The celebrations were opened by New South Wales Parliamentary Secretary for Renewable Energy Rob Stokes, who spoke about how the growth of SMA has mirrored the development of the solar industry in Australia, while highlighting his support for the sector.

SMA Executive Vice-President of Sales and Marketing for Medium Power Solutions, Christian Langen, sent a video address from Germany, announcing the new SMA slogan: ‘Energy that changes’.

“This echoes the philosophy of SMA and promises a highly dynamic future,” said Mr Langen. Prominent industry adviser Nigel Morris tweeted his support for this slogan, calling it a “fab new tagline that sums up their work and our industry in one.”

The party honoured partnerships old and new, and the evening’s proceedings included the White Tree Band entertaining a full house of prominent industry figures, as well as Australian actor and climate campaigner Michael Caton.

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SMA in Australia

SMA Australia General Manager Zygmunt Nejman spoke about the evolution of SMA from a vision, guided by three young engineering graduates, to a successful global company achieving through innovation, dedication and belief.

Mr Nejman introduced the Australian team, which has grown rapidly from just three employees to 24 over the past few years. The team moved to a new office in North Ryde in 2011, with space for further growth.

Martin Reinmoeller-Kringel, Peter Castle, Patrick Duignan and Wilhelm van Butselaar from SMA presented a preview of the wide range of new products to be introduced by the company in 2012, and David Horan presented news from the SMA service concept – a program of service level agreements.

Environmental campaigner Jon Dee was the last speaker of the evening, and his multimedia presentation gave a unique insight into population growth and the necessity for environmental action in Australia and globally.

Goals for 2012

SMA aims to make the installation and operation of photovoltaic solar plants even simpler, more reliable and more cost-effective through technological advancements.

Preliminary calculations for SMA’s results from 2011 show that the company fully accomplished the forecast targets and achieved the second-best sales and earnings in the company’s history.

Estimates show that the company maintained its global market share at last year’s level of 35 per cent, reaching a global installed capacity of 23 gigawatts worldwide.

In 2012, SMA will continue its internationalisation strategy and will establish foreign companies in South America and Africa.

SMA says that the Australian market performed well in 2011 in residential and commercial areas, and in 2012 SMA Australia will introduce large-scale solar solutions to the market with multiple new product launches and utility-grade offerings.