FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 29, 2007

Colorado’s Bella Energy installs a megawatt of solar power

Boulder, CO. Bella Energy, formally Sun Electric Systems, a Colorado renewable energy company, has installed a megawatt of power produced by solar energy.

Residences and commercial properties all over Colorado and the Rocky Mountain West are gathering solar energy and converting it to electricity and hot water using systems installed by Bella Energy.

In one year, a megawatt of power:

• Produces enough energy to drive a car two million four hundred and eighty thousand miles or 99 times around the earth at the equator.
• Produces one million five hundred thousand kilowatt hours of power; and since energy companies charge roughly 10 cents a kilowatt hour that’s $150,000 saved in billed energy use.
• Prevents 1,162 tons of CO2 emissions; that’s 160 male African elephants.
• Prevents the burning of one million five hundred thousand pounds of coal.

The Colorado solar industry has grown rapidly since voters approved Amendment 37 requiring energy companies to produce a portion of their power from renewable energy, spawning rebates and financial incentives for residential and commercial installations.

To keep up with the industry’s rapid growth, Bella Energy needed a new name to reflect the increasing variety of energy solutions they offer, from solar hot water and electricity to energy efficiency evaluations. Once a year, Bella Energy staff travels to Germany for the annual renewable energy tradeshow, bringing back new building integrated designs and technologies to keep Colorado on the cutting edge of renewable energy.

"Pure energy creates beautiful communities across Colorado," says Jim Welch, president of Bella Energy and board member of the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association, "A megawatt of power is only the beginning. In the next three, years we will install ten megawatts of renewable power."

That’s 999 times around the earth.