20 Years, Two Anniversaries, One Bright Future

Lawrence, MA, August 6, 2024 – These are very exciting times as Yaskawa Solectria Solar will be celebrating two distinct and significant anniversaries in 2024: The first to mark 20 years since its founding by James and Anita Worden in 2005. The second to note the 10-year anniversary of joining Yaskawa America, Inc.

Both milestones are testament to the company’s ability to develop high quality products, deliver outstanding customer service and employ the best people in the industry. As we celebrate our achievements over the past two decades, we are also keeping an eye on the future, creating new innovative solutions for our customers and one bright future for Yaskawa Solectria Solar.

James and Anita Worden established Solectria Renewables, LLC in 2005 as a spinoff of Solectria Corporation, their electric and hybrid vehicle business. The new company focused on the design and manufacture of premium high efficiency PV inverters and accessories for renewable power generation and grew into the leading commercial solar inverter manufacturer in the United States. The company leveraged its product offerings and engineering intelligence to build a strong brand presence among solar energy providers primarily in the northeast before expanding its presence throughout the country.

Products such as the flagship PVI and SGI series of central inverters helped early customers build more efficient power plants and recognize great financial gains through improved performance and energy production. The company’s newest advanced solar inverters range in size from 25kW to 250kW. It also offers string combiners, web-based monitoring, and other inverter accessories for solar PV and Storage systems of all sizes. Notably, Solectria’s XGI series three-phase utility-scale inverters are made in the USA with global components and are compliant with the Buy American Act (BAA).

BECOMING YASKAWA SOLECTRIA SOLAR

Yaskawa America, Inc. purchased Solectria in 2014 and formed Yaskawa Solectria Solar. The new entity a blended high product quality and exceptional technical and customer support, resulting in a new solar industry powerhouse. Becoming part of Yaskawa was also important to the company’s ability to consistently improve customer relationships and deliver reliable products.

“We grew quickly in our first decade, but with the fast growth came process challenges,” Jonathan Helmuth, Director of Sales and 15-year company associate, said. “Yaskawa took the time to get to know us, understand our processes and improve new product development and other business functions.”

“They also brought the strength and maturity of a globally successful manufacturer with a reputation for high quality, which made us better. The way Yaskawa brings products to market is very well thought out. We also learned the value of leveraging the strengths of their customer service and production teams. We have always been able to draw on that broad knowledge and experience to deliver more value. That is a great benefit to our customers.”

The combination of Solectria Solar’s strong brand presence in the market and Yaskawa’s vast resources and strengths quickly became apparent to customers. This was a great relationship that would continue to grow and get stronger with time. “When Yaskawa came in we were no longer a mom-and-pop company,” Helmuth said. “Yaskawa gave us bankability in the industry. People knew we now had staying power. We had access to structure and levels of quality control that simply did not exist for us before. The maturity and consistency of Yaskawa made us a better organization.”

“Customers now think of us as Yaskawa Solectria Solar. They have embraced the Yaskawa brand and the strength that comes with it.”

YASKAWA SOLECTRIA SOLAR ASSOCIATES TAKE PRIDE IN THEIR COMPANY AND THEIR TEAMMATES.

“You could see right away it was going to be a good match culturally,” General Manager and 20-year company veteran Mark Goodreau said. “Yaskawa cares a lot about their customers and employees, too. ‘It’s Personal’ is not just a tagline to leadership. It is the way they operate every day.”

“I love the way we are evolving, and it is amazing to be part of the Yaskawa team” Jennifer Carrion, a Customer Service Order Operations Specialist who has been with the company 14 years, said. “It is just so great to see the cooler technology we have built into the smaller inverters. It is fun to see our engineers be excited about what they can do with solar energy technology.”

Solectria Renewables started out as a very small company with only a few people but grew very quickly over the years. There was many employee activities; chili cook-offs, sporting team lunches, softball and bowling teams, holiday events and of course the Annual BBQ Party at the Worden home every summer. The Worden Railway Company, which is a life size train ride was always a huge hit! One associate commented, “Solectria was such a close knit family and even with the change to Yaskawa, we have remained close”. Another followed with “There is always laughter, it is a really fun team to work with”.

“They are going to have to move me out with the furniture. I really like what I do, and I love the people I work with,” Diane Iannone, Sales and Operations Manager with 17 years of service with the company, said. “And when I hear what we are working toward, it is so great. We all want to see Solectria be successful. We have put our hearts and souls into this company. And this is where we all want to be.”

There continues to be much success and excitement with 2024 truly being a year of reflecting on Yaskawa Solectria Solar’s remarkable journey and charging ahead into an even brighter future!

About Yaskawa Solectria Solar

Yaskawa Solectria Solar, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Yaskawa America, Inc., is the largest commercial inverter manufacturer in the U.S. Solectria’s products include 25kW to 250kW inverters, string combiners and web-based monitoring for solar systems of all sizes. Solectria is backed by over 100 years of power electronics and inverter experience. All of Solectria’s XGI 1500 three-phase utility-scale inverters are made in the USA. PV system owners, developers and EPCs rely on the high performance, reliability and bankability of Yaskawa Solectria Solar. To learn more please visit www.solectria.com.

Yaskawa is the leading global manufacturer of low and medium voltage variable frequency drives, servo systems, machine controllers and industrial robots. Our standard products, as well as tailor-made solutions, are well known and have a high reputation for outstanding quality and reliability. To learn more please visit www.yaskawa.com.