SatCon Technology's Power Inverter Earns UL Listing; Model AE-462-60-F-A is the Highest Power Rated On-site Generation Inverter Certified by UL.

Business/Technology Editors

NORTHBROOK, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 14, 2002

Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL), the world's most respected safety testing and certification organization, announced that the SatCon Technology (R) Model AE-462-60-F-A power inverters for on-site power generation have been determined to comply with the "Standard for Inverters, Converters, and Controllers for Use in Independent Power Systems, UL 1741."

UL tested SatCon's power inverters for compliance with requirements addressing alternative energy, distributed, and grid parallel energy generation systems. With an output rating of 462 KVA, the SatCon power inverter is the highest power rated on-site generation inverter to comply with the UL 1741 Standard, and its UL Listed status marks an important step in gaining approval for installations in California where such compliance is a requirement.

The power inverter includes an "anti-islanding" protection feature for detecting when the utility grid is out of tolerance or "black". The onboard disconnect scheme automatically disconnects the inverter output from the grid to provide seamless transition from "grid connected" to "standalone" mode, preventing power flow to the black grid. Thus, a manufacturing facility that wants to be independent from the power company can generate its own power from a fuel cell, photovoltaic or microturbine system using a UL Listed power inverter to generate safe, quality, reliable and uninterruptible power.

"We are beginning to see the implementation of a whole new power system that uses on-site power generation tied to the existing utility grid to provide users with high-quality, reliable power," said David Eisenhaure, SatCon president and chief executive officer. "Recently, California passed a renewable energy bill requiring that 20% of its electricity come from renewable sources. With the uncertainty of an uninterrupted supply of oil from the Middle East, we believe that American energy independence will become an increasingly important issue for U.S. industries."

"High quality, reliable power is one of the biggest issues facing almost every organization in the digital economy, from semiconductor manufacturers to enormous data hotels," continued Eisenhaure. "SatCon's power inverters will enable these organizations to generate their own power with highest quality and reliability using the most powerful energy management products available today. Compliance with UL 1741 is a requirement for interconnection in California, long known as being in the forefront of energy legislation. We anticipate other states will follow shortly."

Kent Whitfield, lead of distributed generation technologies for UL stated, "As the economics of distributed generation technologies improves for certain applications, we are seeing an industry-wide need for the certification of ever-larger static inverters. It is with great satisfaction that UL has played a role in helping this product to market and it would have been difficult without an extensive team effort."

Jeff Differt, lead UL engineer for the investigation of the SatCon inverter added, "The size of this product had a big influence on the size of our team and how the investigation was structured. Investigations on fuses, paint, other standard components, and a software evaluation were performed by our engineers in Northbrook, Ill., and Melville, N.Y.

"The client's large facility, however, was best suited for the end product testing even through some of our specialized test equipment wasn't available there. The solution was to have part of the team transport our test equipment across the border, and through customs, in time to meet the testing schedule and the client's expectations." Members of that team included Diana Hernandez, Tim Zgonena, Bob Pence, Chris Flueckiger, Paul Courtney, Dan Maher, Anura Fernando, Art Titolo and Stephen Gardner."

Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL) is an independent, not-for-profit product safety certification organization that has been testing products for more than 108 years. UL tests more than 18,000 types of products annually, and more than 17 billion UL Marks appear on products each year. Worldwide, UL's family of companies and its network of service providers include more than 47 laboratories, and testing and certification facilities.