MANITOWOC, Wis.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Orion Energy Systems, Inc. (NYSE Amex: OESX), a leading power technology enterprise that designs, manufactures and deploys energy management solutions for the commercial and industrial sector, announced today that it does not expect to be adversely impacted by the bankruptcy of solar panel manufacturer, Solyndra, Inc.

"Although Solyndra was our primary vendor for PV solar panels that we installed for many of our customers, its high profile bankruptcy is not expected to have any material adverse effect on our customers or us," said Neal Verfuerth, Orion's Chief Executive Officer.

"Our market strategy from the inception of our Orion Engineered Systems Division was to anchor our value proposition around our expertise in project design, implementation and project management. We led with Solyndra's system due to the competitive advantage offered when considering ‘Total Cost of Ownership' per kwh/produced, not the initial panel cost per watt on which the market seems to be fixated today," said Verfuerth.

"The good news for us is that Solyndra doesn't owe us any money and we have been continually vetting other PV technologies over the last several years, so the transition to other suppliers will result in minimal disruption to our customers and us," he explained.

"We continue to secure new PV system contracts supported by other very reputable and cost competitive suppliers. With respect to previously installed Solyndra systems, we have had no issues to date with getting the product support and warranty coverage from Solyndra, even during its bankruptcy proceedings. We continue to be optimistic that Solyndra will emerge from bankruptcy in the near future," said Verfuerth.

About Orion Energy Systems

Orion Energy Systems, Inc. (NYSE Amex: OESX) is a leading power technology enterprise that designs, manufactures and deploys energy management systems — consisting primarily of high-performance, energy efficient lighting platforms, intelligent wireless control systems and direct renewable solar technology for commercial and industrial customers — without compromising their quantity or quality of light. Since December 2001, Orion's technology has benefitted its customers and the environment by reducing its customers':

• Energy demand by 658,016 kilowatts, or 16.7 billion kilowatt-hours;
• Energy costs by approximately $1.3 billion; and
• Indirect carbon dioxide emission by 10.8 million tons.

Safe Harbor Statement

Certain matters discussed in this press release are "forward-looking statements" intended to qualify for the safe harbors from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements may generally be identified as such because the context of such statements will include words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "will," "would" or words of similar import. Similarly, statements that describe the Company's financial guidance or future plans, objectives or goals are also forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause results to differ materially from those expected, including, but not limited to, the following: (i) deterioration of market conditions, including customer capital expenditure budgets; (ii) our ability to compete and execute our growth strategy in a highly competitive market and our ability to respond successfully to market competition; (iii) increasing duration of customer sales cycles; (iv) the market acceptance of our products and services, including increasing customer preference to purchase our products through our Orion Throughput Agreements, or OTAs, rather than through cash purchases; (v) our ability to effectively manage the credit risk associated with our increasing reliance on OTA contracts; (vi) price fluctuations, shortages or interruptions of component supplies and raw materials used to manufacture our products; (vii) loss of one or more key employees, customers or suppliers, including key contacts at such customers; (viii) our ability to effectively manage our product inventory to provide our products to customers on a timely basis; (ix) the increasing relative volume of our product sales through our wholesale channel; (x) a reduction in the price of electricity; (xi) the cost to comply with, and the effects of, any current and future government regulations, laws and policies; (xii) increased competition from government subsidies and utility incentive programs; (xiii) dependence on customers' capital budgets for sales of products and services; (xiv) our development of, and participation in, new product and technology offerings or applications; the availability of additional debt financing and/or equity capital; (xv) legal proceedings; and (xvi) potential warranty claims. Shareholders, potential investors and other readers are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements made herein are made only as of the date of this press release and Orion undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. More detailed information about factors that may affect our performance may be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available at http://www.sec.gov or at http://www.oesx.com in the Investor Relations section of our Web site.

Investor Relations Contact:
Orion Energy Systems
Scott Jensen
Chief Financial Officer
(920-892-5454)
sjensen@oesx.com

Source: Orion Energy Systems, Inc.

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