| Boston-based Satcon, which provides power | | | | machines. |
| conversion and system design solutions for | | | | The solar array, with its Satcon inverters, is |
| utility-scale renewable energy projects, announced | | | | expected to significantly reduce the amount of |
| recently that it had installed four 250 kilowatt Satcon | | | | electricity the convention center currently gets from |
| inverters at the Orange County, Florida, Convention | | | | local utility Progress Energy. Progress, which gets |
| Center, which is the largest solar rooftop installation in | | | | more than one-third of its energy from nuclear |
| the Southeast. | | | | power (a resource it is lobbying for inclusion under |
| The convention center, located in Orlando, has | | | | Waxman-Markey's renewable energy standard, or |
| 200,000 square feet of monocrystalline photovoltaic | | | | RES), has only about 25 kilowatt-hours of solar |
| (PV) panels that will deliver 1.1 megawatts of clean | | | | energy in its mix. |
| solar power, or enough to power more than 100 | | | | A Climate-Change Education Center inside the Orange |
| homes for a year. | | | | County Convention Center will show visitors and |
| Designed and built by Johnson Controls Inc., a leading | | | | students how much solar energy is being produced at |
| provider of products and services that optimize | | | | any given time, as well as information on carbon |
| energy use and improve comfort and security, the | | | | emissions reductions and system efficiency - a rating |
| solar array will also reduce carbon dioxide emissions | | | | certain to be improved by Satcon's world-class |
| by an estimated 1 million pounds per year, which is | | | | inverters, which have demonstrated their reliability |
| the equivalent of removing 100 cars from U.S. roads. | | | | across thousands of hours of commercial use. This |
| The inverters, Satcon's patented PowerGate® | | | | education center also details the effects of global |
| Plus, convert the direct current (DC) energy from the | | | | warming due to fossil-fuel burning. |
| solar array to alternating current (AC) for use in the | | | | The solar array, a cooperative venture between |
| convention center. Inverters are an essential aspect | | | | Johnson Controls, Satcom and the Orlando Utilities |
| of alternative energy production, enabling conversion | | | | Commission (OUC), was put in service on May 14 |
| of DC to AC, which is how the utility companies | | | | with various Florida political figures in attendance, as |
| deliver power in the United States. Thus, American | | | | well as representatives from the OUC, the U.S. |
| businesses and homes are electrically configured to | | | | Department of Energy, the Florida Department of |
| accept only AC power, with DC conversion modules | | | | Energy, and the Orange County Environmental |
| built into such items as PCs and telephone answering | | | | Protection Agency. |