Local company focusing on converting, outputting solar energy
CHAMPAIGN – A Champaign-based company has been chosen to take part in a federal solar energy project that could bring the firm as much as $6.25 million in revenue.
SmartSpark Energy Systems will be one of several companies participating in the Solar Energy Grid Integration System, a collaborative effort between the U.S. Department of Energy and Sandia National Laboratories.
The project is trying to increase the amount of solar power on the nation’s utility grid while maintaining its quality and reliability. As part of the project, SmartSpark will develop, test and commercialize solar-inverter technology, as well as an interactive monitoring system. Solar inverters change direct-current electricity produced by solar panels to alternating current that can be used to power appliances and connect with the grid.
“The combination of our inverter and monitoring system will promote large amounts of grid-connected solar power while preserving reliability and power quality,” SmartSpark Chief Technology Officer Patrick Chapman said in a release.
SmartSpark received a $250,000 contract to take part in the first-phase feasibility study, working in partnership with Evergreen Solar, a Marlboro, Mass.-based maker of solar panels.
If successful, the companies could advance to phases two and three, each of which could involve a $3 million contract.
From left, President/CEO Frederick Krein, engineer Andrew O’Connell and engineer Trishan Esram at SmartSpark Energy Systems in Champaign. By Robert K. O’Daniell
But that won’t be known until the first phase is completed in March, said Brian Precious, the company’s director of marketing.
SmartSpark, which moved into new quarters in the University of Illinois Research Park this month, employs about 20 people and expects that to increase to 30 by the end of 2009.
The 4-year-old firm was located in EnterpriseWorks, the park’s business incubator, until Aug. 6, when it moved to a 6,600-square-foot space at 2111 S. Oak St., C. The new quarters – in the same building as WatchFire’s software engineering office – includes a lab and office, with some breakout rooms and conference rooms.
SmartSpark even makes use of its roof, putting up racking for solar panels so the efficiency of its inverter can be tested.
That inverter – the SolarBridge microinverter – connects to the back of a solar panel and outputs alternating-current power directly to the grid.
Engineers are still working to make SolarBridge smaller and lighter and to improve its efficiency. The product is expected to have its commercial launch in the second quarter of 2009, Precious said.
“We’ve finished the lab prototype, and we’re working on the beta unit,” Precious said, adding that SmartSpark is optimizing the product in terms of cost and performance.
Precious said SolarBridge has three big advantages over competing inverters: lower costs, both initally and long-term; reliability, and the ability to produce more energy with the same number of panels.
SmartSpark was introduced to Evergreen Solar, a publicly traded company, through a major investor, Battery Ventures, SmartSpark President Frederick Krein said.
The company is looking at partnering with other solar panel producers as well. Krein said panel makers may want to differentiate their products in coming years, and one way is to have a solar inverter with a 25-year warranty – something SolarBridge hopes to offer.
Solar panels conventionally have 25-year warranties, but the standard warranty length for inverters is 10 years, with 15 years the longest at this point, Precious said.
SmartSpark has other products, including BattEQ, a battery equalization system that extends the life of rechargeable batteries by balancing the charge over a series of batteries.
The company continues to support the existing designs of those products and their customers, but Krein said SmartSpark is “de-emphasizing” those products to focus on SolarBridge.