SSES Expands to Austin, Texas

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CHAMPAIGN, Illinois and AUSTIN, Texas (February 9, 2009) – SmartSpark Energy Systems, a leader in power electronics innovation for solar energy, announces an expansion to Austin, TX. The expansion is accelerated by the continued growth of the company over the last year.

SmartSpark has been located in Champaign, IL since its establishment in 2004 and has grown to over 20 employees. The organization will continue to leverage the research and development talent embedded within the University of Illinois community. However, as SmartSpark nears commercialization of its SolarBridge™ microinverter, the joint location in Austin will allow for a rapid scale-up to build out the balance of the company across all functions. The company plans to hire in both locations throughout 2009.

“With an excellent talent pool, a large and growing base of renewable energy companies, and a local ecosystem supportive of high tech start-ups, Austin makes an ideal location to expand the company”, said Ron Van Dell, CEO of SmartSpark.

“The Austin business community is extremely pleased to have a company like SmartSpark expand into our region. Our region is recognized as a center of innovation for energy technologies and the presence of a company like SmartSpark with the clean technology they are commercializing will be a great addition to our area,” said Susan Davenport, Vice President of Business Retention & Expansion for the Austin Chamber of Commerce.

SmartSpark is currently in the development stage for SolarBridge™, a panel-integrated microinverter designed to produce more power than the current generation of string inverters while reducing installation complexity. SolarBridge™ is targeted at residential and light commercial applications.

About SmartSpark Energy Systems

SmartSpark Energy Systems was established in 2004 and is located in Champaign, IL. SmartSpark has licensed a suite of power conversion patents from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Their power electronics technologies and products support electricity conversion and control between almost any energy source and load. For more information, please visit www.SmartSparkEnergy.com.