USA - Patrick Chapman, Ph.D., co-founder, chief technology officer and vice president, advanced development of SolarBridge Technologies (www.solarbridgetech.com), will be a panelist on the Power Electronics and BOS Hardware Panels at the SunShot Grand Challenge: Summit and Technology Forum.

Dr. Chapman’s panel will focus on “The future of power electronics and SolarBridge’s development of a next generation microinverter."

In order to reach the goals of the SunShot Initiative, power electronics and balance of system hardware must reach $0.10/W and $0.18/W respectively while maintaining required levels of performance and reliability.

In support of reaching those goals, SunShot has developed BOS-X, SEGIS-AC, Solar ADEPT, and the Regional Test Centers (RTC’s).

Panelists will discuss the advancements made by these funding opportunities to date and discuss what is necessary in the future to meet these goals. In addition, they will discuss the role of technology risk in the deployment of solar technologies.

Chapman will be joined on the panel by the following people:
· Sarah Kurtz, reliability group manager, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (Moderator)
· Fred Keller, chairman and CEO, Cascade Engineering
· Charlie Korman, manager of solar energy, General Electric
· Narayan Ramesh, associate R&D director, Dow Solar

Through the Grand Challenge series, the U.S. Department of Energy is launching a broad-based effort to address the scientific, technological and market barriers to achieving breakthroughs in national energy challenges.

The Department is convening the best and brightest minds across government, industry and academia to strengthen U.S. leadership in the global clean energy race, increase American economic prosperity and capture the new markets and jobs of the 21st century.