Fat Spaniel, Envision make deals at solar conference

It makes sense that a conference on solar power should be solar powered.

The Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center in California, site of Solar Power 2007, has a 750 kilowatt rooftop photovoltaic system that supplies some of the power used each year by the building.

And San Jose, Calif.-based Fat Spaniel Technologies is keeping an eye on it all. The company, which announced new software today to manage multiple commercial-scale renewable energy systems, is providing real-time maintenance alerts and revenue-grade reporting on the convention center's solar panels.

"They are using our webview technology in a display kiosk to show off the capabilities of the convention center's own solar electric system," Gordon Smith, VP of marketing at Fat Spaniel, told the Cleantech Group

Take a look at the Long Beach monitoring system here.

But that's just one site. Fat Spaniel, one of over 200 companies exhibiting at the conference this year, said its new Insight Management software gives users at-a-glance information regarding the name, location, capacity, and health status for all of the operator's solar energy systems.

"It can handle as many sites as you want. We have installers who are using it today for beta testing purposes, and who have close to a hundred sites under management," said Smith.

Check out a screenshot of Fat Spaniel's new system >>

Last year, Fat Spaniel raised $7 million in Series A financing from DFJ Element and Chrysalix Energy (see Performance monitoring startup Fat Spaniel lands $7M).

The company's new system offers email alerts for system faults or other events, and tracks and displays events such as inverter faults.

"Installers, for example, can shift from the mode of responding only when their customer calls up to complain, to now actually proactively dispatching someone, and dispatching somebody who has the right replacement part," said Smith.

The software can show the inverter affected, the exact nature of the fault and the timeframe of the condition in order to help diagnose and prevent future system downtime, according to the company.

Fat Spaniel said utilities can view both real-time and historical system data with its new software, which it said is compatible with revenue-grade meters, environmental sensors, inverters supported with direct monitoring, and inverters with extended fault code capabilities.

San Luis Obispo, Calif.-based REC Solar is among a half dozen companies that have been beta testing the new service, set to roll out by the first of October.

Also making an announcement at the conference today is San Diego's Envision Solar. The company said the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory made a deal to use Envision's solar recharge station for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Envision, which is showing off its wares at the conference, said its Solar Tree system will be installed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's South Table Mountain site in Golden, Colo.

"Envision's Solar Tree design provides NREL with key equipment to explore the linkage between renewable energy resources and transportation energy demands," said NREL senior engineer Tony Markel in a statement.

The company was formed in March by principals from Tucker Sadler Architects and a contracting firm after working with Kyocera to develop a 235-kilowatt solar carport at Kyocera's North American headquarters in San Diego. (see Solar carports being marketed by Kyocera and partner).

Envision said the NREL's recharging structure will feature 20 Kyocera photovoltaic panels atop a single post, grid-tied parking canopy.

Tilted at a 30 degree angle, the canopy is expected to produce 10 kilowatt hours of power while providing two shaded parking spaces. The design incorporates one 120 volt outlet per parking space.

Envision said the modular system will be evaluated for expansion.

The company said it plans to expand into the residential market in early 2008 with kit-built solar systems.

The Solar Power 2007 conference sessions are already sold out, according to the organizers. But people can still attend the expo and take a look at everything the vendors have on display.

The Solar Electric Power Association and the Solar Energy Industries Association, who are putting on the show, said passes are $100 for those with a business interest, and free for the general public.