Sustainable Energy Technologies Ltd. has entered into a Contribution Agreement with the National Research Council Industrial Research Assistance Program ("NRC-IRAP"), pursuant to which NRC-IRAP will make repayable contributions of up to $245,000 towards development of an inverter platform which will serve both grid-parallel and off-grid applications for a variety generation and storage technologies.
The project will build on Sustainable Energy's current inverter platform and the company's success in developing commercial product applications for solar PV and fuel cell power modules, using the same power electronics and control software. The project's main focus will be to extend the capability of Sustainable's inverter platform to include battery management for off-grid and back-up power applications, and to enhance its control software to optimize integrated system performance.
The result will be an ability to serve a much wider range of product applications with a single device. These would include grid-connected and off-grid solar and small wind power systems, fuel cell power modules for combined heat and power and for back up power applications, and new-grid-connected flow battery technologies for peak shaving.
Significantly, the ability of the same inverter to operate in both a grid-connected and off-grid mode, means that it is well suited to supporting solar PV and other systems selling power to the grid, but also combining with energy storage to provide back up power during grid outages.
"We believe this will be an industry first, and is only possible because of our unique approach to power conversion," said Brent Harris P. Eng. Director of Technology Development for the Company. "In addition to the advantages of being able to use the same inverter for grid-connected and off-grid modes, using the same power electronics and control software for multiple product applications offers significant product cost and reliability advantages. It also means that advances in technology and control software, as well as regulatory approvals are easily transferred to the various market applications."
"We are very pleased with the support from NRC-IRAP, which will build on our success with the 5kW inverter platform," said Michael Carten President & CEO of Sustainable Energy. "Canada has a special role to play in developing technology solutions for global climate change, and support for companies such as Sustainable Energy is critical to meeting this challenge. Our resources are, and will continue to be devoted primarily to generating revenues from the sale of our SUNERGY series of inverters, principally in Europe, and this development effort would not be possible without NRC-IRAP's support."
