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Making those technical and equipment changes while manufacturing its current-generation product would have been analogous to "changing the wheels on a car while it's going down the street," he said.

Full production of the 85-watt module is expected within about nine to 12 months, he said.

"It could be sooner; it could be later," he said. "It's not just making modules. We have actually produced those 85-watt modules, but we're working with key customers to do field trials and monitor the performance and get everything validated."

Abound also continues to have a close partnership with CSU, he added.

"We have a lot of work going on with what will be the generations after that and after that," he said.

Abound remains in discussions with the Department of Energy as well as its investors on funding, Witsoe said.

Stating that Abound is a privately held firm, Witsoe declined to discuss specifics on the amount of money being sought or how much more Abound plans to draw down on its Department of Energy loan guarantee.

A DOE spokesman confirmed that agency officials are in communications with Abound's management.

"We will continue to work with Abound as we do with all of our loan recipients as it works through these issues," said Damien LaVera, a department spokesman, in a statement emailed to the Camera. "Abound is an innovative domestic startup company with a history of bipartisan support.

"While the challenges facing solar manufacturers have been widely reported, we continue to believe that supporting innovative companies like this is important to ensuring our nation has the ability to compete for the clean energy jobs of tomorrow."

After the late-February shutdown, Abound's workforce at its Longmont plant shrunk to 125 people from more than 400.

If Abound resumes production as Witsoe expects, the firm would need to once again have at least 400 employees, he said. Abound kept a database of its former workers, and Witsoe said he doesn't believe many would be reticent to return.

"They could, but the perception that I got from our employees, and I talked to all those folks personally, is that overwhelmingly people said, 'Hey, when we get geared up with this new product, let us know,'" he said. "Because they really like working for Abound and they believe in the mission of the company, too, which is to get a real U.S. company that can create jobs here. That's about clean energy. It's about energy security."

Vicious competition

The odds appear stacked against a successful return for Abound, said Jenny Chase, chief solar analyst for Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

"We've barely even started with the solar bankruptcies; it's a viciously competitive market," she said. "At the turn of the century, when there were 100 American carmakers and now there are three, it's like that."

Demand continues to grow within the solar industry, she said, noting increases last year of 49 percent. However, a great deal of competition is coming from crystalline silicon makers who have ramped up supply faster than demand.

"The problem is it's an even field and new thin-film is losing," she said. "First Solar is still very much in the race."

For a company like Abound to succeed and be able to compete against First Solar -- a larger firm with more established distribution channels -- Chase said Abound would have to "hammer down costs" and find a significant number of new sales channels where it could ship panels at a small profit.