News

VRB Power Provides Update on its Small Systems

April 16, 2007 by Jeff Shepard

VRB Power Systems Inc. announced an update on its 5kW systems. Recent 5kW x 4hr VRB-ESS™ sales have been made to the University of Aalborg in Denmark for evaluation in renewable (off grid wind and solar) applications and to Edison SPA in Italy for evaluation in Italian telecoms back-up applications; and 10 pre-production 10kWh systems and one 30kW x 2hr system were shipped in 2006. All of these systems have been commissioned and are either being tested in laboratory or in the field.

Performance has been in line with expectations with the core technology performing well. Feedback has been incorporated into the new commercial design of the company’s 5kW systems which will be available for delivery from mid 2007 and has helped improve the flexibility of storage duration and the efficiency and controllability of the systems. The costs of the commercial 5kW systems have been significantly reduced from the pre-commercial version and are in line with expected cost reductions. The focus for these 5kW systems continues to be on telecoms backup applications as well as RAPS and off grid renewable applications; and VRB Power continues to strengthen its worldwide patent portfolio with the recent granting and filing of new patents covering its latest system and key applications.

"I am pleased with the work that has been done by our engineering team in developing a commercial 5kW multi-hour system, which provides a flexible, easy to customize solution for our customers and which, at target pricing, will generate positive margins on launch in mid 2007," said Tim Hennessy, CEO of VRB Power Systems. "I am also pleased with how our pre-production systems have operated so far in laboratory and field testing in a variety of applications and I am encouraged by customer feedback. This, together with the work that our sales team and channel partners have done in marketing and positioning these systems in our target markets, gives me confidence that, once the testing/evaluation phase of this product is concluded, we will generate significant sales for this product. We continue to expand our assembly capability at our Richmond facility and remain on track to have the capacity to assemble 2,500 5kW cell stacks per shift per year from the end of 2007."