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Elliott Energy, Northern Power Agree to Develop & Distribute Microturbine-Based Products for Oil & Gas Market

Posted on: Wednesday, 22 March 2006, 09:01 CST

WAITSFIELD, Vt., March 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Northern Power, a subsidiary of Distributed Energy Systems Corp. , has signed an original equipment manufacturing (OEM) agreement with Elliott Energy Systems (Stuart, FL). The agreement gives Northern Power exclusive worldwide rights to incorporate Elliott technologies in the development of microturbine-based products for the oil and gas industry. Northern Power has also signed a distributor agreement with Elliott to sell and service its existing microturbine-based systems.

Joint Product Development for Oil and Gas Market

Under the terms of the OEM agreement, Northern Power and Elliott will develop microturbine-based solutions offering higher reliability, lower overall cost and a smaller system footprint than currently available alternatives. Initial sales efforts will focus on the Gulf of Mexico region, building on existing sales to Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), the world's ninth largest integrated oil company, which currently operates approximately 185 platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Northern Power also plans to market the product to the global oil and gas industry.

"Most microturbine solutions evolved from combined heat and power (CHP) systems used in urban locations, a far different customer base from remote offshore platforms," stated Michael Brennan, vice president of sales for Northern Power. "As oil and gas executives assess the value proposition of microturbines, they see a need for solutions that address their specific requirements."

Dave Dewis, president of Elliott Energy Systems, concurred: "The relationship between Elliott and Northern Power will play an important role in offering solutions designed from the ground up with the specific needs of the oil and gas industry in mind," said Dewis. "We are excited to be working as a partner with Northern Power to achieve the strategic objectives of both companies in this market, as well as other related opportunities."

Distribution Agreement

Under the terms of the distribution agreement the two companies have signed, Northern Power will be the exclusive distributor and packager of Elliott's existing TA series microturbine products for the PEMEX market. Elliott's TA series products are Class 1, Division 2 (C1D2) hazardous environment microturbine generator systems that Northern Power also has limited rights to package and distribute beyond the PEMEX territory. Northern Power and Elliott have already collaborated on bringing microturbine- based solutions to PEMEX. Northern Power's recent $2.05 million contract with Construcciones Mecanicas Monclova S.A. de C.V. (COMMSA) will bring the company's MT-Power(TM) architecture and system integration capabilities together with Elliott's TA-60 microturbine product to provide reliable power for three PEMEX-owned platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

Northern Power's Strategic Initiative

The strategic relationship with Elliott is part of a market-driven Northern Power initiative to bring enhanced microturbine-based product solutions to the oil and gas market, building on the capabilities of its MT- Power system architecture. In parallel, Northern Power is developing modular uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and system controller products, which will serve as subsystems of the MT-Power solution. These new Northern Power- developed products are targeted to launch at the Experto 2006 tradeshow in Cancun, Mexico in August 2006.

"A key part of Northern Power's success in the oil & gas industry has been our MT-Power system architecture," stated Brennan. "The strategic relationship with Elliott, combined with current internal product development efforts, are the next milestones in our continuing commitment to oil and gas customers. It will also help us improve delivery time, system serviceability and overall margin performance."

Northern Power president Darren Jamison agreed, stating that the company is combining its more than 30-year history as an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company, its growing operations and maintenance business, internal product development initiatives, and joint developments with Elliott to create comprehensive solutions for the oil and gas industry.

"This effort is built around core strengths of our two companies," Jamison stated. "Elliott's exceptional products strongly support Northern Power's mission to provide our customers with high quality sales, installation, and ongoing service of power systems and products. The potential of our companies' collaboration strengthens Northern Power's position in this market."

About the MT-Power Architecture

Northern Power's MT-Power architecture is a turnkey, dual-redundant microturbine-based solution that uses advanced controls technology to make intelligent, real-time decisions about all aspects of the power system's operation, enabling it to provide continuous, high-reliability power while extending system lifespan and minimizing fuel usage and scheduled maintenance. The architecture also includes Northern Power's proprietary RemoteView(TM) software, with remote monitoring, data logging, and trend analysis capabilities.

About Elliott Energy Systems

Elliott Energy Systems, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary company of Ebara Corporation of Tokyo, Japan, is a premier manufacturer of microturbines for use in distributed generation, combined heat and power (CHP), and offshore applications. Elliott's 100 kW microturbine has a robust and efficient design, the product of over ten years of research, development and testing. High availability and low maintenance costs make microturbines the right choice for medium to high capacity co-generation projects.

About Northern Power

Northern Power, a Distributed Energy Systems company, offers reliable power systems, services and products to commercial, industrial, government, utility, and military customers. The company also conducts research and development in the areas of renewable energy, distributed generation and hydrogen technology. Northern Power was founded in 1974, is headquartered in Waitsfield, Vermont and employs 180 people with engineering, fulfillment, and customer-support capabilities. The company 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 concerning Northern Power's and Distributed Energy's goals, guidance, revenue projections and other statements that are not statements of historical fact, including statements concerning performance of microturbine-based solutions and introduction of new products, 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 Power'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 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, the factors detailed in Distributed Energy's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31 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, +1-802-496-2955 ext. 7289,aklinger@northernpower.com

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

Source: PRNewswire-FirstCall

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