FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Bellingham, Wash., July 6, 2004 - Power system provider Alpha Technologies introduces the Solaris 3500 photovoltaic inverter (PV) which will debut at the upcoming American Solar Energy Society annual conference in Portland, OR July 11-14, 2004.

“We are excited to bring to the market a highly reliable, quality PV inverter,” commented Shawn Smith, Sales and Business Development Manager for Altair Energy, adding “Alpha has been in the powering business for over 25 years and has fielded more than one million power inverters for the cable and broadband industries. By leveraging Altair’s knowledge of the distributed generation marketplace, Alpha and Altair have created an extremely robust product that suits the needs of the growing PV market segment.”

The grid-tied Solaris 3500 is designed to use any commercially available brand of 12 and 24 Volt and has an ability to accommodate up to six separate sub-arrays for enhanced siting flexibility. As a consequence, PV sub-arrays can be placed on multiple roof planes, requiring 43% less roof space than competitive inverters with higher voltage string configurations. This enables the Solaris to achieve up to 14% greater module placement efficiency, enabling larger systems to be installed on homes with challenging roofs, using only one inverter.

Solaris incorporates a single DC input via the Solaris PV String Combiner and has demonstrated, at independent laboratories, a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) effectiveness well in excess of 99%. The high power density design, resulting in a significantly reduced inverter weight, makes single person installations a reality. Plus, pre-mounting brackets and integrated carrying handles greatly assist in reducing installation time and effort.

Most importantly Solaris has undergone, and successfully completed, rigorous reliability and performance testing - well beyond PV industry norms. Testing was conducted at Alpha engineering design centers and at several national laboratories.

Altair Energy is a leading PV systems design and project development firm. Altair is a member of the Alpha Group of companies and the Solaris unit is being manufactured by the parent company, Alpha Technologies. Alpha is a worldwide leader in providing power conditioning components and has over 1.5 million DC inverters in the field. Visit www.altairenergy.com.

Alpha Technologies Inc. develops power conversion, protection and standby products for telecommunications and cable television industries, including custom, application-specific power solutions. In addition to product development, Alpha Technologies provides a comprehensive range of installation and maintenance services to support its global customer base. Alpha Technologies is a member of The Alpha Group of companies.

The Alpha Group represents a global alliance of independent companies that share a common philosophy - create world-class powering solutions for communication, commercial, industrial and renewable energy markets.

For this and/or additional information in electronic form, go to www.alpha.com.