Enphase Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENPH), has successfully upgraded the
operating behavior of approximately 800,000 of its smart microinverters
installed in Hawaii, better integrating the PV systems into Hawaii’s
changing island grids. This unprecedented technological accomplishment
is a result of ongoing collaboration between Enphase, Hawaiian Electric
and other industry partners to find technical solutions for integrating
high levels of PV in Hawaii at a low cost to end-customers.
With the highest level of solar PV penetration in the country, Hawaii
poses a unique challenge. Over 51,000 customers—12 percent of all
residential customers—have rooftop solar. More than 60 percent of these
systems are equipped with Enphase microinverter systems. Hawaiian
Electric and Enphase have been working closely with other industry
partners to determine new frequency and voltage ride-through settings
that would allow rooftop solar installations to be more tolerant when a
problem occurs on the grid, which in turn helps improve the stability of
the overall grid. Because Enphase’s microinverters are software-defined,
Enphase was able to make these updates remotely and quickly, saving tens
of millions of dollars by avoiding the need to send personnel out in the
field to update the settings manually.
"Enphase is able to quickly deploy technical solutions that benefit our
customers and increase the use of renewable energy in Hawaii,” said
Colton Ching, vice president of energy delivery at Hawaiian Electric.
“Hawaii is leading the way in the adoption of solar power, and
the solutions that we're developing with partners like Enphase can
benefit customers and utilities across the country."
“Enphase delivers on the technological challenge of bringing scale and
control to distributed power generation, with an approach that is highly
collaborative,” said Paul Nahi, president and CEO of Enphase. “By
working closely with utility partners like Hawaiian Electric, we are
able to move the industry closer to achieving the full integration of
solar onto the grid.”
“Our ability to quickly, safely and cost-effectively modify the settings
on our advanced microinverters throughout Hawaiian Electric’s service
area exemplifies the broader smart grid capabilities that Enphase can
provide,” added Raghu Belur, co-founder and vice president of products
and strategic initiatives at Enphase. “Regulators and utilities across
the U.S. are working to determine the value that distributed energy
resources provide to the grid, in an effort to inform policy development
and procurement decisions. This most recent collaboration between
Enphase and Hawaiian Electric provides a quantifiable example of how our
distributed technology, with its high-granular data and control, can
provide immense value and save ratepayers millions of dollars in upgrade
costs.”
About Enphase Energy, Inc. Enphase Energy delivers microinverter
technology for the solar industry that increases energy production,
simplifies design and installation, improves system uptime and
reliability, reduces fire safety risk and provides a platform for
intelligent energy management. Our semiconductor-based microinverter
system converts energy at the individual solar module level and brings a
systems-based, high technology approach to solar energy generation.
Connect with Enphase on Facebook
and follow us on Twitter. www.enphase.com
Enphase Energy®, the Enphase logo and other trademarks or service names
are the trademarks of Enphase Energy, Inc.
About Hawaiian Electric Companies
Hawaiian Electric and its subsidiaries, Maui Electric and Hawaii
Electric Light, serve the islands of O‘ahu, Maui, Lānaʻi, Moloka'i and
Hawai‘i, home to 95 percent of the population of Hawai‘i. Hawaiian
Electric's parent company is Hawaiian Electric Industries (NYSE:HE).
In a changing world, the Hawaiian Electric Companies are taking the lead
in adding renewable energy and developing energy solutions for its
customers to achieve a clean energy future for Hawai‘i. For more
information, visit www.hawaiianelectric.com.
Copyright Business Wire 2015