Program Summary Peter Hoberg - Enphase

Posted by Rich Randolph

Microinverters~Megwatts

Enphase (Nasdaq ENPH) HQ Petaluma CA, branches in France, New Zealand and UK. World leader in microinverter technology for solar module installations, both commercial and residential. Annual sales in 2013 $232.8 million, over 500 employees worldwide. Company announced development of AC battery components at the 2014 Solar Power Institute trade show.

That is the easy stuff!

Electrical Engineer, Business Analyst and Sunrise Rotarian Peter Hoberg provided members and guests both a business and technical overview of his employer’s role in the growing worldwide market for optimizing solar energy utilization.

Peter pointed to the predominance of California in the United States rooftop solar market: 50%, or 300,000 of the total 600,000 U. S. installations are located in our Golden State. In our drought-dried state, the advantages of water conservation are noteworthy: Solar generated electricity consumes only 1/6 to 1/10^th the water volume used in power plant originated energy. The engineered operating advantages of microinverted versus “string” type inverters claim to be 7-10% more efficient. String inverters transform direct DC to AC current for a string of 10-14 modules (panel) vs. a microinverter between each solar “module” (panel). This enables each module to provide power independent from the others, so if one is affected by shade or mismatch, it doesn’t bring down the output of the others. These black boxes of wizardry actually communicate with the power lines, allowing for remote monitoring of performance and remote troubleshooting if problems do arise.

Peter offered some metrics for the Nerd Note takers in the audience:

4,000 microinverted module/panels can generate about 1 Megawatt of electricity

Of the total systems in the U. S. currently, 70% are third party owned, typically leased to the user after signing tax credits and generation rights over to the third party.

California is 4^th in the 50 states in terms of least electricity consumed. Hawaiians pay more than any other state for electricity, due in large part to its isolation from other energy sources. Solar has been very popular there.

Enphase designs and builds microinverters with four guiding principles in mind: Performance, Reliability, Safety & Smartness. In a market which saw a 55% increase in customers between 2013 and 2014, Enphase’ principles and strategy are positioning them to lead demand and customer satisfaction, 8,760 hours a year, not just the 1,752 - 20% rate solar modules are busy converting sunlight to energy!