay) is currently one of the largest in the world.

        http://parasolar.net/innovators.html

        My take is either the Malaysian, Dato’ Zainal Abu Zarin, Founder and President of ParaSolar, bought the DBK story hook, line and sinker, or Boyd found an associate. Interestingly the Parasolar site includes a  picture of Darry Boyd, labeling him "Founder and President of DBK Corporation Inc", which I put into his bio above.

        (4/4/08) A patent search reveals that Darry L. Boyd has been granted one patent (D384,298, "Load Gauge Block", filed Nov 2, 1995). Note the prefix 'D', this is not a 'real' patent. Technically it's a 'design patent'. It consists only of a sketch of an "ornamental" object and has no text. It appears that Boyd filed this himself and on it lists his residence as 1314 Oceanaire, San Luis Obispo, CA. 93405
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Another piece of the puzzle drops into place (4/3/08)
        In 2007 DBK began making the claim that their 3,000 watt solar panels were "IEC 61215 approved". This always seemed to me like a strange/oddball claim, but now it makes some sense.

        I recently came across a company in the UK named, DBK Technitherm Ltd, that sells solar panels that are "IEC 61215 Certified". These appear to be the real thing, solar panels that have been tested and approved by the European testing agency IEC. Lists of approved products are always available from testing agencies, so this means that DBK Solar of Carlsbad CA can open up an IEC listing and show customers that there is indeed an IEC approved DBK solar panel! How is this possible?

        It's possible because these 'DBK'  solar panels are only 20 to 80 watt. They are made in the UK by a company that is part of the "DBK Group" of companies based in Germany, founded in 1946 and totally unrelated to DBK Solar, Carlsbad CA.  Boyd is trading on the similar name of a legitimate UK/German solar panel manufacturer.

         http://www.uk-solarpanels.co.uk/dbk801.html
         http://www.uk-solarpanels.co.uk/

Early warning of DBK fraud (4/5/08)
        Articles on DBK in early 2006 in the Lassen County News brought this May 23, 2006 letter to the editor of Lassen County News (I think) warning about DBK solar technology from Scott Forest in Palo Alto (see below). He says "DBK panel is impossible" and  "The company DBK Solar is a fraudulent operation." Yup!

        The link below to Mar 2006 postings on 'Energy Portal' on DBK's 3,000 watt solar panel show that several knowledgeable posters more than two years ago recognized that DBK's 3,000 watt claim was absurd and strongly suspected a scam.

        http://energy.edu.pl/oil-1475.html

Here's a link to dozens of blog posting from summer 2006 warning of DBK Solar fraud. The page is titled: "This Solar Panel company (DBK Solar) needs to be investigated"

        http://www.peakoil.com/fortopic23144.html

DBK Solar address
One poster in 2006 to the Energy Portal blog added:
        "Yea, the company (DBK Solar) is right up the road from me. It happens to be a UPS store mailbox."

        I checked and poster is correct. Below is a screen caputure from UPS site showing the address of its UPS store in Carlsbad AZ, which is 300 Carlsbad Village Dr. #108A, Carlsbad, California 92008. This matches exactly the address of DBK Solar and DBK engineering!

DBK ENGINEERING general contractor license info (4/5/08)
         Someone on solar scam web site dug out link to CA general contractor license info (DBK License Number: 843836). It has two interesting pieces of information on DBK ENGINEERING & CONSTRUCTION, 300 CARLSBAD VILLAGE DR #108A, CARLSBAD, CA 92008.

        * DBK Engineering certifies that it has no employees
        * Solely owned by Darry Lafayette Boyd

        In other words DBK Engineering is a one man (zero man?) company and that man is Darry Lafayette Boyd. Here is the link to the CA general contractor license info:

        http://www2.cslb.ca.gov/General-Information/interactive-tools/check-a-license/License+Detail.asp

==========================================================

Update (8/15/08)
        Natco International, which is being taken over by Boyd's Lassen Energy, changed its Over the Counter symbol from ncii to nciie for a week or so, and then back to ncii again. Weird. I notice that most of the price history of the stock on the Over the Counter charts seems to have been cleared by this maneuver, so I'm betting that is why  this swap was done.

Here is the latest business announcements from Natco.

        Lassen Energy Inc. Successfully Completes Panels in Preparation for Testing (8/15/08)
        http://www.centredaily.com/business/technology/story/779423.html

        The announcement says test panels are built and test "results will be forth coming"   Surprise, surprise, no picture. And no info on what size panels or how many were built, who built them or where they were built, what was the cost, who will do the testing, and no date given as to when the results will be forth coming. Quite the announcement.

        I know as a power engineer that if the sun is shining a quick test of the power potential of a solar panel can be obtained in minutes using nothing more than standard digital meter. Do you suppose that maybe, just maybe, the next announcement (in a few weeks or months) will be that the test criteria have been met. I'd take that bet.

        Lassen Energy Inc. Secures Funds to Build Hybrid Solar Panel Test Models (June 26, 2008)
http://app.quotemedia.com/quotetools/newsStory.go?storyId=9773771&topic=NCIIE&symbology=null&cp=off

        What, the panels they need to demonstrate they can get more power out than the sun puts in, don't exist? Surprise, surprise.... But they're coming real soon.... (Maybe Boyd forget that all he needed to do was borrow a 3,000 panel for the test from his company DBK Solar, which claims to have been making deliveries for months.)

Update (4/23/08)
        A second business announcement about the pending Natco & Lassen merger was released 4/21/08 by Natco's PR/investor relations firm with merger details provided next day in a Natco SEC 8-K filing. Here are the links:

NATCO Executes a Share Exchange Agreement with Lassen Energy Inc. (4/21/2008)
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?feed=BW&date=20080421&id=8513494

        The key information provided is that Darry Boyd is (essentially) taking over Natco
                --- Darry Boyd will become CEO
                --- Darry Boyd will own 92.5% of the shares of the merged company
                --- Natco will change name to P2Solar (& OTC symbol change is planned too)

        The 4/21/08 'Share Exchange' business release speaks of a 90 day period where shares are held in escrow until Lassen (meaning Boyd) can verify its solar technology, saying that Natco is allowed to hire an outside expert.

A more detailed look
        However, a look at the Natco 4/22/08 SEC 8-K filing puts a very different spin on this (so called) verification of technology.

        --  Natco is allowed to hire an outside expert, but is not required to. (So apparently the only one that need be satisfied is Raj Gurm of Natco, and what does he know about solar panels?)

        -- The (so-called) verification consist in showing that Lassen's 3,000 watt solar panel meets its specs, which are detailed in the 8-K filing. However, a look at this (so-called) specification show it is nothing more than DBK Solar's 3,000 watt panel 'specification', which of course is not an engineering specification at all, just a meaningless jumble of numbers. So in reality the merger 'technology verification' is a joke.

Bottom line
        So what's the point of this merger?  Mergers of SEC registered companies are widely publicized. The buzz of a merger and claims of exciting new technology reaching a wide new audience, like investors that follow microcap stocks, is bound to attract attention to Natco's stock (OTC symbol: ncii). In fact it has more than doubled since the first Feb merger announcement. I'm sure someone as creative as Darry Boyd can figure out how to make money from this!
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Lassen Energy, P2Solar, & Darry Boyd (4/4/08)
        Is P2Solar's Darry K. Boyd the same as Darry L. Boyd, CEO & Founder of DBK?  Is Lassen Energy (aka P2Solar) another 'company' of DBK's Boyd? Very likely, consider:

    On Feb 25, 2008 Lassen Energy (Doing Business As -- P2Solar) signed a binding agreement to be sold to NATCO Intl Inc., Surrey, 204, 13569 - 76 Avenue, British Columbia V3W 2W3) as reported by Reuters.com (below)

        "Mr. Raj Gurm, President of NATCO, announced that on February 22nd, 2008, the Company entered into a Binding Letter of Agreement (the "Letter Agreement") with Lassen Energy, Inc. ("Lassen"), a company incorporated in the State of California, and all of its shareholders for the acquisition of all the issued and outstanding shares of Lassen, subject to the terms and conditions of the Letter Agreement."

Here's Lassen Energy as described in the Reuters 2/25/08 press release above

        "Lassen has patented a revolutionary solar power generating system that incorporates advanced solar and fuel cell technologies to produce energy at a superior performance efficiency level.

       The principal of Lassen is Darry K. Boyd.

        Darry K. Boyd, BS in electronic engineering and graduate studies in physics, the Chairman and CEO of Lassen, is a general engineering contractor with a Class A license, and is a specialist in constructing power plants and manufacturing. He has 30 years of experience in the construction of many power plants and manufacturing projects."

Capital Group Communications, Inc.
(San Francisco Bay area)
Investor Relations
Mark Bernhard, VP Corporate Communications
Office: 415-332-7200
Fax: 415-332-7201
www.capitalgc.com

        Capital Group Communications is a PR firm that represents clients like DirecTV and (interestingly) P2Solar. P2Solar is just a site name for 'Lassen Energy Inc'. Here's an excerpt from the P2Solar/Lassen  site describing their management.

"Darry Boyd, President / CEO

        An accomplished scientist and businessman, Boyd uses his knowledge of engineering and physics to foster technological progress,while his executive acumen ensures market viability for the technologies he backs. He is currently working with an international team of talented professionals to bring new solar and hydrogen technology to the market and, in turn, the masses." (www.p2solar.com) (4/4/08)

        Here's an image from the P2Solar site called the P2Team. Wow, this is familiar!  The same picture is on the DBK Solar site where these guys are described (probably accurately) as DBK Solar dealers at training!

        http://www.p2solar.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5&Itemid=6

        "Lassen Energy Inc. is dedicated to bringing high tech solar and hydrogen systems into the mainstream. Our mission is to provide green sustainable energy 24 hours 7 days a week. This will be accomplished by reducing the overall cost of solar and hydrogen energy through our new technology. Lassen Energy will be manufacturing and building high tech solar panels and hydrogen fuel cells at a record low cost of a dollar per watt. Lassen Energy will also incorporate these high tech systems into our power plants, commercial businesses and residential applications worldwide" (http://www.p2solar.com) (4/4/08)

       "In a typical JIL Solar Panel there are two parts. One part A which we called the cornerstone, which is multi-junctions multi-layers device. Part B which we call the legacy has previous storage energy in it. Part A and B is tied together in a photosynthesis arrangement to release 3000 watts of energy." (http://www.p2solar.com,  4/4/08)

Summarizing the Lassen Energy(P2Solar)/DBK Solar relationship
        Lassen Energy (aka P2Solar) has a CEO with the same name as DBK Solar (Darry Boyd), and they claim to be in the same business as DBK Solar (manufacturing solar panels and hydrogen fuel cells), and they claim to have a solar panel with the same rating as DBK Solar (3,000 watt), and the solar panel has the same 'new' technology (multi-junctions multi-layers), and what do you know, they have the same telephone number (877 -325-7693) and the same business address (300 Carlsbad Village Dr Suite 108A, Carlsbad, CA 92008), which it turns out is just a UPS post office box!

        What do you suppose are the odds that Lassen Energy/P2Solar is another front company of DBK Solar's Darry Boyd?  I'm betting 100%.

P2Solar's whopper claim
        Here is P2Solar (only) current project according to its web site (4/6/08).

        "Lassen County Project is ongoing project which consists of 200 megawatts of clean green solar hydrogen energy. We are currently in the permitting stages of this project and hope to break ground before the end of 2008. This plant will be the largest in the world when completed supply clean green renewable energy 24 hours and 7 days a week." http://www.p2solar.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=52&Itemid=55

      And gee, officials of Lassen County in 2007 don't seems to know anything about plans to build the world's largest solar plant in their county. I wonder why? Here's a screen capture from a presentation of public officials of Lassen country about renewable energy projects in the country, dated Mar 2007 (link here) . Clearly no mention of a Lassen 200 mw solar plant.

DBK Solar early claims & ties to Lassen County (4/5/08)
        DBK has been making absurd claims as far back as 2005. This information comes from 2005 and 2006 articles in a local newspaper in Lassen County CA (northest corner of CA).

        "The largest solar power plant in the world is scheduled to break ground in April of 2006 near Amedee Field in Herlong (Lassen county CA)...Plans are in the works to make the plant a 200-megawatt unit!!" (Lassen County News, 11/1/05)

         http://lassennews.com/News_Story.edi?sid=2931

      "DBK Corporation originally announced plans to construct the world’s largest solar power plant near Amedee Field back in November 2005." (Lassen County News, 2/27/06)

        "According to its Web site (as of Feb 2006), DBK Corporation “is a designer, manufacturer and builder of alternative energy systems: solar panels, solar systems, fuel cells, solar based fuel cell generators and solar based fuel cell power plants in California, America and throughout the world.”(Lassen County News, 2/2706)