Tigo Energy® and Suntech Collaborate to Develop Smart Panel Technology for Photovoltaic Solar Installations

LOS GATOS, Calif., Oct. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Tigo Energy®, the solar company whose unique technology significantly increases efficiency in photovoltaic (PV) solar installations, today announced it is collaborating with Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE: STP), the world's largest producer of crystalline silicon solar panels, to develop smart panel technology for PV solar installations.

As part of the collaboration, the companies are developing technology that integrates the Tigo Energy Maximizer™ Solution into Suntech's solar panels to increase energy production up to 20 percent and bring new levels of intelligence, active manageability and enhanced safety to the solar panels.

"Suntech is constantly exploring new ways of bringing additional benefits to our customers, and we are pleased to work with Tigo Energy on achieving this mutual goal," said Mr. Shijun Cai, senior vice president of Suntech. "Incorporating intelligent technology at the panel level has the potential to optimize the performance of our customers' solar projects."

"Tigo Energy is seeing tremendous acceptance of our Maximizer solution by both the worldwide installation community and our integration partners, and we're pleased to work with Suntech on this joint technology effort," said Jeff Krisa, vice president of Tigo Energy. "Tigo Energy's worldwide installed base has established the Maximizer as the market leader in localized DC production maximization. The associated cost savings involved with integrating the Maximizer solution into PV panels will accelerate adoption of the solution even more."

With power electronics and software, the Tigo Energy Maximizer Solution boosts the output of solar arrays by up to 20 percent and implements maximum power point control at the module level. PV system developers and owners also benefit from Tigo Energy's comprehensive panel-level monitoring and analytics as well as advanced safety features.

The Tigo Energy Maximizer solution is uniquely designed to integrate quickly into the junction boxes of today's leading solar panels:

• The solution provides statistical conversion efficiency of 99.5 percent, thus not requiring the dissipation of excess heat. The Maximizer electronics do not require thermal re-engineering of the j-box or module. Contrast this to a 95 percent efficient micro-inverter that in normal operation has 10 Watts of power radiated as heat into the PV module.
• The Tigo Energy Maximizer is the smallest and lightest footprint of all distributed PV electronics solutions, allowing it to fit in existing j-boxes without additional engineering to prevent de-lamination.
• The Maximizer solution has the fewest electronic components of any solution, such that the reliability of the device matches that of the module.
• The Tigo Energy Maximizer solution works with all inverters from leading manufacturers, so system designers can address any size system in any geography with the integrated smart module.

Tigo Energy products are available in high volume and can be deployed in residential, commercial or utility scale systems today. Hundreds of systems and more than 25,000 Maximizers have been installed in North America, Europe, Japan and Asia. Tigo Energy will be exhibiting at Solar Power International 2010 from Oct. 12-14 in Los Angeles (West Hall, Booth #1443).

About Tigo Energy

Based in Los Gatos, Calif., Tigo Energy was founded in 2007 and focuses on applying innovative technologies to the solar PV space. Tigo Energy has offices in the United States, Japan, Germany, Italy, France and Israel and is commercially shipping volume systems in cooperation with most prominent worldwide solar distributors and EPCs. Additional information on Tigo Energy is available at: www.tigoenergy.com.

About Suntech

Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE: STP) produces industry-leading solar products for residential, commercial, industrial, and utility applications. With regional headquarters in China, Switzerland, and the United States, and gigawatt-scale manufacturing worldwide, Suntech has delivered more than 10,000,000 photovoltaic panels to thousands of customers in more than eighty countries. Suntech's pioneering R&D creates customer-centric innovations that are driving solar to grid parity against fossil fuels. Suntech's mission is to provide everyone with reliable access to nature's cleanest and most abundant energy source. For more information about our people and products visit: http://www.suntech-power.com

SOURCE Tigo Energy