SPI 2012: HDPV Alliance launched to reduce BOS costs

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  Ampt, KACO New Energy, LTi REEnergy and REFUsol have announced the launch of the HDPV Alliance.

In response to the solar industry's ever-increasing pressure to drive down system costs, companies Ampt, KACO New Energy, LTi REEnergy and REFUsol have announced the launch of the HDPV (High Definition PV) Alliance. The HDPV Alliance will leverage open technology standards to optimize the design and deployment of inverters, cabling, combiners and associated labour costs to deliver a lower total system cost and higher performance. Companies that join the Alliance are able to offer differentiated value and make it easy for their customers to identify and source products featuring the HDPV advantage.

ZNShine, Shoals Technologies, DECK Monitoring, Eoplly, Amphenol, meteocontrol, Suniva, Next Generation Energy, AlsoEnergy and Upsolar have also offered their support.

"The HDPV Alliance brings significant value to the industry," said Forrest Collins, senior systems engineer at juwi solar. "As a global developer of PV systems, we look for products that lower costs and we prefer suppliers that collaborate to ensure compatibility over time. By creating standards, the HDPV Alliance does both."

The HDPV Alliance inverters are to deliver up to twice the power at a higher efficiency than the same inverter operating in a normal mode. Doubling the rated power is equivalent to cutting cost in cents per watt (US$/W) in half. The Alliance states that HDPV systems also can have more PV modules in a series string to save up to 50% on DC BOS costs. The HDPV label identifies products and services as compatible with Alliance standards.

"The solar industry is ripe for innovations that increase system performance and reliability while lowering total costs," said MJ Shiao, senior analyst of solar markets at GTM Research. "Initiatives like HDPV's open standard will help drive industry focus away from individual component costs towards total project economics."

The HDPV Alliance is open to new members who want to offer HDPV branded products or services. Companies throughout the PV industry are encouraged to join, including system developers and engineering, procurement and construction professionals (EPCs), manufacturers or distributors of inverters, modules, BOS components, software monitoring and O&M providers. 

Companies interested in applying for membership to the HDPV Alliance can find more information here.