Enphase Energy offers a new solar energy solution for the commercial market. The new offering combines the advantages of Enphase’s intelligent microinverter technology with a comprehensive set of services and partnerships to assist the owner and installer of a commercial solar project from concept through implementation and eventually to maintenance—providing low-cost solar energy and long-term reliability.
“We are offering the infrastructure and ecosystem for an end-to-end commercial solution that includes maintenance and support, with clear economic benefits,” said Paul Nahi, CEO of Enphase Energy. “Enphase is already powering more than 1,500 commercial systems across a wide variety of market segments, from schools and corporate offices to baseball stadiums. With this new commercial solution, Enphase addresses critical aspects of operations, finance and technology for the commercial owner, developer and installer.”
“The U.S. Commercial PV market is poised to grow by 21 percent annually to over 1.3 GW in 2014. In light of this enormous opportunity and the significantly reduced cost of solar, PV installers are seeking innovative solutions that will speed up the installation process and increase design flexibility while increasing the value and dependability of the solar energy delivered to the end customer,” according to MJ Shiao, Director of Solar Research, GTM Research.
Enphase offers both a technology and operations and maintenance (O&M) services solution capable of taking a commercial-scale system from concept to long-term operations and maintenance. The commercial-grade system includes the C250 Microinverter, the cloud-based Enlighten monitoring system, the Envoy Communications Gateway and a rapid-response Enphase Energy Services (EES) team, giving developers, installers and owners a robust solution for maximizing the performance of their solar assets.
C250 Microinverter System
The C250 Microinverter system is specifically designed and built for medium and large commercial projects. Leveraging Enphase’s world-class microinverter technology, the C250 supports three-phase 480Vac installations for 60- and 72-cell PV modules, delivering optimal performance for larger commercial projects and a levelized cost of energy (LCOE) lower than that of competing inverters. The improved design efficiency of a C250 system enables less wiring and balance-of-system components, significantly reducing labor and installation costs.
Integrated Design Software
Enphase has partnered with Folsom Labs to incorporate the C250 Microinverter system into HelioScope, Folsom Labs’ advanced system design tool. This integrated solution streamlines the system engineering workflow for commercial designers, enabling PV installations to be rapidly designed and modeled.
“Partnering with Enphase to incorporate their advanced microinverter and AC system design into HelioScope is a clear win for our users,” said Paul Gibbs, CEO of Folsom Labs. “Enphase shares our focus on enabling installers and integrators to quickly deploy high-quality PV arrays. This integration will enable our customers to efficiently and accurately understand their system designs, from bill-of-materials to energy yield.”
Enphase Energy Services
An integral part of the commercial solution, Enphase Energy Services (EES) leverages Enlighten’s data analytics to provide proactive operations and maintenance services. Through remote and onsite maintenance, Enphase is enabling its customers to cost-effectively predict and manage their long-term O&M programs. Additionally, Enphase Energy Services offers best-in-class support and a guaranteed system uptime.
“There is a high demand for comprehensive, long-term O&M services in the commercial solar sector,” said Marty Rogers, vice president of global customer service and support for Enphase Energy. “With our unique bi-directional communications capability and unparalleled insight into the health and performance of our systems, we can deploy our EES teams in a much more cost-efficient, intelligent manner than what is currently available in the marketplace.”
“We are currently using Enphase Energy Services on a commercial project in Hawaii and have been very happy with the performance of the system, as well as the quality of the response from Enphase to any issues experienced,” said James Musselman Jr., co-founder and president of Valta Energy (formally The Green Utility). “We are excited by the opportunity to add more 200kW-to-5MW projects to our portfolio throughout the United States with Enphase’s new C250 commercial microinverter system and Enphase Energy Services.”
Financing Partnerships
A growing network of financial service providers are partnering with Enphase to fast-track the financing of commercial solar projects and help customers unlock and enhance the long-term value of their systems.
“Pacific Power Renewables is pleased to see Enphase provide a commercial microinverter system for larger-scale solar installations,” said James Gillespy, vice president of sales for PPR, a key Enphase financial partner. “We look forward to strengthening our partnership with Enphase as the company continues to build momentum in commercial solar and deliver reliable technology.”
The new Enphase C250 Microinverter System and the Folsom Labs design software package will be available in the United States in Q1 2015. Enphase Energy Services for commercial projects are available today. Visit http://enphase.com/financial-service-providers/ for links to current financing partners.
To learn more about our new commercial solution, visit Enphase Energy at Solar Power International (Booth 812) in Las Vegas, October 21-23, 2014.