Akeena Solar Expands Operations Coast to Coast

LOS GATOS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Responding to consumer demand and a booming residential solar market in New England, Akeena Solar (NASDAQ:AKNS), one of the United States’ leading solar installers, today announced it will expand its operations into Connecticut. The new location at 435 Boston Post Road, Milford, Conn., is the tenth office opened by Akeena Solar and will also serve as the new base of operations for solar installations in New York and New Jersey.

The company has already completed more than 40 installations in Connecticut, and due to the recent passage of new rebates in the state and rising electricity costs, the demand for Akeena Solar’s award-winning beautifully designed, high performance Andalay panels is rapidly growing.

“The thriving New England solar market is proving that California isn’t the only state where it makes sense to go solar. Connecticut and the tri-state area are poised to become one of the major adopters of solar power in the nation,” said Barry Cinnamon, CEO of Akeena Solar. “Connecticut, like many areas around the country, has been hit with skyrocketing energy costs at home and at the pump. We look forward to helping homeowners go solar and bring down those costs with clean, renewable solar power.”

Beyond the obvious financial and environmental advantages of switching to solar, Akeena’s Andalay solar power systems offers homeowners a sleek, attractive panel that has resonated with thousands of California homeowners concerned with putting bulky, ordinary solar panels on their roofs.

Based on Akeena’s years of installation experience, the Andalay solar power systems streamline the installation processes by incorporating the external racking and electrical wiring into the panels themselves. This breakthrough design eliminates 70 percent of the parts and reduces 25 percent of rooftop penetrations necessary in the installation of ordinary rack-mounted system. In addition, Andalay averts installation complexities and protects electrical wires from weather exposure — both deficiencies of ordinary systems that affect the overall performance over its 25-year life. Andalay was recently honored with an Innovative Home Technology Award from TecHome Builder Magazine.

“Concerns over skyrocketing electricity bills and the environment have driven more homeowners to seek solar power solutions,” said Darren Bronen, Akeena Solar’s regional manager for the Connecticut office. “We are excited to bring homeowners reliable, clean and aesthetically pleasing solar power.”

Akeena Solar "Rocks" Concrete Recycling Plant

LOS GATOS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Akeena Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKNS), a leading designer and installer of solar power systems, today announced the Star Quality Concrete project. This installation will be the largest commercial solar power system in San Jose.

The 410 KW Akeena Solar power system will house 1,890 Akeena solar panels on the roof of Star Quality Concrete in downtown San Jose.

“At Akeena Solar, we are excited about the opportunity to help existing manufacturing businesses operate in a renewable and lower cost way,” said Jim Curran, Akeena Solar COO. “At the same time that we assist companies make the transition, we’re also proud to move San Jose closer to achieving Mayor Reed’s vision for a greener San Jose.”

Star Quality Concrete, a family-owned, independent concrete mixing plant has received global recognition for its innovative technology and its recent foray into sustainability. The company’s newest technology manufactures sand and rock for concrete aggregate by crushing demolition concrete.

“The desire to use clean power to support a facility like ours first drove us to look at installing a solar system,” said Jerry Blatt, owner of Star Quality Concrete. “Recycling old concrete relied heavily on fossil fuels, which also significantly drove up operating costs. Akeena Solar is building a renewable power system that will help us lower our operating costs and improve our efficiency in a way that is both economically and environmentally beneficial.”

“I am delighted that one of our long-time San Jose companies, Star Quality Concrete, is going green by installing the city's largest commercial solar system,” said Mayor Chuck Reed. “From residents to businesses, San Joseans are working hard to increase our use of clean energy and decrease our reliance on foreign fossil fuels.”

Akeena Solar Added to NASDAQ Clean Edge Index

LOS GATOS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Akeena Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKNS), a leading designer and installer of solar power systems, one of the world’s largest producers and suppliers of solar energy products, today announced that it has been added to the NASDAQ Clean Edge U.S. Index (Nasdaq: CLEN) and the NASDAQ Clean Edge U.S. Liquid Series Index (Nasdaq: CELS) (the "Indexes"), effective with the market open on Monday, March 24, 2008.

Gary Effren, chief financial officer of Akeena Solar, commented, "As a leading national installer of solar power systems, we believe producing clean electricity directly from the sun is the right thing to do for our environment and economy. We are honored to be added to the NASDAQ Clean Edge U.S. Index and the NASDAQ Clean Edge U.S. Liquid Series Index. The Clean Edge Index includes leading clean energy companies and we are proud to represent the end of the value chain that sells and installs solar systems for end users. We hope the Indexes will help further strengthen the development of the whole alternative energy industry."

According to NASDAQ's press release on semi-annual changes to the NASDAQ Clean Edge U.S. Indexes dated March 17, 2008, the Indexes are designed to track the performance of clean-energy companies that are publicly traded in the U.S. The Indexes include companies engaged in the manufacturing, development, distribution, and installation of emerging clean-energy technologies such as solar photovoltaics, biofuels and advanced batteries. The five major sub-sectors that the Indexes cover are Renewable Electricity Generation, Renewable Fuels, Energy Storage & Conversion, Energy Intelligence and Advanced Energy-Related Materials.

Akeena Solar Helps Keep Napa Valley Green

LOS GATOS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Akeena Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKNS), a leading designer and installer of solar power systems, today announced the installation of an Akeena solar-panel system on Lafitte Cork & Capsule - USA’s Napa Valley facility. The system currently generates all of the electrical energy onsite.

“With several wine industry installations already under our belt, we were able to offer a knowledge base that’s hard to find within the solar marketplace,” said Barry Cinnamon, Akeena Solar CEO. “We’ve helped the wine industry across Northern California achieve its solar objectives and are dedicated to continuing those efforts.” Akeena Solar completed its first wine industry installation in 2003 and has continued to serve the growing green initiatives of the wine industry, with four winery projects last quarter alone. Specializing in the design and installation of high-performance solar power systems, Akeena Solar serves small and medium size commercial and residential customers across the United States.

Lafitte is the first cork producer in California to go solar. The installation of 262 solar panels will generate enough clean energy to eliminate the production of more than 1.4 million pounds of carbon dioxide, 1,305 pounds of nitrogen oxide and 384 pounds of sulfur dioxide over its 30-year life. The solar system can be monitored in real-time at the Lafitte Web site, www.lafitte-usa.com.

“Akeena’s long-standing commitment to providing solar to the wine industry coupled with its expertise in the field made the company a natural choice for us,” said the President and General Manager of Lafitte David Hanson-Jerrard. “Converting to solar energy has long been a part of Lafitte’s goal of lowering our impact on the planet and furthering our green philosophy. Akeena Solar’s dedicated service, superior performance and business practice have helped make this installation a success.”

Akeena Enters Manufacturing Partnership With Kyocera

LOS GATOS, Calif.--(Solar Energy News)--Akeena Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKNS), a leading designer and installer of solar power systems, and Kyocera Solar Inc., one of the world’s largest producers and suppliers of solar energy products, have announced a strategic partnership to manufacture Andalay solar panels. Under the agreement Kyocera will manufacture Andalay solar panels utilizing Kyocera’s high efficiency solar cells and will deliver 1.6 MW of panels to Akeena during 2008. Kyocera has also been named Akeena’s preferred supplier for its commercial business.

Andalay is the brand name for Akeena Solar’s proprietary solar panel technology. Unlike ordinary solar panels, Andalay panels feature built-in racking, wiring and grounding. Andalay panels attach directly to the roof with a minimum of roof penetrations and provide customers with a better looking and more reliable solar system. Moreover, an installed Andalay system uses 70 percent fewer parts and requires 25 percent fewer attachment points than ordinary solar panels, providing better long-term performance.

“This agreement marks an important expansion of our strategy as we transition to Andalay installations in 2008,” said Barry Cinnamon, chief executive officer of Akeena Solar. ”Kyocera has been an Akeena partner since 2001 and we are pleased to add them as one of our two suppliers of Andalay panels.

“Kyocera has an outstanding reputation for quality in the solar industry. Their understanding of the performance and reliability of Andalay solar panels is another validation of our technology’s benefits to customers,” added Cinnamon.

“We look forward to this next phase of our partnership with Akeena Solar. The Andalay solution is a distinctive approach for delivering high performance solar solutions that will be powered by Kyocera’s innovative cell technology,” stated Steve Hill, president of Kyocera Solar, Inc. “In response to growing demand, such as Akeena’s, this partnership also leverages Kyocera’s plans to expand its annual solar module manufacturing capacity to 500 MW by 2011.”

Akeena To License Solar Panel Technology To Suntech

LOS GATOS, Calif. & SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Akeena Solar, Inc. (NASDQ: AKNS), a leading designer and installer of solar power systems, announced that its state-of-the-art solar panel technology, Andalay, will be distributed in Europe, Japan and Australia under a license agreement with Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE: STP) one of the world's leading manufacturers of photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules.

The terms of the Licensing Agreement authorize Suntech to distribute Andalay in Europe, Japan and Australia commencing in January 2008. This Licensing Agreement is in addition to Suntech’s previous agreement to manufacture Andalay solar panels.

Andalay solar-panel technology was envisioned by Akeena’s CEO, Barry Cinnamon, after years of rooftop solar installation experience and customer feedback. “Andalay improves on conventional solar panels by including built-in wiring, grounding and racking designed to provide maximum rooftop performance for consumers while minimizing installation costs for solar system installers. The result is a rooftop solar power system with superior built-in reliability with outstanding aesthetics in an all-black, streamlined appearance,” said Barry Cinnamon. “Moreover, an installed Andalay system uses 70 percent fewer parts and requires 25 percent fewer attachment points than traditional solar systems, meaning better long-term performance.”

Len May, Suntech’s Managing Director of BIPV Products, said: “Akeena’s new Andalay technology will be a valuable addition to our growing portfolio of solar products and will help keep Suntech on the leading edge of solar technology innovation. Andalay is a significant innovation that directly addresses the need to reduce the cost of solar systems, and we are confident that there will be significant demand for this attractive and high performance solar solution in markets outside of the U.S.” Suntech targets sales of over 10MW of the Andalay solar panels to the licensed regions in 2008.

“We welcome this expanded collaboration with Akeena Solar to introduce this lower installed cost solution to international markets,” said Dr. Zhengrong Shi, Suntech’s Chairman and CEO. “The innovative Andalay panel is the perfect complement to our product offering and a clear example of Suntech’s efforts to support and promote products that bring the industry closer to grid parity. This agreement will leverage Suntech’s product development expertise, flexible and low cost manufacturing base, and robust global sales and distribution channels to expand the availability of this important new solar innovation.”

“We are delighted Andalay will be available in select countries outside the United States through one of the world's leading manufacturers of solar cells and panels,” said Barry Cinnamon. “Suntech is the natural partner to license this technology given their role in co-developing and manufacturing the product, and their extensive international distribution channels that are among the strongest in the industry. Akeena Solar and Suntech also share a focus on quality and value. We are experiencing very strong demand for Andalay, and this licensing agreement with Suntech will allow us to meet our customer’s needs for Andalay outside of our direct channels in the U.S.”

Akeena Solar Opens Palm Springs Office

PALM SPRINGS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Akeena Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKNS), a leading designer and installer of solar power systems, opened a new office in Palm Springs today, bringing a local solar energy option to the Coachella Valley’s alternative energy-hungry consumers.

“We are thrilled to expand our team to the thriving area of Palm Springs,” said Barry Cinnamon, Chief Executive Officer of Akeena Solar, Inc. “Introducing our innovative Andalay technology to Palm Springs is a natural fit with an area that is making its mark and leading the way in modern and sustainable living.”

Akeena’s Palm Springs office marks the solar innovator’s seventh site in California, as the company continues to expand and invest in the state to meet the rapidly growing demand for solar power from both residential and commercial customers. The higher standard, premium product and superior service Akeena provides is parallel with Palm Springs spirit of high-design, advancement and modernism. In fact, Akeena recently launched a solar panel called Andalay which incorporates higher efficiency, increased reliability and innovative design.

Palm Springs Mayor-elect Steve Pougnet will join Akeena at the office opening celebration today at 3:00 PM PST to discuss the environmental benefits of solar energy and the importance of alternative energy solutions. Mayor-elect Pougnet welcomes new advances in sustainability for Palm Springs and congratulates Akeena on their new office.

“Increasing the use of renewable energy is the right thing to do for the environment and for the economy,” commented Mayor-elect Pougnet. “We are happy to welcome Akeena Solar to our community and we look forward to Akeena’s assistance in helping Palm Springs achieve our renewable energy objectives.”

California continues to be the largest solar power market in the United States, much in part due to the California Solar Initiative, which makes solar power systems an attractive option for commercial and residential buildings. In addition to Palm Springs, Akeena has offices in Los Gatos, Santa Rosa, Lake Forest, Fresno, Bakersfield and Manteca.

On a national level, support for solar power continues to grow as Americans become more concerned about their sources of energy and more aware of environmentally friendly alternatives. With the right support, solar energy – America's most abundant renewable resource – is poised to provide an estimated 50 percent of all new electricity in the US within eight years. Akeena Solar continues to make advancements in solar technology and is working to bring solar to its rightful place at the forefront of alternative energy options.

Largest Military Solar Power Installation in Central Valley

LOS GATOS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fast-growing Akeena Solar (OTCBB:AKNS) is generating the equivalent of power for 200 households with its just-completed project at the Air National Guard Armory in Fresno, CA.

Akeena, a publicly held company that already is one of the largest installers of residential solar and small commercial systems in the country, says that the $2.2 million contract is a meaningful contribution to Akeena’s revenues last quarter and this quarter.

“This project is so important in so many ways,” said Barry Cinnamon, chief executive officer of Akeena. It solidifies our footprint in the Central Valley, where we took over the solar power business of Solahart All valley of Fresno last year. It shows that our government is taking action to use clean, renewable power. This contract also helped contribute to the growth of our commercial business segment.”

The project generates 300 kilowatts of electricity, the equivalent of what would be used by 200 households. Akeena installed 566 solar panels to generate the power.

“We like to think that we made this project easy for the military, which is exactly what we try to do for homeowners,” Cinnamon said. “Our engineers design custom solutions for every project. Then we handle all of the paperwork for rebates and tax credits for homeowners. In California, incentives cover about a third of the cost thereby encouraging homeowners to run their electric meter backwards with a solar power system.

About Akeena Solar, Inc

Founded in 2001, Akeena Solar's (OTCBB:AKNS) philosophy is simple: We believe producing clean electricity directly from the sun is the right thing to do for our environment and economy. Akeena Solar has grown to become one of the largest national installers of residential and small commercial solar power systems in the United States, serving customers directly in California, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. For more information, visit Akeena Solar's website at www.akeena.net.