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Akeena Solar, Inc. has signed a cooperative agreement with microinverter company Enphase Energy, that will see the companies co-develop and market Andalay solar panel systems with ordinary AC house current output instead of high voltage DC output.

The agreement also states that Akeena will purchase a minimum of 5,000 microinverters per year for 2009 and 2010 from Enphase, while Enphase will make available up to 100,000 microinverters to Akeena during the same timeframe. The microinverters will then be built into Akeena's Andalay panels, under the terms of the agreement.

"Since George Westinghouse founded the Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 1889, the world's electric grid has operated on AC power. But the solar industry has always installed DC panels. A big challenge for every solar installer has been to design, install and wire high voltage DC solar panels on rooftops," said Barry Cinnamon, CEO of Akeena Solar. "Now - finally - we can dramatically simplify the design and installation of a rooftop solar system with standardized AC solar panels."