SSES Wins Contract from Dept. of Energy and Sandia National Laboratories

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CHAMPAIGN, Illinois (August 5, 2008) – SmartSpark Energy Systems has been awarded a contract to develop hardware designed to facilitate the mainstream adoption of solar energy in the United States. SmartSpark was chosen to participate in the Solar Energy Grid Integration Systems (SEGIS) program which is a collaborative effort between the Department of Energy and Sandia National Labs. SmartSpark was award a phase one contract of a three-year, three-phase project worth up to $6.25M.

As part of this contract, SmartSpark will develop, test and commercialize a novel solar inverter technology and interactive monitoring system. The SolarBridge microinverter will connect to the back of a solar panel and output AC power directly to the grid. The technology aims to lower costs and reduce the complexity of solar installations, while producing more power than current generation inverters. The Solar Information Module (SIM) monitoring system will help facilitate bilateral communication between an individual solar electric system and the power grid. SmartSpark is partnering with Evergreen Solar, a Marlboro, MA manufacturer of high quality polycrystalline solar panels, to support development of an integrated ACPV module; a key deliverable of this project.

According to Dr. Patrick Chapman, CTO of SmartSpark Energy Systems, “The combination of our inverter and monitoring system will promote large amounts of grid-connected solar power while preserving reliability and power quality.”

SmartSpark Energy Systems specializes in the development of electronics that support the efficient transformation and storage of energy used in renewable technologies. SmartSpark has licensed several technologies from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. For more information, please visit www.SmartSparkEnergy.com.

Evergreen Solar, Inc. develops, manufactures and markets String Ribbon(TM) solar power products using its proprietary wafer technology. The company’s patented wafer manufacturing technology uses significantly less polysilicon than conventional processes. Evergreen Solar’s products provide reliable and environmentally clean electric power for residential and commercial applications globally. For more information about the company, please visit www.evergreensolar.com. Evergreen Solar(R) and String Ribbon(TM) are trademarks of Evergreen Solar, Inc.