Enphase claims it has continued its “aggressive growth” into the Oceania region with the formation of a distribution agreement with a wholesaler, distributor and training and support company in New Zealand.
The US company has signed up with Solar Partners New Zealand, which will distribute Enphase’s energy systems to “key installers” and follows the opening of Enphase’s second Australia office as well as an expansion of its New Zealand engineering operations.
Enphase CEO Paul Nahi has spoken previously of his company’s enthusiasm for the region, highlighting in particular that despite incentives falling in neighbouring Australia, the appetite for self-consumption of PV power has meant solar, and now solar in combination with storage, are still economically attractive to homeowners. It is thought that while New Zealand does not have support schemes in place, there is still interest in the self-consumption or ‘prosumer’ market for PV due to electricity pricing. Nahi recently told PV Tech Storage that he thought within a “couple of years” PV systems would be sold almost exclusively in bundles with batteries and energy management systems included.
The company, which made its name with microinverters and is preparing for a rollout of its domestic, modular AC battery, recently announced a second quarter revenue increase year-on-year of “nearly 200%” in Australia and New Zealand. US storage system provider Sunverge also has a presence in New Zealand.
The Enphase systems to be distributed in New Zealand are expected to include the company’s web-based monitoring platform Enlighten Manager. Enphase will also launch Envoy-S, a new version of its bi-directional communications technology, suitable for controlling and monitoring grid feed-in versus self-consumption.
