SmartSpark Energy Ventures, a 4-year-old company in the University of Illinois Research Park in Champaign-Urbana, has received what it calls “significant” (but undisclosed) funding from Battery Ventures, a Boston-based venture capital company which likes its inverter technology that promises to to help make solar energy more efficient and more affordable. Battery Ventures’ investment will be used to develop SmartSpark’s SolarBridge product line, which aims to promote solar power by lowering the cost and increasing the reliability of inverters used in solar energy systems.
From the press release:
SmartSpark develops products that support the efficient transformation of power used in renewable energy technologies. The company’s goal is to facilitate the mainstream adoption of green technologies by making them safer, less complex, more efficient and more durable. SmartSpark will utilize this early financing to develop its SolarBridge product line, which seeks to increase the adoption of solar power by lowering the cost and increasing the reliability of one of the most critical components of a solar power system - the inverter. An inverter is used to convert the DC power generated by solar panels to AC power required for consumption in homes and businesses.
“The long-term growth prospects for the solar market are clear, but it’s also clear that we need to see the cost and complexity of overall systems come down if they are to be widely adopted,†said Matlof. “This is an exciting investment because we believe SmartSpark has the potential to change the economics of solar with technology to reduce the cost and increase the reliability and output of solar installations.â€
SmartSpark claims on its website that even if solar panels were free, a home solar system cost would still not be cost-competitive with conventional grid power at today’s rates, because solar panels represent only about one-third of the total system cost, while inverters, system protection and control circuits, and installation, make up the other two thirds. By lowering the cost of inverters and making installation easier, SmartSpark hopes to help make solar power more competitive.
