The Austin Chamber of Commerce and the Central Texas Regional Center of Innovation and Commercialization (CenTex RCIC) announce that the state of Texas has chosen SolarBridge as the recipient of a pre-seed commercialization investment funded through the Texas Emerging Technology Fund (TETF). This company, which produces microinverters which increase the energy collection of solar panels, has been awarded $1.5 million for the commercialization of its technology.

“Here in Central Texas, we know that green energy is not only good for the environment, it’s also good for our economy,” said Jack McDonald, Chairman of Perficient, Inc. and Chairman of the CenTex RCIC. “We’re pleased to make this investment in a promising new technology that offers the potential to create jobs for Texans and promote American energy independence.”

SolarBridge, previously known as SmartSpark, changed its name earlier this year after deciding to focus exclusively on solar technology. SolarBridge’s flagship product is a panel-mounted microinverter designed to integrate with a solar panel, thus increasing energy harvest and lowering installation costs. Current solar stations have one inverter for an entire array, which causes problems with both reliability and efficiency of energy collection. SolarBridge’s patented architecture is optimized for reliability, and is designed to match the life of a solar module.

“Thanks to this investment, SolarBridge Technologies is well positioned to deliver an enabling technology to the residential and small commercial solar panel market, which has not been well served by existing central inverter and microinverter offerings,” said Ron Van Dell, President and Chief Executive Officer of SolarBridge. “We have had a very promising response from the marketplace to our unique value proposition.”

The company has established a corporate office in Austin and intends to grow this operation dramatically. In addition to company headquarters, SolarBridge plans on adding a sizable engineering team, supply chain management, sales/marketing functions and customer service division. These functions will grow as the business grows and will extend far beyond the duration of the TETF Grant. To date, SolarBridge has added 15 jobs at its Austin headquarters and will add another 15 jobs this year. The company expects this number to grow significantly in subsequent years.

A portion of the development work will be done in conjunction with Professor Kwasinski at the University of Texas at Austin. Kwasinski specializes in power electronics and works on integrating microgrids into “smart grids” such as Austin’s Pecan Street Project.

“This investment from the Emerging Technology Fund will allow the University of Texas at Austin to continue collaborating with SolarBridge, to further develop technology in the field of electric power and energy, allowing the grid to be smarter and more efficient from the bottom up,” said Dr. Juan Sanchez, Vice President for Research, UT-Austin. “The advancement of these technologies will continue to help Austin become a leader in the clean energy industry.”

SolarBridge was selected by the CenTex RCIC after an extensive due diligence process based on multiple criteria including a stringent analysis of the market and financial opportunity, technology potential, management team and economic impact to Texas.

The CenTex RCIC is a virtual center that operates out of the Austin Chamber of Commerce and serves as a catalyst for emerging technology research, development, commercialization and start-up incubation. In an effort to keep Texas globally competitive, the CenTex RCIC focuses on integrating technology development and commercialization in a 15-county region.