Rod Smith

Kingston, ON (CAN)
Role(s):
Founder/Owner/Principal

Scimech Solutions inc

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Location: Kingston
Industry: Energy
Year Founded: 2008
Number Employees: 1-10 people
Description: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY MISSION STATEMENT To provide safety to fishstocks presently endangered by water intake systems by bringing the company’s patented fish protective device to the market, thereby providing a substantial benefit to the environment without negative economic impact to industry and/or agriculture. THE COMPANY Balaton Power Corporation S.A. (“BSA”) was incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas in 1998. BSA owns the patent rights for a unique, affordable fish protective device (“Pisces”) in several jurisdictions, including Canada (Canadian Issued Patent No.: 2367961), United States (United States Patent No.: 6641328), United Kingdom and Germany (European Patent No: 1163398). Its directors are Andrew Finneran and Rodney Smith. The company was incorporated in the jurisdiction due then to the international marketing focus of the company and the world-wide application and appeal of its premier product. In 2008, BSA transferred patent ownership rights to Scimech Solutions Inc. (“SSI”), a Canadian company whose directors and officers are Andrew Finneran (Chairman), Rod Smith (President & Director) and P. A. Trudel, C.A. (Director & Corporate Secretary). Also, the company has an understanding with an internationally recognized expert (PhD)in the fish protection sector who will join the company as soon as structure and financing are secured. SSI intends to incorporate a USA based subsidiary for its USA business activities. THE PRODUCT SSI’s main product is a unique, patented fish protective device known as Pisces, which effectively and economically prevents the ingestion of fish stocks and debris into water-feed intakes used in hydroelectric installations, manufacturing cooling-water intakes and irrigation water supply applications. The system is modular and can be easily adapted and sized to suit most site requirements and conditions. Composed of polycomposite, environmentally compatible materials, the systems can be manufactured to suit specific sensitive site conditions as and when applicable. The device also eliminates the requirement for dam structures for run-of-the-river hydro installations, dramatically increasing the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of low-impact, smaller hydroelectric facilities. The device has been tested by Northwest Hydraulic Consultants Inc. of North Vancouver, B.C., Canada; by Western Washington State University, USA and Entrix, Inc., USA. Test results were extremely positive and affirm the fish-protective character and thus the commercial viability of the device. In addition, add-on components available for the Pisces installations incorporate currently available data retrieval and control technologies for instant ‘real-time’ satellite/wireless access to existing site conditions such as water pollution, Ph, temperature, turbidity, etc., as well as system diagnosis and performance. This system (RIMAC – (Remote Integrated Monitoring And Control)) can be either stand-alone or mounted to the Pisces fish protective device. THE MARKETS THE PROBLEM The major problem existing for irrigation systems, hydroelectric facilities and industrial cooling-water intakes is the ingestion of fishstocks into the water feed pipelines. Presently, there are few fish protective devices at these entryways and those that exist are expensive, relatively ineffective, and often harmful to fish. This situation has had a substantial negative impact on fish populations and their survival throughout the world. To date, various attempts to save the fish have negatively impacted industry without offering an affordable or effective solution to the problem. THE SOLUTION SSI’s Pisces fish protective device not only provides affordable and effective prevention of ingestion of fishstocks into a wide range of water-feed systems but also does so without harm to the fish by utilizing natural water flow characteristics in its design. NORTH AMERICA The US market is now a legislated market in that USA federal regulations require the use of a fish protective device on all inlets used for manufacturing cooling- water inlets, hydroelectric facilities and irrigation systems. The USA manufacturing cooling inlet market alone is estimated at over 52 billion dollars and there are more than 100,000 water inlets in the Pacific Northwest alone. The irrigation system inlets in the Southwest sector of the USA are virtually innumerable. In Canada, Section 30 of the Federal Fisheries Act requires that any and all intakes from fish-bearing waters be covered by a fish protective/diversion device. Too, the availability of an affordable, modular fish-protective device will enable smaller run-of-the-river hydroelectric systems to be installed, since the device eliminates the necessity of a dam structure. This will reduce the market’s reliance on large, environmentally contentious hydroelectric installations while still allowing the renewable resource “green” factor of hydroelectricity production. As well, the rising prices of oil and gas will put added pressure on alternative energy sources to be brought ‘on stream’. With regard to the RIMAC system, provincial, state and federal environmental agencies presently spend billions of dollars annually collecting water system data, the majority of which continues to be collected through on-site visitation by agency personnel or agents thereof. Due to the need to monitor the water quality at numerous and often remote locales, the data collection by personal site visitation is both expensive and limited by available manpower. This under-serviced market represents an opportunity for the company to provide federal, provincial and state environmental agencies with ‘real-time’, critical water quality data from even extremely remote locations. The RIMAC System may also be deployed to provide on-going, real-time quality monitoring of Total Maximum Daily Loads (“TMDLs”) of non-source point pollution. EUROPE Environmental concerns dominate the waterway systems throughout Europe and, in the UK, where hydroelectric systems are relatively plentiful, entrainment of fish is a major issue. SSI intends to address the European market in concert with a UK or European based industry partner. THE MARKETING PLAN Initially, SSI plans to focus mainly on the US and Canadian markets, since both are legislated markets requiring the use of a fish protective device on all inlet systems used for manufacturing cooling-water intakes, hydroelectric facilities and irrigation systems. Since the Pisces design is modular and can be configured from minor to major sized installations, the flexibility of the system will constitute a significant marketing advantage over other systems. Too, the affordability of the system will be of substantial advantage as will its additional plusses of remote/wireless system diagnosis and site conditions in ‘real time’ through its RIMAC system. SSI intends to proceed immediately through the appropriate regulatory agencies in Canada and the USA to receive approval of its Pisces device for use in regulated waterways. SSI anticipates that in view of its positive test results and the needy state of the market, the process will not be overly problematic. In order to expand its market penetration to include “small market” operations, SSI intends to offer a leasing program to its clients, further enhancing its affordability while giving SSI an additional profit center. HISTORY – PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT From 1998 to 2000, BSA constructed and tested several versions of the Pisces, culminating with the laboratory testing done in May, 2000 by Northwest Hydraulic Consultants Ltd. (“NHC”) of North Vancouver, B.C.. Positive lab results motivated the principals to immediately commence bringing the product to its needy market. Following the application for its patent for the Pisces, BSA executed a licence agreement with Balaton Power Inc.(“BPI”), a British Columbia based corporation, for the manufacture and marketing of the Pisces device to be used as a component of their low impact run-of-the-river hydroelectric facilities. BPI opened a subsidiary office in Boise, Idaho and commenced acquiring small hydro sites. BPI also commenced formal testing of the Pisces fish protective device to ensure its efficacy of purpose. Testing was completed on site in eastern Washington state in concert with the Yakima Indian Nation, Western Washington State University and Entrix, (URL removed)t results were extremely positive, confirming the efficiency of the device and BPI commenced the process of moving to the marketing and manufacturing stage. BPI and BSA had, at this stage, expended over one million dollars on product development, market research and corporate operations. Concurrently, in order to raise additional capital for its hydroelectric operations, BPI applied for, and was granted, a listing on the OTC Bulletin Board in the United States for the public trading of its shares in 2001. The company was then, however, as was the case with over seven thousand other OTC listed companies, subjected to massive, illegal naked short selling and, with the resultant loss of value in its share price, lost its ability to attract the appropriate financing. Since BPI was unable to fulfill the terms of its licence agreement, the rights to the Pisces returned to BSA. FINANCIAL SSI intends to identify a strategic partner with whom SSI may form an economic and/or operating alliance in order to expedite its entry to the market. Failing that, SSI has the option of acquiring a presently trading Canadian capital pool listing or applying directly to the TSX Venture Exchange (Toronto, Canada) for its public market listing in order to raise the required capital for its initial operations. SSI also intends to concurrently pursue a strategic economic alliance with a European-based entity to support its product introduction to that market. CONCLUSION SSI is uniquely positioned to become recognized as a leading source of: • affordable, effective, environmentally friendly fish protective devices; • cost effective, “real-time” water quality monitoring system options; and, • designs and components for low-impact hydroelectric systems SSI is confident that its unique product offerings for these massive, needy and legislated market sectors will provide dynamic growth opportunity for the company and its partners.