SolarWorld Backs Solar Decathlon Team Encompassing Four Florida Universities

Home boasting 5-kilowatt solar panel array will go up in time for autumn contest

Hillsboro, Ore., April 27, 2011 -- SolarWorld has provided 5 kilowatts-peak of high-performance Sunmodule™ solar panels and related solar technology to power the ingeniously innovative FLeX House, a fully operational home that a team representing four Florida universities will enter into the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011 this fall in Washington, D.C.

SolarWorld, the largest U.S. manufacturer of solar technology for more than 35 years, has operated in Florida more than 15 years and holds an advisory board seat with the University of Central Florida’s Florida Solar Energy Center in Orlando. Its donation to Team Florida delivers 22 Sunmodules as well as Enphase Energy micro-inverters to generate just enough solar energy to offset the home's power use. Aside from UCF, the team comprises Florida State University (Tallahassee), University of Florida (Gainesville) and University of South Florida (Tampa). Twenty teams worldwide will compete from Sept. 23 to Oct. 2 in the event at the National Mall’s West Potomac Park.

Team Florida will demonstrate that by springing from smart design, sustainable homes can offer practical, affordable and beautiful living spaces. FLeX House, designed to suit the needs of young couples, features not only solar power but also ground-breaking passive heating and cooling strategies suited to Florida’s variable and often hot, humid and sunny climate. Its features include movable partitions to segment heating, air conditioning and ventilation; a canopy structure to shade the house; a solar thermal system to provide hot water and reduce heat-pump energy use; and an interior desiccant waterfall to reduce humidity.

“The team set out to secure and showcase solar technology produced in the United States, and as a proud American manufacturer, we were happy to oblige,” said Kevin Kilkelly, president of SolarWorld Americas. “We are eager to provide a solar-energy boost to this trail-blazing team of four Florida university campuses. Their ideas and follow-through are sure to bring pride to the sunny state of Florida by showing how affordable and clean home-design technologies can be a perfect match for the state’s climate.”

Follow progress of Team Florida in words and pictures at SolarWorld’s blog.

About SolarWorld (www.solarworld-usa.com)

SolarWorld (ISIN: DE0005108401) is a worldwide leader in offering brand-name, high-quality, crystalline silicon solar-power technology. The company’s strength is its fully integrated solar production. From silicon as the raw material through wafers, cells and panels all the way to turn-key solar systems of all sizes, the group combines all stages of the solar value chain. The central business activity is selling high-quality panels into the installation and distribution trades and wafers to the international solar cell industry. Group headquarters are located in Bonn, Germany, with sales sites in Singapore, South Africa, Spain, France as well as in the U.S. state of California. The group’s largest production facilities operate in Freiberg, Germany, and Hillsboro in the U.S. state of Oregon. Sustainability is the basis of the group strategy. Under the name Solar2World, the group supports community aid projects using off-grid solar-power solutions in developing countries, exemplifying sustainable economic development. Worldwide, SolarWorld employs about 3,300 people. SolarWorld AG has been quoted on the stock exchange since 1999 and today is listed on, among others, the TecDAX and ÖkoDAX as well as in the sustainability index NAI.

Media Contact:

Devon Cichoski
Media relations manager
SolarWorld Americas
4650 Adohr Lane
Camarillo, CA 93012
Mobile: 805-377-2905
Office: 805-388-6388
devon.cichoski(at)solarworld-usa.com