Tigo Energy has seen the completion of the first commercial installation of its Trinasmart solar modules in North America at the WTA Indio project in Sunnyvale, Calif. The Trinasmart module incorporates Tigo Energy’s technology directly into the junction box of Trina Solar’s solar panels to simplify logistics and installation costs.
Power optimizers have many benefits when used in commercial-scale projects. For example, the increased energy harvest, enhanced safety and panel-level monitoring help drive higher return on investment. For installers, however, mounting boxes to each solar module is a lot of extra work. The cost of adding additional boxes, managing inventory, getting the right SKU, matching the right connector and lead length, and the labor on the roof to install optimizers can be a daunting task.
Tigo Energy teamed up with Trina Solar to introduce Trinasmart, an integrated smart module. The smart module offers all of the benefits of an add-on optimizer, but without any of the additional costs or logistics required. Because the technology is integrated into the junction box at the time of module manufacturing, an installer does not have to deal with the extra hassle. The smart module is shipped and installed just like a traditional module. This alleviates the hidden costs of having to buy and ship extra boxes, manage connector SKU’s, installation on the rooftop etc. Smart modules optimized by Tigo have all the benefits of optimizers, but none of the hassle.
Luxor Solar, a German module manufacturer, has also recently partnered with Tigo by using its power optimizer in its new line of Eco Smart modules.
“By cooperating with our new partner Tigo Energy, we have been able to achieve a new milestone in the history of Luxor Solar,” says Volker Leh, Managing Director of the German solar module manufacturer. “Using this new technology, we not only provide our customers with an intelligent solution for better yield in the long term and increased safety, but also make our contribution to the expansion of green energy.”