PUERTOLLANO, Spain and MOUNTAIN VIEW, California, January 15 /PRNewswire/ --

- Castilla-La Mancha Site is Major Milestone in Commercialization of Concentrator Photovoltaics

SolFocus, designer and manufacturer of solar energy solutions including concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) systems, intelligent tracking systems, and solar thermal technology, and Spain's Institute of Concentration Photovoltaics Systems (ISFOC) today announced the installation of the first CPV array in the ISFOC's 3 MW project in Castilla-LaMancha. This is the first 200kW of the .5MW that SolFocus will install over the next few months for this worldwide solar initiative aimed at accelerating the development and adoption of CPV technology.

The ISFOC project is sponsored by the government of Castilla-La Mancha. SolFocus' installation of the first power-producing system in the project is a major milestone in achieving the objectives of the program, which supports participating companies by carrying out important R&D efforts on their installed systems. This includes studies and norms, developments on measurement technology for large systems, reliability testing, maintenance, and analysis of solar radiation and energy produced.

SolFocus broke ground at the ISFOC Puertollano site in October of last year with the civil construction and underground electrical work. The SolFocus array that is installed is rated at 6.2kW and has performed over its design output, which is significant at the early stage of this project.

According to Dr. Pedro Banda, Director General of the ISFOC, "This is a very important occasion as it brings the industry one step closer towards commercial deployment of CPV technologies. For this unprecedented and ambitious program, the ISFOC has selected CPV technologies that are the most advanced and have the brightest futures." He added, "SolFocus' first installation marks the official launch of the power-generation phase of the program."

SolFocus, with European headquarters in Madrid and United States headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., has over 40kW of test arrays installed at various sites. SolFocus selected the ISFOC project for its first large-scale installation because of the project founders' vision for CPV and plans to address the key challenges of commercializing this technology.

"We share the belief with the ISFOC leadership that CPV is the disruptive technology that will have a major impact in moving solar energy toward a more cost-effective and scalable mainstream energy source," commented Pedro Ladron de Guevara, SolFocus VP and General Manager, Tracker Division. "The focus of the ISFOC on addressing the most important components of CPV, including performance, energy production, safety and reliability, is directly in line with SolFocus' goals this year, as the company moves into full-scale commercial deployment in late 2008."

The ISFOC was established in 2006 to be a center of reference on the power, reliability and productivity of commercial CPV systems. The innovative approach taken by the ISFOC is becoming a model for similar projects under consideration around the world.

To download images of SolFocus' ISFOC installation in progress, please see the top two images here: http://www.solfocus.com/Logo.php.

About SolFocus

The SolFocus mission is to enable solar energy generation at a Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), competitive with energy generation from traditional fossil fuel sources, without reliance on incentives or other subsidies. To achieve this goal, SolFocus has developed new and leveraged existing technologies that eliminate the cost barriers to solar energy. SolFocus has an expanding portfolio of products and technologies including solar concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) systems, intelligent tracking systems for CPV and flat panel PV systems, and is expanding into other solar technologies such as solar thermal. SolFocus, Inc. is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., which is home to corporate development, marketing, technology research, CPV product development, and corporate support functions. SolFocus Europe, Inc., a subsidiary of SolFocus, is headquartered in Madrid, Spain. SolFocus Europe is responsible for business in the region, and is also home to SolFocus product development activity for tracking systems and solar thermal products. The company's glassworks operations are located in Mesa, Arizona.

About ISFOC

The Instituto de Sistemas Fotovoltaicos de Concentracion is the result of the R&D plan promoted by the Department of Education and Science from the Castilla La Mancha Government and the Institute of Solar Energy from the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid. The project is financed by the Ministry of Education and Science. The headquarters, laboratories and some of the ISFOC pilot photovoltaic plants are being built in Puertollano, where all the Institute activities will be coordinated. Establishing in Castilla La Mancha the main vehicle for the development of CPV technologies is our chief goal. In order to generate key knowledge on this technology, ISFOC is executing a number of power plants (up to 3 MW in total) incorporating different concentrator technologies which are becoming available in the market. ISFOC has become a national and world reference in CPV and with the infrastructure installed after the two year establishment period, ambitious R&D projects will be undertaken.

Web site: http://www.solfocus.com http://www.solfocus.com/Logo.php

Nancy Hartsoch of SolFocus, Inc., +1-650-623-7134, nancy_hartsoch@solfocus.com; or media, Lonnie Shekhtman of Antenna Group, +1-415-977-1917, Lonnie@antennagroup.com, for SolFocus, Inc.; or Pedro Banda of ISFOC S.A., +34-926-441673, isfoc@isfoc.com