Solar Topps Reaches Two Megawatt Solar Supply Agreement With Power-One for American-Made Residential and Commercial Grade Solar Photovoltaic Power Inverters

PHOENIX, AZ--(Marketwire - Jul 5, 2011) - Solar Topps (http://www.solartopps.com), a fast growing solar installation company based in Tempe, Arizona, announced a Two Megawatt solar photovoltaic power inverter supply agreement with one of America's leading solar photovoltaic power inverter manufacturers, Power-One, which manufactures its high quality solar photovoltaic power inverters in Phoenix, Arizona. In tandem with Schott's American-made solar panels, Solar Topps now offers a 100% American-made solar power array for customers that want to purchase a solar power system that was made in the USA.

"We selected Power-One's solar power inverters using the same electrical engineering principles that we use to evaluate all of our best-of-breed solar power products," said Neal Uppal, president of Solar Topps. "We needed a solar power inverter that could handle the solar electricity over-production that our zero power loss (-0/+5%) solar panels produce. We also needed an inverter that provided maximum engineering flexibility in order to meet the stringent design requirements of Arizona's challenging environmental conditions and diversified rooftop architectures. Power-One beat the competition in every category we evaluated."

Power-One's 96.8% DC to AC Power Conversion Efficiency Rating
During February to May when outside temperatures are cool and solar radiation is strong even average solar panels will produce 13% more solar electricity than the rest of the year. Solar Topps' best-of-breed zero-power-loss -0/+5% solar panels add another 5% to the system's total solar power production capacity. The Power-One power inverter's capacitors, rectifier and other solid state components provide a transformerless design that delivers a very predictable, very precise DC to AC conversion rate of 96.8% that can handle the surge of 18% extra energy during peak solar power production periods. No other solar power inverter in the world can match Power-One's performance.

Power-One's Quick, 140 Volt Startup and Shutdown Advantage
Other power inverters require 250 to 300 volts to begin converting DC to AC power. Power-One requires only 140 volts to begin power conversion. This low-light power production capability allows Solar Topps solar power arrays to begin converting solar energy into usable current one hour earlier in the morning and one hour later in the afternoon, which adds approximately 730 more hours of solar power production than any power inverter on the market. The quick startup time also means that the solar array will recover faster as cloud shadows pass over the solar system on partly cloudy days.

Power-One's Wide 140 to 530 Volt Operating Tolerance
In addition to faster power inverter startup, the Power-One's 140 volt startup operation also allows the installation of very short solar panel strings. On the top end, most other power inverters are limited to 500 volts of maximum capacity. Power-One power inverters can accept up to 530 volts, which can be used to handle more power from longer strings and used in engineering designs to prevent the power inverter from clipping solar energy when the solar power array is overproducing solar electricity.

Installing an inverter that is too small for a solar power array's maximum power production is a common mistake that many inexperienced solar installation companies make when trying to save money. The result is that the extra solar power production is clipped (not delivered) by the inverter. Pushing too much power through too small of a power inverter is the primary reason that most power inverters burn up in less than 10 years. Wasted power production equals wasted money.

Power-One's Dual-Channel Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) Engineering Flexibility
Dual-channel MPPT allows the installation of two separate strings that have different polar orientations such as a rooftop hip that faces southeast and southwest. As the sun rises and sets, one string of panels will be producing more power than the other string in the morning and vice versa in the afternoon. A single channel inverter defaults to the string with the lower power production, thus clipping the total system power production. A dual channel inverter can track each string's orientation power production separately. This is very important for installing solar on cut up rooftops with limited room and dual orientations of different solar panel strings.

Power-One's Heat Tolerance for Arizona's Summertime Heat
Arizona is hot place, hotter than most power inverters can handle during the summer time. Average power inverters shut down and stop producing electricity at 103 degrees to 114 degrees. When an inverter shuts down, all the solar energy is clipped and not delivered to the home or business. Most homeowners never realize this is happening because they are automatically switched back to grid power. Power-One inverters will not shut down until they reach a temperature of more than 122 degrees, which is very rare even for Arizona. This means that all Solar Topps customers will enjoy the maximum solar power production possible.