|
Inside AE Solar Energy
Welcome to Advanced Energy’s Solar Energy quarterly industry analyst newsletter. At Advanced Energy (AE), our 30 years of leadership in delivering innovative energy solutions, combined with a legendary reputation for customer services has made us a trusted partner to solar project developers, financiers and beneficiaries around the globe.
In 2012, AE Solar Energy will continue to combine the best of PV Powered and Advanced Energy to deliver industry-first product innovations that enable solar project stakeholders to offer a lower levelized cost of energy (LCOE) and ability to deliver on long-term production goals.
We always strive to enhance communications with our analyst community, and welcome your questions or suggestions on how to improve this newsletter. Please feel free to contact us at aesolarenergy@schwartz.com
Advanced Energy—2011 Highlights
2011 was a showcase year for AE Solar Energy with key product rollouts, project wins, and new partnerships. The strongest area of growth continues to be in the utility-scale market where our inverters have been selected on some of the largest projects in North America. This includes:
Additionally, AE Solar Energy was selected by Maui Solar Systems for a unique project at the U.S. Navy Pacific Missile Range Facility’s (PMRF) in Hawaii. Due to the tropical marine environment and the corrosive sea salt moisture, AE Solar Energy's stainless steel inverters were ideal for the installation.
 AE Solar Energy is pleased to welcome Gordon Tredger, executive vice president for AE Solar Energy to the team. Gordon brings nearly 25 years of technology management experience to the solar energy division after serving as executive vice president of operations at the Chemical Analysis Division of Bruker Daltonics, a leading provider of high-performance scientific instruments and solutions, and as vice president of analytical instruments at Varian Inc., a leading worldwide supplier of scientific instrumentation.
“I am thrilled to be a part of the AE Solar Energy team. Key for 2012, will be our ability to offer customers a complete energy solution,” said Tredger. “This means going beyond exceptional inverter efficiency and reliability to include, outstanding performance monitoring solutions, advanced utility interactive features, as well as operations and maintenance (O&M) services; all of which enable us to provide customers with the technology best suited for their specific application needs.”
Advanced Energy – Selected Preferred Supplier
To date, ESA Renewables (ESA) has utilized AE Solar Energy’s commercial and utility-scale inverters for all of its installations completed. Having recently been factory authorized, ESA is now certified to install and service AE inverters operating on a solar energy generating power plant. ESA is the only company outside of AE to be a factory authorized service provider on our inverters.
"We are pleased with our decision to add AE Solar Energy as a preferred supplier," said Jeffrey Burkett, president of ESA Renewables. "Our engineers and technicians have successfully completed the factory training and are fully factory authorized and qualified to install and service these solar products."
ESA currently has numerous projects slated for commissioning in 2012, which amount to more than 91 MWs of solar energy generation. These solar farms are in various stages of completion, ranging from early development to construction. All are located in the United States, including eight projects in ESA's home state of Florida.
In December, ESA announced that it began construction on a 1.3 MW commercial rooftop solar project in the city of New Bern in Craven County, North Carolina. The project is one of the largest rooftop PV arrays in eastern North Carolina and will utilize AE’s 260kW commercial inverter, to help bring clean, renewable solar energy to New Bern residents. Having executed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Progress Energy, ESA expects the PV array to be completed in December of this year.
This project is expected to produce 1,691,639 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per year, enough clean renewable energy to power approximately 200 homes each year.
“We continue to be impressed by ESA’s leadership in bringing solar energy onto our nation’s electric grid with impactful projects like this,” said Steve Levy, VP of sales and marketing for AE Solar Energy. “AE is pleased to be a partner in this project, and we look forward to collaborating with ESA on future solar projects.”
Advanced Energy – Project Spotlight
 Aligning with AE Solar Energy’s opening of a Mississauga, Ontario facility, the company’s inverters have been selected by Moose Power, one of Ontario's leading solar development companies, to power six solar projects in Ontario, Canada. Once complete the six projects will produce more than three MWs of clean renewable energy. AE Solar Energy’s PV inverters were selected for these projects based on the company’s reputation for high performance and outstanding service.
“AE Solar Energy has provided excellent service and delivered products on-time that offer superior performance,” said Andrew Knapp, managing director at Moose Power. “We look forward to working together on future projects as we continue to build our project pipeline and provide customers with unparalleled results.”
All six projects are supported by the Ontario Power Authority's (OPA) Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) program. To complete the projects Moose Power worked with Advanced Green Technologies (AGT) and Nautilus Solar Energy, LLC (Nautilus Solar), whose strong understanding of the project development cycle and ability to move projects forward matched well with AE Solar Energy’s technical expertise.
The projects will leverage AE 500 transformerless bi-polar utility-scale inverter and 250 commercial inverters. By utilizing AE’s complementary product lines, Moose Power was able to match the inverters best suited to each project’s specific needs.
Advanced Energy—Utility Scale inverters
Our 1000Vdc and 500 Solaron inverters are used in a variety of climates and conditions across the globe – on both thin film and cSi modules. The following are two standout projects:
 Europe
-
Location: Czech Republic
-
Size: 15 MW
-
Developer: Photon Energy
-
Inverter: Solaron 500
-
Racking: Fixed Tilt
 Asia
-
Location: Qinghai
-
Size: 10 MW
-
Developer: CGN
-
EPC: 713
-
Inverter: Solaron 500
-
Racking: Fixed Tilt
Meet the AE Solar Energy Team
Eric Stephenson - Inside Sales Representative, AE Solar Energy
 Based in Bend, Oregon, Eric Stephenson is an inside sales representative for AE Solar Energy and has been with the company since 2010. Prior to joining AE, Eric spent six plus years at Final Stretch Flooring, Inc. working from laborer to GM/lead installer during that time. When the home construction industry began to slow, Eric’s interest turned to AE, where his father worked, and saw an opportunity to begin a new career at a company and industry in a good growth position.
Eric has always demonstrated a strong commitment as an employee, but his drive and dedication were recognized in mid-2011 with his move from an assembly technician position in the company’s string inverter line to that of an inside sales representative.
To spark the move, Eric reached out to Steve Levy, VP of sales and marketing, whom he’d never actually met. Eric introduced himself and expressed his strong interest in making a move to the sales team. A few weeks passed and when a position opened on the inside sales team, Eric applied and interviewed very well, but at the time a stronger candidate was identified.
Instead of moving on, Eric reconnected with Steve and asked "What do I have to do to be better prepared for the next opportunity on your team?” Shortly after that conversation, a position on the customer advocate team became available and this time Steve and his team were quick to reach out to Eric. He was excited about the opportunity and the training program Eric has quickly become a vital and successful member of the customer advocate team.
“Eric’s attitude is always, ‘Give me the ball,’ and you know what, I don't argue with him,” said Levy. “I fully expect him to continue to push the envelope with his career and help drive business growth in the future.”
|