Benefits of Solar

Paying for Solar

Enphase Microinverter

Enphase Envoy

Enphase Enlighten

Solar Modules
Photovoltaic panels (solar panels) are installed on your roof or adjacent structure. The panels are made of fiat glass covered panels that contain wafers of sliced silicon. These wafers of silicon create direct current electricity (DC power) when hit by the sun.

Inverter
The DC power from the photovoltaic cells is sent to an inverter, where it is converted into AC power, or standard household electricity.

Electrical Panel
The AC power travels from the inverter to the electrical panel, or breaker box. This power is then available to service all of your electrical needs. The utility meter continually measures your electrical supply; when your solar system produces more power than you need, the meter literally spins backwards, racking up your credits with the utility company.

Utility Grid
The utility grid remains in place to supply you with electricity when you need more power than your system has produced. This is called remaining "on grid". You can elect to go "off grid" which means you have chosen to rely completely on solar electricity and battery backup to meet all your electrical needs.

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Latest Technology: The Microinverter
The Enphase Microinverter shifts DC to AC conversion from a large, centralized inverter to a compact unit attached directly to each solar panel. This technology allows for a more productive and reliable system. Starting in 2008, Enphase Energy has been the first company to produce mircoinverters. Competition has begun in the microinverter market, but to date no other company has any history of performance. Consequently, Enphase has become synonymous with microinverters.

Solar power production can be affected by numerous factors such as obstruction caused by shading, dust or debris and module mismatch. (No two panels are identical due to the solar cells in the panel.) Further, non uniform changes in temperature, irradiance and shading create complex current-voltage curves which also affect the productivity. The microinverter addresses these issues by use of an algorithm called MMPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking). The microinverter can then calculate and respond to temperature and light changes and determine how much power to draw from the individual module. This ability to work at each module individually allows for a maximum energy harvest at all times creating an increase of 5% to 25% over the traditional central inverter system.

The use of microinverters also creates a more reliable system. With one traditional central inverter, if the inverter fails, the entire system fails. If one module fails, all the modules in the series are impacted causing a decrease in productivity .The Enphase Microinverters work independently at each module so if one microinverter fails, only the one module fails. If the microinverter works and the module is affected by shading or dust or debris , it does not affect the other modules because they are not connected in a series of modules.

Another benefit of the microinverters is the ability to expand the size of a solar system over time. One can add modules if needed without having to replace the central inverter. One doesn’t have to be limited by string design, co-planarity , orientation and matched modules.

The cost for using Enphase Micoinverters is competitive with the cost for using a traditional central inverter.

The Enphase Microinverter is able to continuously monitor itself and the performance of its associated module. This is done through the Enphase Envoy communications gateway.

This unit is plugged into an AC outlet and connected to the internet. The data from the Enphase Envoy is transmitted to the Enphase Enlighten website for monitoring and analysis.

The Enphase Enlighten monitoring systems allows for a new level of performance, reliability and management for solar electric systems. Enlighten is integrated into the Enphase Microinverter System and provides unprecedented visibility into the performance of each and every module.

The Enlighten monitoring system operates continuously, monitoring each module, analyzing production shortfalls and potential causes and even suggesting solutions. Upon logging in, you get a user friendly view of the status of the system. Further, Enlighten automatically alerts the system owner and/or installer of any problems through e-mail so you do not have to monitor the system yourself to know if there are any problems.