Enphase Energy, the world's leading microinverter supplier, has this week announced it has entered into a partnership with U.K.-based Saving Energy Ltd to supply 4,000 microinverters to a housing project in Northern England.
The Northumberland Aged Mineworkers Homes Association is a charity that provides housing for aging miners who used to work in the coal mines that had previously made the Northeast of England an economic powerhouse. The charity will finance the installation of 1 MW of solar PV capacity featuring Enphase's microinverters installed on more than 400 homes.
Once the project is completed at the end of this year, the installation will generate approximately 1,038,800 kilowatt hours of solar energy annually.
Enphase's microinverters have enabled Saving Energy to carefully design the rooftop installation in order to maximize space and generate the optimum return on investment. For Enphase, the partnership represents a significant step into a growing market echoing recent IHS reports that suggested the sector is set to expand dramatically over the coming few years to top $1 billion by 2018. Currently, the global microinverter and power optimizer market is worth around $330 million annually.
"Enphase entered the U.K. PV market only two years ago and we have grown rapidly," said Enphase's U.K. sales director Simon Baggaley. "Saving Energy was one of the partners that greeted us early on. It has been great to work on a project like this, which makes affordable energy available to the retired miners community."
Saving Energy's renewable energy manager Grant Speller added that the quality, flexibility and safety of the Enphase System was an attractive proposition for them. "Its simplicity is a huge benefit," he said, "enabling us to work efficiently and in a safe manner across rooftops, particularly on a project like this where the properties are all close together."
Even in the face of Northeast England's cold and often overcast weather, the efficiency and user-friendliness of the Enphase microinverters will generate greater yields than standalone modules, added Speller. "The retired miners are all very positive about the work going on here and are keen to benefit at a time when energy bills are soaring."
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