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Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP)

R&D Tax Credits Allow for Investment in New Products

With the help of: Manufacture Nevada

About

AIMS Power, located in Reno, Nevada, designs and sells DC to AC inverters, solar panels, deep-cycle batteries, solar charge controllers and more to some of the most innovative companies and organizations across the US and worldwide. Their current portfolio of 95 power inverter products includes low-frequency inverter chargers able to meet industrial-grade needs and consumer price points. They also have a line of pure sine and modified sine inverters ranging from 100W all the way up to 12,000W, a range of ETL-certified power inverters which conform to UL 458 and 1741 Standards and a range of European inverters. Their mission is to be leaders in the design and development of off-grid and renewable energy. The company employs 14 in addition to the founder and his wife.

The Challenge

Securing sufficient funding to invest in new business opportunities is vital to AIMS mission to be leaders in the design and development of off-grid and renewable energy. Since a majority of AIMS work is designing and developing new products for renewable energy and off-grid products, they are always investing in their future. Development projects, however, can take three years to come to fruition, constraining operating profits and cash flow in the meantime and limiting additional product development.
Working with NVIE was one of the best decisions I’ve made for AIMS Power as it did not consume much of my time and provided the resources to simultaneously develop several new and exciting products.
— Bruce de Jong, President

MEP's Role

AIMS turned to NVIE, part of the MEP National Network™, to help AIMS offset development costs with federal tax credits. In the first 2 years of working with NVIE, AIMS was able to find over $200,000 in tax credits, resulting in $200,000 increased cash flow the company can reinvest into new products.

RV Pro magazine's March 2021 issue selected the aimsmart central power hub - soon to be released - as one of five top new products for 2021. This is one of two new products to be released this year and is the first of the two to be in production. The product ties most of their products together to increase brand loyalty with AIMS products across all their platforms. Status & performance can be viewed centrally via an app on a smart phone or an optional display. The aimsmart also can pop warnings to a central display or cell phone such as low battery warning or failure.

These products provide entry into the OEM RV and marine markets. The second will open up the new home builder market and also target current homes with solar. It will allow back-up power and load sharing in addition to net metering, which is a new market for AIMS.

AIMS is proud to produce sustainable products that work primarily with solar PV applications and battery backup powered by solar. Finally, expanding their product lines has produced a new partnership in the RV Industry with Collins & Company who will be representing AIMS Power’s products to RV manufacturers.

Created August 4, 2022