$2.5 million in Department of Energy Funds for Ideal Power Converters

September 30, 2011
Washington— Today, U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett announced that the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Administration – Energy (ARPA-E) has awarded Ideal Power Converters a grant of $2.5 million. The funds will be distributed as part of a $156 million package to encourage cutting-edge energy research and projects across the country. Ideal Power Converters was selected to support the DOE SunShot initiative, a collaborative national initiative to make solar energy cost competitive with other forms of energy by the end of the decade. Reducing the installed cost of solar energy systems by about 75% will drive widespread, large-scale adoption of this renewable energy technology and restore <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"> U.S. leadership in the global clean energy race.

Ideal Power Converters (IPC) is addressing the need to reduce the cost of both solar inverters and their installation. IPC’s project goal for this funding is to reduce the weight of these solar inverters by 98%. IPC has already developed an inverter system with more than 90% weight reduction.  IPC installed a 30kW inverter prototype at the Austin Convention Center last summer and is currently installing early production systems in Austin and San Antonio. These light-weight inverters reduce manufacturing and installation costs and are more efficient and reliable.

Rep. Doggett said, “The race for clean energy is not one that we cannot afford to lose. Ideal Power Converters is already improving our use of renewable energy in Central Texas, and now the Department of Energy has recognized that its cutting edge technology will help ensure that the U.S. is a leader in the global renewable energy industry.”

“Support from ARPA-E will enable Ideal Power Converters and our university partners to develop and commercialize an innovative silicon bidirectional IGBT switch that will dramatically improve performance and reduce costs of solar inverters,” said Bill Alexander, CEO of Ideal Power Converters.  “IPC will also apply this breakthrough technology to wind generation, battery inverters and high power electric vehicle charging applications.   Over the next several years IPC and its US suppliers will create thousands of new jobs and enable the US to regain technical and manufacturing leadership in this critical clean tech industry.”

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