Company Overview
Sustainable Energy designs and manufactures advanced power electronics for grid interactive and micro-grid applications.
Advanced power electronics are a critical part of the emerging smart grid where electrical generation and storage is distributed throughout the system closer to the point of consumption. Power electronics are the critical interface between these generation and storage device ensuring the delivery of high quality alternating current (AC) to the power grid as well as providing critical control over the interconnection.
We have designed a simple low cost platform which is software configurable for a wide range of low voltage generation and storage technologies including solar PV, fuel cells and all the emerging battery technologies. Our software configurable power electronics platform is based on breakthroughs in power conversion technology which enables our platform to convert high current/low voltage DC into high quality AC with conversion efficiencies that are materially higher than anything in the market.
Within the solar power industry our approach enables solar cells or solar PV modules to be configured in parallel. A parallel design eliminates systemic losses from sup-optimal cell or module performance that are associated with conventional solar inverters. This results in higher total system yields. A parallel design eliminates electrical design constraints allowing the solar PV system design to follow the building design. This results in lower balance of system costs and better coverage of the available space
Our PARALEX inverter is the only high performance inverter to enable the parallel design with the same form and cost factors as conventional high voltage inverters.
Our unique high efficiency bi-directional conversion enables a simple low cost high efficiency “AC Battery” which can be used alone to reduce utility demand charges or provide quick charges for electric vehicles or in combination with solar PV systems to convert intermittent solar energy into firm power available to reduce high time of day electricity costs.
Designed from the bottom up to operate 24/7 in the demanding fuel cell environment our platform is proven and commercial. We have installed more than 20MW of first and second generation solar inverters in 11 countries over three years. Our 2nd generation platform is reporting 99.7% reliability with 97% efficiency. Our recently completed 3rd generation platform includes all the smart grid functionality required for utility control over power factor and reactive power.
We currently have capacity to manufacture up to 900 units per month (4.5MW per month) in Guelph Ontario. Our capacity can be easily doubled in less than 12 weeks with minimal capital investment.
Our approach enables solar PV systems to be designed to so that each module operates at its optimum power point under all conditions independently of the other modules in the system. This “massively parallel” systems approach reduces losses from partial shading of the PV modules due to normal building congestion and from variances in the orientation of the PV modules due to building design constraints. It also eliminates losses resulting from variances in power output due to manufacturing tolerances
The result is significantly higher yields under real world conditions than can be obtained using conventional solar inverter technologies.
By taking shading and other factors out of play our massively parallel systems approach eliminates complex system design and enables virtually 100% coverage of the available space significantly reducing the balance of system cost.
Unlike most solar inverters which require very high operating voltages from the solar PV array our products reduce the operating voltages of solar PV arrays below the 120 volt “extra low voltage” thresholds of the International Electro-technical Commission, eliminating the risk of injury from accidental contact with the system and reducing cost.
We have demonstrated the ability to convert operating voltages as low as 10 volts while still achieving better than 90% electrical conversion efficiencies.
Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Sustainable Energy is a public company with common shares traded on the TSX Venture exchange under the symbol “STG.”