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Northern Power Purchases 110,000 Sq. Foot Manufacturing Facility

Posted on: Tuesday, 11 October 2005, 12:00 CDT

BARRE, Vt., Oct. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Northern Power, a subsidiary of Distributed Energy Systems Corp , today announced the completed purchase of a $1.5 million, 110,000 square-foot manufacturing facility in Barre, VT.

The additional production facility, a portion of which had been leased by Northern Power since late 2004, adds much needed capacity for the company's growing power systems and product business. It is located approximately 30 miles from Northern Power's Waitsfield, VT, headquarters.

Benefits of the Facility

The Barre plant, formerly used for rail car manufacturing, features many benefits that meet Northern Power's specific needs. A 90-ton crane with a 94- foot span runs the width of the building, allowing large components to be lifted and maneuvered to different parts of the facility. A state-of-the-art environmental chamber allows for testing of equipment at extremely high temperatures. In addition, a railroad spur runs directly into the plant, giving the company the capability to ship its systems by rail.

Engineering Department Relocates

In addition to expanding its manufacturing capabilities, the Barre facility will provide new, improved space for Northern Power's project engineering department, which will relocate there over the next several months. The move is designed to provide needed space to the expanding department as well as to facilitate direct collaboration between the engineering staff and manufacturing technicians.

Financing Assistance

By establishing the Barre facility, Northern Power qualifies for assistance from the Vermont Economic Development Association (VEDA), which, in partnership with Vermont's Merchants Bank, provided financing for a substantial portion of the purchase.

Purchase Furthers Company Growth

Since last year, Northern Power has added 20 new employees at the Barre facility and has become registered to ISO-9001 quality management standards. Purchase of the facility is in line with the Northern Power's long-term plans for expansion, and as it is able to increase production of products such as the NorthWind(TM) 100 wind turbine, the company expects to hire additional staff.

"This important purchase will improve our capacity to engineer, build and service our systems and products in state," says Darren Jamison, president of Northern Power. "It will enable us to do more for our customers on our own premises, at more competitive prices, which will also help us to keep more jobs here in Vermont."

About Northern Power Systems, Inc.

Northern Power Systems, Inc. designs, builds, installs and services reliable power solutions for commercial, industrial, government, and military customers. The company also conducts research and development in the areas of renewable energy, distributed generation and hydrogen technology. Since its founding in 1974, Northern has installed over 900 systems in 50 countries on all seven continents. Northern Power Systems, Inc. is headquartered in Waitsfield, Vermont with field offices in the New York metropolitan area and San Francisco. The company employs 170 people with turnkey design, engineering, construction, and customer-support capabilities. Northern Power Systems is a wholly owned operating unit of Distributed Energy Systems Corp. For more information, visit http://www.northernpower.com/.

About Distributed Energy Systems Corp.

Distributed Energy Systems Corp. creates and delivers products and solutions to the emerging decentralized energy marketplace, giving users greater control over their energy cost, quality, and reliability. As the parent company of Proton Energy Systems, Inc. (http://www.protonenergy.com/) and Northern Power Systems, Inc., Distributed Energy Systems delivers a combination of practical, ready-today energy solutions and the solid business platforms for capitalizing on the changing energy landscape. For more information, visit http://www.distributed-energy.com/.

This press release contains forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements contained herein that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking information. Without limiting the foregoing, words such as "anticipates", "believes", "could", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "may", "might", "should", "will", and "would" and other forms of these words or similar words are intended to identify forward-looking information. Northern's and Distributed Energy's actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors. Northern Power Systems and Distributed Energy each disclaim any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

Factors that could cause results to differ materially from those contained in Northern's and Distributed Energy's forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, failure of our products and systems to perform as specified or achieve commercial acceptance, the impact of competitive products and systems, and other factors detailed in Distributed Energy's Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2005, and other filings Distributed Energy may make from time to time with the SEC.

Distributed Energy Systems Corp

CONTACT: Amy Klinger of Northern Power Systems, +1-802-496-2955 Ext.7289, aklinger@northernpower.com

Web site: http://www.distributed-energy.com/http://www.northernpower.com/

Source: PRNewswire-FirstCall

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