National Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE:NSM) a leader in the design and manufacture of high-performance analog semiconductors, and Green Energy Solar (GESOLAR), a leading provider of solar energy products and services, today announced that samples of GESOLAR smart panels are available now. The modules, incorporating HUBER+SUHNER NS3 junction boxes featuring National Semiconductor’s award-winning SolarMagic™ power optimizer chipset, will be demonstrated at the Solar Power International conference in Los Angeles on Oct. 12 –14, 2010.
——National Semiconductor, booth #6219
——GESOLAR, booth #2459
——HUBER+SUHNER, booth #3022
“Together, we have designed and developed the first smart panel to go into production,” said Mike Polacek, senior vice president, Key Market Segments and Business Development for National Semiconductor. “Solar installers can now realize the highest kWh performance, cost effectively with SolarMagic power optimization built in.”
TUV Rheinland is performing the safety and emissions compliance testing. The industry’s first smart panel to enter the certification process, TUV Rheinland is conducting tests to assure that the GESOLAR panels meet requirements for ANSI 1703 and IEC 61730 and IEC 61215 safety standards as well as FCC Part 15 (Class A&B) and EN 61000 emissions and immunity standards.
“We are excited to introduce the first smart panel to market,” said Stephen Tong, CEO of GESOLAR. “Incorporating National’s SolarMagic chipset in our next generation of GESOLAR modules, provides the solar installation owner with the benefits of power optimization performance along with the best-in-class quality of GESOLAR modules.”
National’s SolarMagic power optimizer technology enables each GESOLAR module to produce the maximum energy regardless of whether other panels in the array are under-performing due to environmental mismatch. The technology enhances the energy harvest of each individual PV panel through a combination of advanced algorithms and leading-edge analog power management circuit techniques. In real-world tests involving shading and mismatch, GESOLAR modules with SolarMagic power optimizer technology were shown to recoup an average of 50 percent of lost energy, and in some cases captured as much as 75 percent of otherwise lost energy compared to standard panel performance.