SmartSpark Energy Systems Renamed SolarBridge Technologies

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolarBridge Technologies, formerly known as SmartSpark Energy Systems, today unveiled a new corporate identity, including a modernized company name, logo, and website. Since its founding in 2004, the company has leveraged its diverse IP base to create multiple product lines. The new corporate identity reflects the company’s revised strategy to focus exclusively on microinverter and monitoring solutions for PV solar installations. Aggressively taking the company to the next level, SolarBridge Technologies has hired a new executive team, opened a new corporate headquarters in Austin, Texas, and has substantially scaled up its engineering team to accelerate product development. Beta testing of the new SolarBridge microinverter and information module is now underway.

“We have had a very promising response from the marketplace to our unique value proposition.”

The new SolarBridge identity is a reflection of the company’s mission to reduce the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) for solar installations by dramatically improving reliability, increasing energy production and simplifying installation. The company’s patented microinverter architecture enables unprecedented levels of reliability by eliminating the most failure prone components, like electrolytic capacitors and optoisolators, which are used in central inverters and competitive microinverters. The high reliability of the SolarBridge Microinverter enables the development of a true ACPV solution, where the SolarBridge Microinverter is integrated to the back of a PV module. The ultimate destination of the PV inverter market --- a highly reliable ACPV solution, backed by a 25 year warranty, that dramatically reduces installation costs and maximizes energy production --- is now a reality. Solar markets that are not well served will now have a practical solution.

“Over the coming year, SolarBridge Technologies is well positioned to deliver where others have failed, bringing an enabling technology to the residential and small commercial PV market, which has not been well served by the existing central inverter and microinverter offerings,” said Ron Van Dell, President and Chief Executive Officer, SolarBridge Technologies. “We have had a very promising response from the marketplace to our unique value proposition.”

SolarBridge Technologies is focused on creating microinverter and monitoring solutions for home and small commercial solar power installations. According to IMS Research’s new report titled “The World Market for PV Inverters, 2009 Edition,” the world market for inverters used in residential and small commercial markets will grow to approximately $1 Billion US dollars by 2013. SolarBridge Technologies is well positioned to serve this market.

The company is headquartered in Austin, Texas, with an R&D facility in Champaign, Illinois. SolarBridge’s new identity also includes a revitalized website, where interested parties can find additional information. The site can be found at www.solarbridgetech.com.

About SolarBridge Technologies

SolarBridge Technologies mission is to reduce the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) for solar installations by dramatically improving reliability, increasing energy production and simplifying installation. SolarBridge Technologies began operations in 2004 in Champaign, Illinois, under the name SmartSpark Energy Systems. The SolarBridge Microinverter and Monitoring System was designed from the ground up, utilizing patented technologies from the University of Illinois to address PV inverter reliability issues, which historically has been the biggest failure point of solar installations. The SolarBridge Microinverter and Monitoring System facilitates electrical conversion and control between solar modules and the electrical grid. For more information, please visit www.solarbridgetech.com.