Inverters

Long-overdue safety and compliance regulation increases came into effect in May. US-based Enphase Energy claims its technology’s exemption from much of nation-wide regulations means installers across the country are opting for its products exclusively.

SMA Solar Technology has announced plans to build a new manufacturing facility at its headquarters in Niestetal, Germany.

A German consortium led by Fraunhofer IEE aims to bring gallium nitride inverters closer to commercial viability. The primary goal of the research project is the optimization and miniaturization of inverters, including passive components such as cooling systems, casings, and mounting structures.

Australian redox-flow battery specialist Redflow has upped the ante on its plans to expand into the US market, announcing that it has completed testing to pave the way for its battery energy storage system to be used in conjunction with hybrid inverters manufactured by US solar engineering company Sol-Ark.

High-power solar panels with outputs above 500 W accounted for more than 60% of all PV module imports to Brazil by volume in the January-March period.

The Enphase IQ8 Microinverter system has been certified to the new North American safety and grid interconnection standards for connecting solar inverters, energy storage systems, and distributed energy resources to the grid.

Studer Innotec, a Swiss power electronics specialist, has unveiled a 16 kW inverter for off-grid and on-grid applications. It features two maximum power point tracking inputs in an 8 kW plus 8 KW configuration.

APsystems has developed a new 97%-efficient microinverter with a power output of up to 2,000 VA. It says it is particularly suitable for PV systems with high-power solar modules.

The S5-EO1P(4-5)K-48 series off-grid PV inverter has an efficiency of 96.7% and supports parallel operation of up to 10 units, which allows for a system capacity of up to 50 kW. According to the manufacturer, the device is compatible with all top-tier brands of lithium-ion and lead-acid batteries.

Katek’s new StecaGrid Hybrid 10023_3 hybrid PV inverter has a nominal power of 10 kW, an efficiency of 98.1%, and a European efficiency rating of 97.9%.