eIQ Energy and Signet Solar to Offer simplified path to parallel thin-film solar

SAN JOSE, USA: A new product bundling agreement between eIQ Energy Inc. and Signet Solar Inc. will provide customers with a simplified path to building solar energy installations—employing Signet Solar’s large-area thin-film solar modules and eIQ Energy’s Parallel Solar technology.

The initial product offering—jointly marketed by both companies—bundles Signet Solar’s SI S4 thin-film quarter-panel solar modules with eIQ Energy’s vBoost 350 DC-to-DC converter modules; a single SKU number makes ordering convenient. Close collaboration and joint testing enable eIQ Energy and Signet Solar to guarantee interoperability between the system components.

The combination of thin-film panel technology and parallel-wired architecture is emerging as one of the most advantageous approaches to solar power generation. Wiring solar arrays in parallel rather than series substantially reduces up-front hardware costs because of simplified cabling.

eIQ Energy’s Parallel Solar architecture, enabled by the vBoost converter module, also provides distributed Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) and the ability to connect unprecedented numbers of panels on a single cable run—over 100 thin-film panels can be linked in this manner, simplifying the design and installation process.

Signet Solar’s pioneering thin-film modules offer outstanding performance in adverse conditions, such as desert installations and low-light regions. The addition of vBoost’s distributed MPPT creates a system that extracts the highest possible energy harvest for a given nameplate capacity, along with advanced monitoring capabilities via the power bus cabling.

“These are products that go hand-in-hand,” commented Dr. Keshav Prasad, Signet Solar’s vice president of business development. “We want to provide value up and down the solar energy chain, and for our customers, this takes the guesswork out of working with different parts—we’ve done the background work.”

Utilizing thin-film solar technology, the Parallel Solar approach can provide a reduction of 5-10 percent in balance-of-system costs—even for large-scale commercial usage—by reducing the need for junction boxes, custom cabling and other hardware.

“We see thin-film solar technology, coupled with our vBoost-enabled Parallel Solar architecture, as an outstanding choice for many installations,” said Michael Lamb, vice president of business development. “The bottom line is that this package represents a very cost-effective solution to a high-quality thin-film installation.”

Orders for the bundle are being taken now for delivery in Q1 of 2010.