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September 23, 2009

Camden Nat'l sues Ascendant Energy

By The Mainebiz News Staff

Court actions continue to pile up against an energy company proposing a solar panel manufacturing plant in Rockland.

Camden National Bank filed a lawsuit this week in 6th District Court in Rockland against Ascendant Energy Co. for more than $19,000 owed on a loan, according to VillageSoup. The bank claims the money is owed from more than $23,000 the company borrowed from the bank in April 2007.

Ascendant's other recent legal problems include a judgment filed in August in Knox County Superior Court on behalf of a former employee for reimbursement of nearly $13,000 in purchases the employee made for the company. Also, in July, a $62,000 attachment was filed in Knox County Registry of Deeds on behalf of Portland Insulation for payment of work owed, according to the news service.

This summer Ascendant Energy founder and CEO Chris Straka blamed the sour economy for the company's problems, but told the news service that he intends to apply for a $200,000 Community Development Block Grant in March 2010 to support the project. He announced plans in April to build a $5 million solar panel manufacturing facility that would employ 39 people and in June received a $575,000 grant from the Maine Technology Institute.

Go to the article from VillageSoup >>

Reader comments

From Lynn Bromley (Wed 9/23/2009 2:45 PM)

The economy is bad and things are tight and it's expensive to move from good idea to market here in New England...this isn't news to any of us.

But it is innovation, our Yankee ingenuity if you will, (and thus risk taking) that is the essential ingredient in our economic future.

I know nothing of the specifics of Ascendant Energy and Camden National Bank but earnestly hope that all reasonable efforts were exhausted before this action was taken.

Within the parameters of sound business practice we must do all that is possible to support innovation in Maine's small business sector in general but most profoundly and particularly - with our niche manufacturers.

I do hope that considering the extraordinary help and support that many banks have received with the TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) that these same banks are then in a position to also extend extraordinary help, support, and creative problem solving to Maine's struggling small business community.

It would seem that only those situations where the parties are unwilling to engage in such a process ought then result in court action.

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