Zep Solar revealed that it had added Sharp Solar, Hanwha SolarOne and Enphase Energy as new partners in its licensing program. The companies join a growing list of companies throughout the US, Germany, China, Japan, Australia and Israel. Zep Solar additionally revealed that the US Department of Energy (DOE) had given it a conditional award of US$919,626 for the formation of a partnership between the two organizations that will aim to reduce BOS costs.
The company licenses its Zep Groove technology to PV module manufactures that integrate the “special” geometry into their PV module frame designs and manufacture Zep compatible PV modules. Zep Solar also licenses its technology to BOS manufacturers who develop Zep compatible BOS hardware and electronics. In addition to its three new partners, Zep Solar also licenses its technology to Canadian Solar, Centrosolar, eco-Kinetics, ET Solar, Trina Solar, UpSolar and Yingli Solar.
“Zep Solar has a tremendous opportunity to leverage its technology base to establish an industry-wide standard for PV system installation that reduces the installed cost of solar through improvements in design, mounting, grounding, electronics integration, wire management and aesthetics,” said Mike Miskovsky, CEO of Zep Solar. “We're proud of all we’ve achieved together – particularly the strong partnerships with many leading module manufacturers, technology providers, distributors and installers. These relationships help position the Zep Groove as the ‘USB port of solar.’ We are excited to have contracts in place for well over 150MW over the next 18 months, and are building out capacity to manufacture as much as 400MW of hardware and accessory products in 2012.”
Zep Solar is exhibiting at Solar Power International in Dallas at booth #4135.