Friday 13 November 2009

Satcon Selected for Largest Urban Solar Power Plant in the U.S.

www.businesswire.com
November 10, 2009

Partners with SunPower to Deliver 10 Megawatts of Solar PV for Exelon City Solar in Chicago

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Satcon Technology Corporation (NASDAQ CM: SATC), a leading provider of utility scale power solutions for the renewable energy market, today announced that it has been selected for the 10-MW Exelon City Solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant, the nation's largest urban solar energy plant, which will be built at a former industrial site in the West Pullman neighbourhood on Chicago's South Side. The site, owned and operated by Exelon Generation, was designed and is being constructed by SunPower Corp., a manufacturer of high-efficiency solar cells, solar panels and solar systems.

The 41-acre solar facility will utilise Satcon Prism™, a fully customisable one MW medium voltage package complete with factory integrated step-up transformers, switchgear, and electronics. The Prism solutions will connect nearly 32,300 SunPower solar panels to the local utility and efficiently convert the sun's rays into enough clean, reliable electricity to meet the annual energy requirements of up to 1,500 homes per year.

"The Exelon City Solar project demonstrates solar energy's integration as a stable and viable core contributor into one of the country's largest energy markets," said Howard Wenger, president, global business unit at SunPower. "This project is a clear example of the unique demands of large scale solar energy generation, and required that we design a system that is composed of the industry's highest performing and most reliable components. Satcon Technology's experience and expertise in large scale solar made them the natural choice for us."

The Exelon City Solar plant will combine Satcon Technology's Prism solution, designed to deliver the highest levels of energy harvesting, efficiency and system uptime, with SunPower panels, which generate up to 50% more power than conventional solar panels and two to four times as much power as thin-film solar technology. The site will also use SunPower® Trackers, solar tracking systems that tilt toward the sun as it moves across the sky, increasing daily energy production by up to 25%.

Satcon Technology Prism is built on the foundation of the industry standard setting PowerGate(R) Plus 500kW solar PV inverter platform, the most advanced and field proven large scale inverter solution, with over 400 MWs delivered since 2005. The solution is delivered complete in an all-climate outdoor enclosure and ready to connect to the PV array and utility grid, enabling rapid installation through a modular prepackaged design.

"We are honored to be chosen as a key partner by SunPower to deliver our Prism solutions to Exelon City Solar," said Steve Rhoades, Satcon Technology's President and Chief Executive Officer. "Satcon's solutions have been used on some of the largest renewable energy sites in the world with hundreds of millions of grid connect kW hours delivered to date. Exelon City Solar showcases today's best in class total system solutions, optimally designed to deliver the highest levels of reliable large scale solar energy production."

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