The Fraunhofer USA Center for Sustainable Energy Systems (CSE) has demonstrated two plug and play solar systems at its 2016 Demo Day, the next stop in the technology's route to commercialisation.
The project is funded by the US department of energy’s Sunshot Initiative that is looking to reduce the installed cost of residential solar to US$1.50/W by 2020.
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As part of the demo, a string inverter based system was installed in under 75 minutes. A micro inverter install was also demonstrated. Further pilots systems will be rolled out in various parts of the US through 2017.
The project partners include National Grid, SunPower and lightweight module manufacturer Lumeta.
“We have taken the Plug and Play PV approach to the next level by demonstrating that different technology approaches can meet the vision with simplified installation, simplified inspection, and electronic permitting, inspection and interconnection,” said Dr. Christian Hoepfner, executive director, Fraunhofer CSE and principal investigator on the Plug and Play PV project. “This opens the path for many manufacturers to develop and offer Plug and Play PV systems.”