Enphase Energy – Largest Micro-inverter Company,Enphase Micro-inverter Price,Technology,Products (m190,m210,d380)

Enphase Energy is one of the most innovative solar startup companies that have come up in the USA especially without a billion dollar DOE Loan guarantee backing it up.Enphase Energy makes solar products that help in the production of solar energy from solar cells rather than being involved in the production of solar panels themselves.Enphase has created an entire new category of Solar Inverters – Micro-Inverters.The company which has private has plans to do a stock listing through an IPO though no date has been announced.Enphase not only does the mundane task of converting the DC Solar Energy into AC Electricity usable by household appliances,but also incorporate communication chips which allow the monitoring of the performance of the solar panels remotely through the Internet.Enphase Energy has also entered into the closely related “Energy Efficiency” Industry by selling Smart Thermostats which can remotely monitor and manage the temperature of a house.Enphase has sold around half a million microinverters till date and has recently tied up with Siemens to distribute its products to installers worldwide.

Enphase Micro-Inverters – Types and Price

Microinverters eliminate the need for string sizing exercises that require fitting equal lengths of module strings on a roof. Each PV module is connected directly to its own microinverter and mounted on the racking underneath. The microinverter’s AC wire harnesses are connected to form a continuous AC branch circuit that leads ultimately to the AC utility distribution center.

Enphase M190 Microinverter

1. The Enphase M190 has a
2. Power Capacity – 190 W
3. Peak Inverter Efficiency – 95.5%
4. Nominal MPTT – 99.6%
5. Warranty – 15 years
6. Solar Cells – 60,72 Cell Modules

The M190 is sold for around $180 though a lot of firms don’t sell them without modules

Enphase M210 Microinverter

The M210 is a higher input voltage version of the M190, and can be used with modules of up to 240 watt with peak power voltage of 31-50 volts. This version is designed for high-efficiency modules .

1. The Enphase M210 has a
2. Power Capacity – 210 W
3. Peak Inverter Efficiency – 96%
4. Nominal MPTT – 99.6%
5. Warranty – 15 years
6. Solar Cells – 60,72 Cell Modules

Enphase D380 Microinverter

The D380 “TwinPack” Microinverter is comprised of two Enphase Microinverters in a single enclosure.The D380’s “two-in-one” enclosure cuts in half the number of microinverter units needed for an installation. In addition, the D380’s new cabling system reduces the number of interconnections and junction boxes by 33%.he D380 TwinPack is optimized for commercial applications, but is applicable to many residential installations as well. D380 Microinverter TwinPacks are auto-sensing and compatible with 240Vac split-phase and 208Vac WYE three-phase utility systems. Maximum branch circuit size is 20A.

1. The Enphase D380 has a
2. Power Capacity – 380 W
3. Peak Inverter Efficiency – 95.5%
4. Nominal MPTT – 99.6%
5. Warranty – 15 years
6. Solar Cells – 60,72 Cell Modules

Enlighten website provides a wide range of information on the performance of solar power systems and individual solar modules.

Enphase Monitoring – How it Works

Enphase Energy’s per-module monitoring technology is integrated into the Enphase Microinverter System, meaning there’s no need for a bolt-on or standalone third-party monitoring tool. Every microinverter communicates with the Enphase Enlighten website to show you a physically accurate representation of your entire system and the performance of each PV module in real time. Data is monitored 24/7 and Enlighten will immediately notify you via email of any issues it detects. For example, Enlighten will notify you if an individual module is under performing compared to its neighboring modules. One Envoy communications gateway is required for monitoring on each installation of up to 250 inverters. A Line Communication Filter is required for installations with more than 250 inverters.

The Enphase EnergyIEMU-02 Energy Management Unit is sold for around $300

Environ

It is a smart thermostat device that integrates with the Enlighten allowing simultaneous management of solar panels and heating/cooling system in a single web-based platform.Here are some its Features

1. Controls  common residential heating and cooling system
2. Supports 3 stages of heat, 2 stages of cool, multi-stage heat pumps, humidifier, de-humidifier and external air baffles
3. Uses Zigbee Communications Protocol

Traditional Solar Inverters are large electronic devices which convert the DC electricity generated from a large number of solar panels to AC electricity while Micro-Inverters convert electricity from a single panel by attaching a device below the panel rack.The micro-inverter has inbuilt communication and networking capabilities and does not suffer from the disadvantage that the bad performance of a single module affects the performance of the whole solar array of modules.

Enphase Energy Investors,Rounds of Investing

Enphase Energy has raised around $100 million till date which is considerably less than other solar companies like Solyndra ( over a $1 billion),Brightsource,Nanosolar,Miasole and eSolar.The company is in a financially sound state unlike many of the more hyped solar startups which don’t aim to be profitable in the next 2-3 years.

1. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB)
2. Third Point Ventures
3. RockPort Capital Partners
4. Madrone Capital Partners
5. PCG Asset Management
6. Applied Ventures LLC
7. Bay Partners.

Enphase Investors,IPO and Stock,Addressable Market

Enphase Energy has not announced a date of a Stock Listing or an IPO yet though there are the standard rumors of Enphase Stock being sold in the Public Markets.Enphase closed a $63 million round in June 2010, bringing the total, announced funding to $104 million but no plans of additional funding though it has said it will triple its production capacity in 2011.The company has also got a contract with Flextronics to produce solar microinverters in Ontario.Note Enphase Energy products don’t work outside of North America which is home to almost 85% of the world’s solar market.

Enphase Energy Warranty

Enphase Microinverters come with a standard 15 years warranty unlike traditional inverters which are sold with a 5-10 years warranty and have to be replaced after 10-15 years compulsorily.

Enphase Energy Microinverter Competitors

1) Solaredge

2) Tigo Energy

3) SolarBridge

4) Green Ray Solar