Free Smartphone Tool Provides PV System Data Anytime, Anywhere

ROCKLIN, Calif. and TORONTO, Feb. 14, 2012—Smartphone users with the Android operating system can now access critical performance data from any photovoltaic (PV) system on the SMA Sunny Portal, the world's largest Web-based PV monitoring solution. Available for free download from the Android Market, the SMA Sunny Portal Android application allows solar power system owners and operators to manage, monitor and display PV system performance instantly, anytime and anywhere. This new addition complements SMA's Sunny Portal and Solarchecker applications for the Apple iPhone.

"The new Sunny Portal Android application allows even more PV system owners and operators to monitor their systems while on the go," said Jurgen Krehnke, president and general manager of SMA America and president of SMA Canada. "This conserves both time and costs because they are able to instantly access system data to ensure peak production and discover unnoticed performance disturbances."

Much like its companion, SunnyPortal.com, the Sunny Portal application provides a snapshot of any registered PV system, regardless of configuration or size. The application boasts a visual display of a system's energy yield for the day, month, year and life-to-date of the system, in addition to listing its CO2 savings in tons per year. This data is uploaded daily via the SMA Sunny WebBox, a powerful communication hub that continuously collects data from the solar inverters.

Additional data displayed by the Sunny Portal application includes the system's commission date, size, and properties and parameters of the modules, inverters and communications hardware used. And because a solar power system can be accessed anywhere in the world with the Sunny Portal application, it also provides the system's location, including latitude, longitude and time zone. Meanwhile, the application's Logbook offers an event history of the system.

Users can also record their own system data, from additional technical details to contact information for the PV planners and installers.

SMA's system-planning iPhone application, the Solarchecker, allows users to determine the best placement of a solar power system and how much energy and revenue it could produce. After the iPhone's GPS locator pinpoints the user's location, the magnetic compass provides site orientation while the inclination sensor determines the roof pitch. Then, the Solarchecker automatically accesses a weather database to determine the solar radiation available at that spot. Finally, the application estimates a project's return on investment and provides a list of qualified, local solar energy specialists to install the proposed system.

About SMA
SMA Solar Technology AG is the global market leader for solar inverters. The SMA Group generated sales of €1.9 billion in 2010. It is headquartered in Niestetal, near Kassel, Germany, and is represented in 19 countries on four different continents. The Group employs a staff of over 5,300 worldwide, plus a number of temporary employees which varies on a seasonal basis. The multi award-winning product range covers solar inverters for roof systems, major solar projects and off-grid systems, enabling SMA to provide a technically optimized inverter solution for all size categories and system types. Its range of services is complemented by a worldwide service network. The highly flexible manufacturing plants for solar inverters in Germany and North America have a capacity of approximately 11.5 GW a year. The SMA Group also operates a manufacturing plant for electromagnetic core components in Poland. Since 2008, SMA has been listed on the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and also in the TecDAX index. In recent years, SMA has received numerous awards for its excellence as an employer and achieved first place in 2011 in the federal "Great Place to Work" competition.