Ascension Technology, Inc.

How to contact us:

Info@ascensiontech.com
235 Bear Hill Road * Waltham * Massachusetts 02154 USA
P.O. Box 314 * Lincoln Center * Massachusetts 01773 USA
Telephone: (617) 890-8844 * Facsimile: (617) 890-2050

Ascension Technology Profile

PROFILE

Ascension Technology was established in 1987 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology research engineers and scientists to apply their experience in solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation and its applications for the electric utility industry. Since 1987 Ascension Technology has completed numerous projects for electric utilities, photovoltaic companies and government agencies. The company's capabilities are based upon the staff's in-depth understanding of the engineering issues associated with PV system design and performance, distributed electric power generation, interconnection of distributed generation with electric utilities and engineering economics. These capabilities center around three main areas:

Engineering Analyses:PV System picture

Ascension Technology has extensive experience conducting engineering studies pertaining to the incorporation of photovoltaic systems into the operations of electric utility companies. This experience has led us to many areas of utility operations, including demand side planning, distribution planning, unit commitment and economic dispatch, and air emissions.

Photovoltaic Systems:

Ascension Technology designs and fabricates PV balance-of-systems equipment, and installs utility-interconnected photovoltaic power systems. We specialize in PV system designs that expedite installation, minimize costs, increase system reliability and lifetime, maximize generation efficiency and insure the safety and protection of personnel and equipment. In 1994 we developed and installed the first systems with UL listings for all components, including UL-listed PV Source Circuit Protection equipment manufactured by Ascension Technology. In 1995 we began development of dc-to-ac power conversion products for small scale utility-interconnected and stand-alone photovoltaic systems.

Instrumentation:DAS Picture

Ascension Technology builds a rotating shadowband pyranometer instrument and operates remote data acquisition systems to measure direct (sunlight) and diffuse (skylight) solar irradiance. Solar resource data are used by electric utility load research, demand planning and distribution planning departments to study the potential impacts of photovoltaic power on their generation, transmission and distribution systems. Our rotating shadowband pyranometer data acquisition systems are often customized to monitor wind resources and other meteorological parameters, building power demand, and photovoltaic system performance.

The company founders gained experience with photovoltaic technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory, Energy Laboratory, and Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems from 1977 through 1986. Ascension Technology's offices are located on Route 128 in Waltham, Massachusetts, approximately ten miles west of Boston's Logan International Airport. Electric utilities throughout the United States, in Japan and in Europe are familiar with our pioneering work with photovoltaic power generation and advanced electronic metering. Since 1977 we have developed working relationships with engineers at the following electric utilities:

New England Electric System
Boston Edison Company
Northeast Utilities
United Illuminating Company
Central and South West Corporation
New York Power Authority
Consolidated Edison Company
Atlantic Electric Company
Philadelphia Electric Company
Florida Power and Light Company
Tampa Electric Company
Georgia Power Company
Alabama Power Company
Northern States Power Company
Nevada Power Corporation
Nantucket Electric Company
Long Island Lighting Company
Texas Utilities - Electric
Wisconsin Public Service Company
Lower Colorado River Authority
City of Austin Electric Department
El Paso Electric Company
Public Service Company of New Mexico
Idaho Power Company
Arizona Public Service Company
PSI Energy, Inc.
Jersey Central Power & Light Company
Salt River Project
Entergy
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
PacifiCorp
Duke Power Company
Houston Lighting & Power Company
Florida Power Corporation
San Diego Gas and Electric Company
Southern California Edison Company
Kansas City Power and Light Company
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Delmarva Power and Light
Public Service Company of Colorado
Tucson Electric Power Company
Bonneville Power Administration
Arizona Electric Power Cooperative
Hawaiian Electric Company
Kansai Electric Company (Osaka)
Ente Nazional per L'Energie Electrica (Milan)

Ascension Technology Products

SUNSINE 300

The SUNSINE 300 is a Module Inverter attached to ASE Americas model ASE-300-DG/50 PV module. The Module Inverter integrates a small power conditioner into a PV module junction box, resulting in an "AC module" which produces utility-compatible ac power. The module inverter becomes the module's junction box and no user access is provided to dc voltages.

The SUNSINE 300 represents a significant step toward the standardization and simplification of grid-tied PV systems. Among the advantages offered by the AC module concept are its flexibility. Allowing for "distributed" PV systems by with grid-tied systems configured in small power increments the SUNSINE 300 has the potential to accelerate the PV market. Other advantages of the SUNSINE 300 are listed below:

Rotating Shadowband PyranometerRotating Shadowband Pyranometer

Ascension Technology's Rotating Shadowband Pyranometer (RSP) measures direct normal and horizontal diffuse irradiance. The RSP and associated data acquisition equipment form a rugged, integrated system that simplifies field measurement of solar resources.

The Ascension RSP unit replaces a solar tracker, a pyrheliometer, and pyranometer at a lower cost. The RSP is easily installed and requires much less maintenance than conventional instruments. The RSP system includes the head unit, manufactured by AT, a datalogger manufactured by Campbell Scientific, and proprietary software.

The multi-purpose datalogger adds flexibility to AT's RSP system. With added sensors the datalogger can also record watt-hour meter pulses and transducer outputs for watts, volt-amps, current, wind speed and direction, rainfall, and relative humidity.

AT RSP solar monitoring stations are operating at over 150 locations in the United States, Brazil, Mexico and Pakistan. They are meeting the irradiance data acquisition requirements of the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories, the Electric Power Research Institute, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and over thirty U.S. electric power companies.

Ascension Technology Publications

PUBLICATIONS

Reports:

Ascension Technology, Early Applications of Photovoltaics in the Electric Utility Industry, Final Report for RP 1975-06, Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, CA, (In Publication)

Ascension Technology, Photovoltaic-Powered T&D Sectionalizing Switches, Final Report for RP 1975-08, Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, CA, (In Publication)

New England Power Service Company with Ascension Technology, Photovoltaic Generation Effects on Distribution Feeders, Volume 3: Monitoring Results from the Gardner, Massachusetts, PV Community, Electric Power Research Institute Report EPRI EL-6754 Volume 3, Palo Alto, CA, January 1992

New England Power Service Company with Ascension Technology, Photovoltaic Generation Effects on Distribution Feeders, Volume 2: Analysis Methods and Results, Electric Power Research Institute Report EPRI EL-6754 Volume 2, Palo Alto, CA, September 1991

Ascension Technology, Experiences and Lessons Learned with Residential Photovoltaic Systems, Electric Power Research Institute Report EPRI GS-7227, Palo Alto, CA, July 1991

New England Power Service Company with Ascension Technology, Photovoltaic Generation Effects on Distribution Feeders, Volume 1: Description of the Gardner, Massachusetts, Twenty-First Century PV Community and Research Program, Electric Power Research Institute Report EPRI EL-6754 Volume 1, Palo Alto, CA, March 1990

Conference Papers:

Russell, M.C., "Grid-tied PV System Modeling: How and Why,", First World Congress on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, Waikoloa, Hawaii, December 1994

Kern, E.C. and Greenberg, D.L., "Pollution Mitigation and Photovoltaic Demand-Side Results from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Photovoltaic Demonstrations", First World Congress on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, Waikoloa, Hawaii, December 1994

Kern, E.C. and Greenberg, D.L., "Demonstrating Solar Photovoltaic Systems' Energy and Environmental Benefits, First North America Conference and Exhibition, Emerging Clean Air Technologies and Business Opportunities, Toronto, Canada, September 1994

Kern, E.C. and Spiegel, R.J., "U.S. EPA's Photovoltaic Demand-Side Management Project", International Solar Energy Society, Solar World Congress, Budapest, Hungary, August 1993

Kern, E.C. and Russell, M.C., "PV Array Designs for Flat-Roof Buildings", 23rd IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, Louisville, KY, May 1993

Kern, E.C. and Spiegel, R.J., "EPA's Photovoltaic Demand-Side Management Cost-Shared Demonstrations, American Solar Energy Society, Solar 93 Conference, Washington, DC, April 1993

Bigger, J., Kern, E. and Russell, M., "Powering T&D Sectionalizing Switches with Photovoltaics: A Low-cost Option", IEEE Power Engineering Society, Summer Meeting, Seattle, WA, July 1992

Kapner, M. and Kern, E., "Establishment of a Solar Radiation Monitoring Network for Southeastern New York State", Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference, Boston, MA, August 1991

Kern, E. and Russell, M., "Rotating Shadow Band Pyranometer Irradiance Monitoring for Photovoltaic Generation Estimation", 22nd IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, Las Vegas, NV, October 1991

Bigger, J., Kern, E. and Russell, M., "Cost-Effective Photovoltaic Applications for Electric Utilities", 22nd IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, Las Vegas, NV, October 1991

Bigger, J. and Kern, E., "Early Applications of Photovoltaics in the Electric Utility Industry", 21st IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, Kissimee, FL, May 1990

Ascension Technology Staff

STAFF

Edward C. Kern, Jr., Ph.D.

Dr. Kern has nineteen years experience working with photovoltaic systems and their interconnection to electric power systems. He is president of Ascension Technology, Inc. Prior to founding Ascension Technology, he was a member of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty and research staff. He joined the MIT Lincoln Laboratory Photovoltaic Field Tests and Applications Project in 1977 and was promoted to Assistant Group Leader in 1980. Beginning In 1979 he planned and then managed the U.S. Department of Energy's Residential Photovoltaic Systems Project. From 1982 until 1987 he directed photovoltaic systems development activities at the MIT Energy Laboratory. He currently is a MIT Research Affiliate serving as an advisor to the MIT Analysis Group for Regional Electricity Alternatives.

A Senior Member of the IEEE, Dr. Kern is a member of the Energy Development Subcommittee of the Power Generation Committee. He is the Power Generation Committee representative to the IEEE Standards Coordinating Committee on Dispersed Storage and Generation, and wrote and edited two chapters for the IEEE Guide for Interfacing Dispersed Storage and Generation with Utility Systems. He has been a consultant to the Washington office of the Electric Power Research Institute on photovoltaic applications and served on the Science and Technology Review Committee for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Solar Radiation Resource Assessment Project.

In addition to his work with photovoltaic systems, he has directed the development of a non-intrusive method for acquiring electric end-use load data using pattern recognition and signature analysis techniques. He holds two U.S. patents and is the author of numerous papers and reports on end-use electric power consumption, distributed photovoltaic generation and early, cost-effective PV applications for electric utilities.

Dr. Kern is a graduate of the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College and received his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Miles C. Russell

Mr. Russell has been involved in PV systems research, design and development since 1977 when he joined the staff at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory (Lexington, MA). He is author of the Residential Photovoltaic System Design Handbook and has given numerous presentations and workshops on PV system design and performance issues. Mr. Russell is a member of the IEEE Standards Coordinating Committee on Photovoltaics and the U.S. Task Advisory Group of the International Electrotechnical Commission's PV committees.

Mr. Russell leads the development of Ascension Technology's innovative balance-of-systems hardware for roof-mounted PV systems and manages Ascension Technology's work with Underwriters Laboratory. He managed the design and installation of over 1 megawatt (ac) of grid-tied, roof-mounted PV systems for Ascension Technology's projects with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and electric utilities through the United States.

He has consulted to Consolidated Edison Company of New York and the Empire State Electric Energy Research Corporation on the performance of PV systems in New York State. He also was a consultant to the Electric Power Research Institute on PV module measurement and rating issues and is author of Experiences and Lessons Learned With Residential Photovoltaic Systems, prepared for EPRI on the experiences of electric utilities with grid-connected residential PV systems.

Mr. Russell is a 1976 mechanical engineering graduate of Purdue University and holds a Masters degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University.

Gregory A. Kern

Mr. Kern joined Ascension Technology at its founding in January 1987. Prior to joining Ascension Technology he was an officer in the U.S. Navy, an undergraduate physics major and member of the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At Ascension Technology his responsibilities included developing instruments to monitor the performance of photovoltaic systems, software to simulate the performance of electric power systems with distributed generation, microprocessor-based electric power substation metering equipment, and Ascension Technology's Rotating Shadowband Radiometer. Mr. Kern returned to graduate school at the University of Colorado at Boulder in August 1991 to pursue studies in power electronics. He rejoined Ascension Technology in April 1995 to resume his interests in instrumentation and power electronics equipment design, development and manufacturing.

Philip J. Bolduc

Mr. Bolduc joined Ascension Technology in August 1991. He is responsible for the ongoing development of Ascension Technology's rotating shadowband pyranometer and operation of its network of solar monitoring stations. He received his Bachelors degree in electrical engineering from Brown University in June 1991 where his senior project involved the instrumentation of grid-connected PV system under the direction of Professor Joseph Loferski.

Priscilla Densmore Kern, AIA

Ms. Kern joined Ascension Technology in January 1993 to support the installation of photovoltaic power systems on commercial and residential building roof-tops. She is responsible for the architectural and mechanical integration of PV systems and commercial building roofing systems and for logistical coordination of PV system installations.

Prior to joining Ascension Technology, Ms. Kern was an Associate at the architectural firm Sert, Jackson and Associates (Cambridge, MA) where she gained over 15 years experience in architectural design and construction management on projects in the United States, Spain, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.

Ms. Kern is a member of the American Institute of Architects and a registered architect in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. She received her Masters Degree in Architecture from Harvard University and her Bachelor of Arts Magna Cum Laude from Mount Holyoke College.

Clayton P. Handelman

Mr. Handelman joined Ascension Technology in November 1993 to lead the development of a modular, distributed inverter concept being developed with support from New England Electric and the U.S. Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratory. Prior to joining Ascension Technology, Mr. Handleman was a member of the technical staff at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory. He is a graduate of Washington University and received his masters degree in Physics from Purdue University. Mr. Handleman is a director of the Boston Area Solar Energy Association.

William M. Kanzer

Before joining Ascension Technology Mr. Kanzer gained five years of photovoltaic applications development experience on Mobil Solar Energy Corporation's product development and marketing teams . Prior to joining Mobil Solar, Mr. Kanzer gained three and one half years experience developing electro-mechanical devices (disk drives) as first a coop student and then an engineer with Data General Corporation. He is a mechanical engineering graduate of Northeastern University.

Dan L. Greenberg

Mr. Greenberg joined the Ascension Technology staff in June 1994 to assume responsibilities for the operations of our solar energy resources and performance monitoring programs. Mr. Greenberg has three years experience as a resource acquisition analyst for the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, a year of experience with electric utility production cost modeling as a member of the MIT Energy Laboratory's Analysis Group for Regional Electricity Alternatives, and two years as an Associate Scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory developing techniques for characterizing physical properties of photovoltaic materials. He holds a Master of Science degree from MIT, a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Washington University, and a B.A. in Physics from Grinnell College.

Ruel D. Little

Mr. Little joined the Ascension Technology staff in February 1995 to assist in data acquisition, database management, data analysis, and reporting for our network of remote solar radiation and photovoltaic system performance monitoring systems. Prior to joining Ascension Technology Mr. Little founded a computer services company in Prague, Czech Republic and was a consultant to the Center for Clean Air Policy in Washington researching the energy infrastructure of the Czech Republic. Before working in Eastern Europe, Mr. Little was a staff scientist at Cambridge Research and Instrumentation (Cambridge, MA) where his work involved the development of instruments for conducting solar physics research involving sunspots, faculae, and radiation.

Mr. Little is a 1986 graduate of Johns Hopkins University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Physics. He received his Masters of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where his thesis dealt with methodology for monitoring electric energy consumption in commercial buildings.

James Bing

Mr. Bing joined Ascension Technology on the first of the year, 1996. Prior to coming to Ascension he worked for four and half years at the research firm of Bolt Beranek & Newman. At BB&N his duties consisted primarily of designing and implementing instrumentation systems, designing and fabricating one-of-a-kind prototypes, and supporting small scale production runs of proprietary transducers. Before entering the engineering profession Mr. Bing worked for ten years in industrial, commercial and residential electrical construction. Mr. Bing holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and a journeyman's electrician licence in the state of Massachusetts. He also holds a A.B. in Anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley.