National Semiconductor, SunEdison initiate trials to optimize solar arrays output

SANTA CLARA, USA: National Semiconductor Corp. and SunEdison LLC, North America's largest solar energy services provider, have initiated field trials to optimize the energy output of solar arrays.

SunEdison has initiated field trials in California using National Semiconductor's SolarMagic power optimizers. National's SolarMagic power optimizers enable individual solar panels to maximize energy-produced independent of performance of other panels in an array. Individual panels can often under-perform due to shade, debris, panel mismatch or aging.

SunEdison delivers solar energy services to utilities, commercial and government entities by providing a new way to engage in solar energy. The company's customers pay only for the energy produced by its solar power plants. In March of 2008, the company surpassed 100GWh of delivered energy, marking a new milestone for solar energy services in the North American marketplace.

"We're delighted to be working with SunEdison" said Brian Halla, National Semiconductor's chairman and CEO, "SunEdison services architecture delivers industry leading reliability, with more delivered energy, resulting in greater customer savings. We believe our SolarMagic power optimizer will further strengthen the SunEdison service architecture."

Added Brian Jacolick, GM of the America's of SunEdison: "SolarMagic promises to offer a significant breakthrough on delivered energy for solar arrays. The net effect will be greater savings for our customers. National Semiconductor's leadership in analog and power management will serve SunEdison well as we build on this strength to make continued improvements for the solar industry."

Solmetric to develop PV layout and estimation software tool

BUFFALO, USA, AMERICAN SOLAR ENERGY SOCIETY: National Semiconductor Corp. announced a partnership with Solmetric Corp., an innovative developer of test and measurement tools for solar installations. Solmetric has developed a software tool to estimate the energy production of solar arrays, including installations outfitted with National's SolarMagic power optimizers.

National's SolarMagic power optimizers enable solar panels to produce maximum energy regardless of whether other panels in the array are under-performing due to shade, debris, panel mismatch and aging. To help determine how much benefit an installation will gain by using SolarMagic power optimizers, PV installers and designers can capture site-specific shade information with Solmetric's SunEye, a handheld measurement instrument, then create a PV system design on the site with the new photovoltaic (PV) layout and estimation software.

The system uses data collected from real-world installation sites and enables a solar system designer to experiment with different array configurations, with and without SolarMagic power optimizers. Designers can compare different hardware and different roof layouts, and visualize shade over the array area.

The system estimates the resultant energy production, resulting in more confidence in a PV design in less time. Solmetric is offering a technology preview of the PV Simulator, which can be downloaded for a 30-day trial starting in late May 2009. The final release of the PV Simulator will be available to SolarMagic and Solmetric customers in August 2009.