PV Expo: SolarEdge goes big in Japan with new training and logistics center, expanded staff

SolarEdge, the Israeli DC optimizer and solar inverter specialist, has announced the opening of a new office, training and logistics center and expanded PV portfolio in Japan as the company looks to step up its exposure to the Japanese solar market.

The expansion plans will include the growth of its Japanese staff base and the addition of new distributors of its DC power optimizers and inverters in Japan’s notoriously competitive inverter market.

Guy Sella, SolarEdge’s CEO and chairman, remarked that by augmenting its local presence, SolarEdge would be able to position itself for growth in the strong Japanese market.

“With the Japanese solar energy sector considered to be one of the largest and most advanced PV markets in the world, SolarEdge sees vast potential for our solutions in the country,” Sella said. Specifically, SolarEdge’s DC power optimizers, equipped with DC shutdown capabilities, and its flexible inverters that allow for parallel strings of unequal length to be laid out on multiple panel orientations are ideally equipped for the changing demands of the Japanese solar market.

With utility-scale installations set to fall in Japan this year, attention is turning to rooftop opportunities at both residential and commercial scale, as well as the challenges of building on less-than-optimum land that may be shaded and/or sloped.

The SolarEdge SE25K is approved for 200% oversizing to support maximizing module loading on such difficult terrain, which is a problem that Japan is currently wrestling with as land for ground-mounted solar becomes ever scarcer.

SolarEdge is also showcasing its low- and high-voltage inverter solutions at the PV Expo Tokyo show, which began today and runs until Friday, March 3.

First day traffic on the show floor was noticeably slower than in previous years as the industry seemingly reacted to repeated warnings of a market contraction in Japan in 2017. However, optimism was generally in plentiful supply, with those involved in home storage, high efficiency technologies and upstream innovation bullish about the opportunities that still abound in the Japanese solar sector.