High Definition Photovoltaic (HDPV) Alliance has published its first standard: the HDPV inverter standard.
The standard contains help for PV inverter manufacturers to double output power and possibly half costs, providing a competitive edge to Alliance members with cost effective solutions and better inverter performance. Several inverter manufacturers have put the standard into practice in the last year.
The HDPV Alliance was formed last year in response to industry pressure to keep costs down. By providing standards on end-to-end PV products, HDPV Alliance cooperates to raise the return on investment (ROI) on PV products by up to 50%.
“HDPV's inverter standard gives suppliers and customers alike a structured compliance mechanism for understanding and assuring the requirements of interconnectivity and interoperability will be met both now, and over time as products and technologies evolve,” said David Devir, HDPV Alliance interoperability committee chair. “Through defined standards, tested compatibility, and shared best practices, HDPV is building and marketing a strong member network of HDPV compatible suppliers and confident buyers”.
Cutting costs is one way for the sector to offset risk from policy shifts and other areas.
“The solar industry faces intense pressure to drive down costs, and distributed power architecture provides a viable solution,” said HDPV Alliance chair Mark Kanjorski. “Both buyers and technology suppliers want to have standards so that components come together seamlessly within this optimised system architecture.”
The inverter standard is the first in a series to be published by HDPV to ensure complete component compatibility across system architecture.
HDPV Alliance was formed by Ampt, KACO New Energy, LTi REEnergy and REFUsol in 2012.
HPDPV Alliance are open and encouraging new members proposing PV products and services to join, including system developers and engineers, procurement and construction companies (EPCs), manufacturers or distributors of inverters, modules, balance of system (BOS) components, software monitoring and operations and maintenance (O&M) providers.
