Knox group licenses device to enhance renewable energy

Apr. 19--By Larisa Brass, The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Tenn. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

A device to improve the reliability and efficiency of electricity generated by the sun, the wind and other renewable sources has been licensed to a Knoxville organization that hopes to commercialize it.

The Knoxville-based Power Electronics & Magnetics Designers Association, or PEMDA, signed a license agreement Monday with Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, associated with Virginia Polytechnic Institute, to continue development of an electric power conversion inverter.

The technology was developed at Virginia Tech by Jason Lai, a University of Tennessee graduate who has worked at EPRI-PEAC, an electric power research and testing firm in Knoxville.

PEMDA licensed exclusive rights for the technology's use with renewable energy power sources such as solar and wind.

The technology transforms DC voltage generated by solar panels or wind turbines into AC current more efficiently, reliably and cost effectively than other technologies, said Steve Levy of PEMDA.

The agreement was signed in the local office of Rep. John J. Duncan Jr. The Knoxville Republican helped secure a grant for Virginia Tech to develop the technology.

Levy said PEMDA is working to raise $500,000 to $2 million to further develop it and plans to sub-license it for commercialization or build and sell it.

-----

To see more of The Knoxville News-Sentinel or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.knoxnews.com .

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.