The Solar Industry’s Gift of Power to Australia’s Most Generous Bear Maker

MELBOURNE, Australia, May 02, 2017 -- The Australian solar industry has come together to donate a rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) system to Australia’s most generous and internationally renowned teddy bear maker, Campbell Remess, also known as ‘Bumble’, the 12-year-old boy behind Project 365 by Campbell.

A five kilowatt solar PV system was installed at the Remess family home in Hobart, Tasmania with 20 Enphase S270 microinverters and 20 Suntech Power 260W PV modules provided by Enphase Energy and Suntech, Home Efficiency Group and Platinum Edge Electricals contributed toward the installation and certification of the system. This project was managed on a pro-bono basis by Leeson Group and Universe Solar, with further donations received from the solar industry going toward funding Project 365 by Campbell.

The solar PV system is expected to generate an estimated 6.4MWh of energy. This power will offset consumption of the laser cutting and sewing machines used by Campbell to create his world famous teddy bears and other toys that are given away at children’s hospitals, and to comfort individuals going through tough times in their lives.

Adam Christie, business development manager at Universe Solar spearheaded this initiative, having learned about Project 365 by Campbell in 2016. Christie said, “Campbell brings sunshine into the lives of so many people. I thought why not appeal to the solar industry to assist him in this great Project? The response to my Facebook post was amazing. The Leeson Group was immediately on board. Enphase Energy have been wonderful, and we had generous donations of equipment, time, expertise and funds from Suntech, Home Efficiency Group and Platinum Edge Electrical. I really can’t thank them all enough.”

“Enphase is delighted to be supporting Project 365 by Campbell,” said Nathan Dunn, managing director of Enphase Asia-Pacific. “We hope our gift to the Remess family inspires others to come forward to bring kindness to the forefront of our daily lives.”

“Suntech is proud to be a part of a Project 365 by Campbell Remess, and to help him continue to provide hope and happiness,” said Hui Wu, managing director Suntech Australia.

Peter Leeson, managing director at Leeson Group added, “So many organisations are willing to contribute to a good cause but it just takes someone to initiate the discussion. Adam Christie has a great idea and with this momentum, we have been able to deliver a great project to a really kind hearted young man.”

To commemorate this occasion, Campbell has created teddy bears named “Watts”, “Hero Emily”, “Enphase”, “Suntech”, “Universe” and “Leeson” that will be donated to the Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation in Melbourne along with Bears & Bees Tic Tac Toe boards during Solar 2017, Australia’s annual exhibition and conference organised by the Australian Solar Council.

About Enphase Energy
Enphase Energy, a global energy technology company, delivers smart, easy-to-use solutions that connect solar generation, storage and management on one intelligent platform. The company revolutionised solar with its microinverter technology and produces the world's only truly integrated solar plus storage solution. Enphase has shipped more than 13 million microinverters, and over 580,000 Enphase residential and commercial systems have been deployed in more than 100 countries. Visit www.enphase.com/au for more information and follow the company on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Enphase Energy®, the Enphase logo and other trademarks or service names are the trademarks of Enphase Energy, Inc.

About Suntech
Since 2001 Suntech has produced industry-leading solar modules for residential, commercial, industrial, and utility applications. Suntech has delivered over 30 million panels or over 14 GWs of installed capacity in more than 80 countries worldwide. In Australia, between 2007 and 2017 Suntech has shipped over 2.3 million high quality PV modules.

Suntech's products are state of the art high efficiency and independently verified with VDE certified Product Quality, Enhanced Hail, Salt Mist Corrosion, Extended Loading certification and PID Free. All products now also boast industry leading IP68 junction boxes, Ammonia and Atlas 25+ Combined cycle tested and certified.
www.suntech-power.com.au

About Leeson Group
Leeson Group is a renewable energy project development and construction company. The group has over 140MW of solar farms under development, national commercial and utility contracts and building integrated PV projects in Australia.
http://www.leesongroup.com.au.

About Universe Solar
Universe Solar is a leading provider of Solar Power solutions to rural properties across regional Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. We go further to provide renewable power to over 2000 families from Tibooburra to Torrens Creek, and Balranald to Barcaldine. Underpinning and driving our success has been a commitment to our Mission: “To make clean, renewable energy available to all Australian families, at a much lower cost than energy generated by fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas.” Universe Solar. We Go Further. Visit our website, Facebook and Twitter for more information.

Note to Editor:

Images of the bears created and presented by Campbell Remess at Solar 2017 can be downloaded from 1:30pm on May 3 at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gkmn3f9kjamrej7/AADkQ_6zmf2t42PpVHdpBZC8a?dl=0

For further information and interview requests, please contact:

Gabriel Wong
Enphase Energy, Inc.
+61 432 177 005
[email protected]

Natashka Miernik
Suntech Power
+61 411 156 589
[email protected]

Peter Leeson
Leeson Group
+61 423 384 934
[email protected]

Adam Christie
Universe Solar
+61 474 118 214
[email protected]