The opening of the new branch office reflects the successful collaboration between KACO new energy and GREEN TEC.

Tokyo / Neckarsulm, 08 March 2013 – KACO new energy celebrated the opening of its Tokyo branch office at the end of February. As one of the largest manufacturers of photovoltaic inverters, the company is well positioned to take a leading role in the "Land of the Rising Sun."

The employees of the most eastern branch office of the company headquartered in Neckarsulm, Germany, will primarily be offering its partner GREEN TEC support in planning, commissioning and servicing of joint projects at the beginning, as well as providing training. KACO new energy signed an exclusive agreement in 2012 at Intersolar Europe with the company from Kyoto. GREEN TEC is one of Japan's most important full system suppliers. KACO new energy is thus the first German manufacturer to secure significant access to the Japanese market in this segment. The current product range for Japan covers central inverters with outputs of 100 and 500 kW, also available as outdoor models.

The opening of the new branch office reflects the successful collaboration between KACO new energy and GREEN TEC. Thanks to positive developments, the companies were able to double their supply target of 50 MW in inverter output, as formulated last year in Munich, to 100 MW. The island nation currently has one of the world's highest PV feed-in tariffs; after adding 2.5 GW in 2012, estimates for 2013 are as high as 4 GW.

"The Japanese have a highly developed environmental awareness as a result of recent events. And let's not forget that the country was long the world's largest PV market until 2004. It's only logical that Japan is turning to solar energy now. Since it is the sun disk that makes the national flag unmistakable, Japan truly does justice to its title as 'Land of the Rising Sun'," stated Matthias Haag, CTO of KACO new energy, at the opening ceremony of the new branch office, which was held together with representatives from GREEN TEC on February 26th.

The Japanese branch office of KACO new energy is led by Mr. Toshihiro Hiraishi. The trained electrical engineer brings many years of experience both in development and in sales of power converters, charging devices and UPS units. The new office is located in the Ikebukuro district of Tokyo's Toshima ward. "The skyline of Ikebukuro is marked by the ‘Sunshine 60' building, which was Nippon's tallest skyscraper with 60 floors upon completion in 1978. This is a fitting symbol for what KACO new energy as one of the leading global manufacturers of solar inverters has resolved to achieve as it enters the Japanese market," states Toshihiro Hiraishi about the architectural highlight of the neighbourhood and the ambitions of the company in Japan.

About KACO new energy:

KACO new energy is one of the world's largest manufacturers of grid-tie inverters for feeding solar energy. The company offers a comprehensive range of inverters for PV systems for everything from single-family homes to multi-megawatt solar farms. KACO new energy is based in Neckarsulm, Germany and has been producing inverters with a cumulative capacity of nearly six gigawatts since 1999. KACO new energy was the first company in the photovoltaic industry to manufacture inverters (the Powador model) using CO2-neutral production methods. In addition to grid-tie and battery-based solar inverters, the company also supplies inverters for combined heat and power plants and concentrator modules as well as energy storage systems for solar power plants.