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This sixteenth edition of Photovoltaics International marks four years of production of the quarterly journal. As always, our focus is on efficiency and quality improvement and cost reduction in manufacturing. As 2012 rolls along, companies are falling by the wayside due to supply and demand issues, ASP declines and drastic governmental subsidy cuts. A clear picture of 2012 is offered through papers from the likes of TÜV Rheinland, Fraunhofer ISE, SEMI PV Group and EPIA, amongst others.
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This digital interactive Lite sees Tom Cheyney follow Agua Caliente’s progress on becoming one of first truly utility-scale PV power farms, where 40–50MW (AC) will be commissioned by the end of the year. We also feature one of the world’s largest silicon thin-film PV power plants, Avenal; a report on warnings of the collapse of module prices from Solarbuzz and PI-Berlin presents tips on PV module testing. A print version of this edition will be distributed at Solar Power International 2011 in Dallas, Texas.
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Manufacturing the Solar Future 2012, the second in the Photovoltaics International PV Production Annual series, delivers the next installment of in-depth technical manufacturing information on PV production processes.
Comments
Enphase is all hype and very little third party verifed fact. History has clearly shown that all inverters typically fail between years 8 to 12. And micro inverters are no different. In fact they’e worse because all that electronics is crammed into that airtight can on a hot roof. Just wait until all those consumers who were suckered into buying micro inverters are slapped with contractor labor charges for removing and replacing all those solar modules in order to access a single failed micro inverter. With 20 to 30 on a typical roof and upwards of $400.00 per service call that the home owner will have to pay since the warranty doesn’t cover labor, it will be a nightmare as the system begins to age. White papers and studies, Enphase has their own answers for everything. Wakeup people and face reality. Visit Enphase’s own “user community” website to read all the complaints from customers about lost energy production to find the real truth. 260 watts in and 215 watts out at a measly 96% CEC efficiency at a higher price per watt. Yes, that makes a whole lot of sense.
I’ve got 26 units currently in operation since 1AUG2011. Production rates are as predicted. However, there has been 3 occasions where a short in the circuitry between the inverter array and the meter caused several days of outage. Other than those days, the inverters and Enphase reporting website have exceeded expectations.
QUESTION: Should individual inverters fail - can affected PV panel output be routed to a standby MPPT charge controller? Or are the microinverters hardwired permanently to the PV panel?
I work in the distribution department for HelioPower. Over the last 2 months my production has increased by 100%. I owe it all to the M-215 microinverter that every contractor under the sun is ordering and installing on jobs. The feedback i’m getting is that the microinverters are very easy to install and the monitoring unit “Envoy” is the best thing since sliced bread. My customers and my clients customers are very happy with Enphase.
Another “study” compiled by Enpahse marketing department.
Proof: PVWatts overstated their predicted performance by 8% and understates predicted performance for the Enphase based system by 8% = 16% improvement with their technology. Hmmm.
A better answer is that the median predicted performance of the systems in the study vary by 16% which leads to a very different conclusion. How do these people continue to get away with this garbage ?