what's the solar path finder all about?

If you want the best performing solar electric system, you need to identify your optimal solar window. The solar pathfinder is a non-electric device that you can use to find out the entire year's solar potential for your project site.

This simple tool will help you find the optimal location to install your solar array. Site analysis is important because the path of the sun changes through out the year and what may not be a shading issue today may become one as the seasons change. Using the pathfinder assistant gives you the ability to combine the power of your computer to generate great solar access reports. Check out the video, what do you think about the solar path finder?

Sharp Solar Outdoor LED Lighting

Sharp has recently announced they will offer ten solar led outdoor lighting, a new product line which work by storing the solar power generated during the day into a battery which runs a high efficiency LED bulb when the sun goes down. These security lights by Sharp Solar, keeps needed outdoor lights off the grid which will result on tons of carbon emissions being consumed in the future if more people invest into solar LED lighting.

The company claims the LED bulbs inside their product line has a 30% higher luminous efficiency and a special bulb design which spreads the light into a broader footprint. Sharp will offer the solar powered security lights in both top of pole mount and side of pole mounted solutions.

I have noticed more products are coming out on the market that are pairing up LEDs with solar panels, the Sharp security lights are a great example of how using solar panels on a small scale can help save money and reduce carbon emissions consecutively. Commercial lighting , especially security lighting is often a large cost on an electric bill since most of them have inefficient old lighting technology.

What do you think about outdoor lighting that combines solar panels with high efficiency lighting? Would you be interested in using solar panels to power your outdoor lighting?

smarter solar pv combiner boxes

Monitoring a solar array's performance on a string by string basis was typically only common on utility scale solar panel farms. Although thanks to PV Powered's IntelliString combiner boxes now most solar arrays on commercial buildings have an affordable and simple method to deploy string monitoring that can become a standard option for commercial solar photovoltaic systems. The IntelliString combiner boxes are offered in 8-string and 16-string versions and has an integrated Obvius DC Solar Current Monitor, which is robust and easy to use.

Since central inverters are dependent on a string of solar panels as an input, most installations the combiner box lacks the ability to monitor each string. Typically most solar electric systems that have performance monitoring shows the output of the entire solar array. Without the ability to monitor each string you can only get a broad overview of the performance of your overall solar electric system.

People who want to be able to monitor their residential solar electric systems on a string by string basis they're out of luck until there is an affordable method to deliver more detailed performance data even on the solar electric systems with central inverters. Do you think its important to monitor a solar electric systems performance down to the string level?

lumens per watt

When we talk about purchasing apples at grocery store we buy them per pound (lb). In essence, even though solar power is a more complicated purchase than buying apples, purchasing solar panels all boils down to the cost per AC (alternating current) watt installed. The same rule applies when you buy light bulbs, to figure out if your getting a good deal on a light bulb you must calculate the lumens per watt. Efficiency is an important consideration, but it isn't the aspect you should look into.

So what are Lumens? It's a measurement of light output from a lamp. When a light bulb produces more lumens per watt of energy input, its more efficient. If you're looking into purchasing a solar power system by switching to high efficiency lighting, such as LED light bulbs the annual cost savings help to decrease the upfront cost of the solar photovoltaic system.

What do you think about high efficiency lighting such as LED technology? Would you buy a light bulb that produced more lumens per watt of electricity used? What is your selection criteria when your shopping for light bulbs?

suntech increases solar cell efficiency

Today, Suntech a Chinese solar panel manufacturer released news about their next generation solar cell technology called Pluto which has efficiencies of 19% (monocrystalline) and 17% (polycrystalline). Suntech sent the Pluto based solar cells to Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, which independently tested the the solar cells and verified the efficiency ratings. Currently, suntech solar panels out on the market have solar cells that have efficiencies of 16.5% and 15.5% respectively.

It seems like Suntech is trying to catch up with the higher efficiency solar panels such as the Sanyo and SunPower solar panels. Although you have to take into consideration that solar cell efficiency is not the same as solar panel efficiency. Since a group of solar cells make up a solar panel, when solar cells are wired together, they lose efficiency. Currently Sanyo 200w solar panels are 17% efficient at the solar panel level. Also the temperature coefficient (how well the solar panel perform in hot temperatures) determine how many kWh (kilowatt-hours) you will produce per year.

Even though Suntech Pluto solar cell technology is getting better, it's far from being the best on the market. Currently, I would say Sanyo solar panels are the best on the market, since of their high efficiencies at the solar panel level and their better performance in hot weather, they peform very well in real world conditions. These efficiency tests Suntech did in the lab are not going to be as good in the real world. What do you think about Suntech solar panels?

your light switch is your vote

Earth Hour 2009 is just around the corner, If you haven't heard about the yearly phenomenon, let me explain. Earth Hour is a annual event in which people around the globe to reduce electrical consumption by powering down their buildings from 8:30p to 9:30p, the impact Earth Hour has on the world is amazing, even if it's just a one hour blackout, the global event results an enormous amounts of kWh (kilowatt-hours) conserved. How many negawatts will the world create by saving energy for one hour? Energy conservation has direct bottom line impact to our environment.



I suppose Earth Hour is a fun way for people to realize that conserving energy is the first step towards solving our environmental problems. Earth Hour is the only annual celebration with the theme of saving energy and major cities around the world will be hosting Earth Hour celebrations to promote the cause. You can learn more about Earth Hour celebrations near you here in the US by checking out the official website.

Here in L.A. we're preparing for one of the largest Earth Hour events. I found out about the L.A. Earth Hour event by one of the people behind the scenes, Mike Bonifer of Game Changers who is working creatively to promote and educate people about the event and why it's important for everyone to participate on this historic day. What are you doing for Earth Hour? Will you be turning off the lights? If your going to be heading out to Turn Out, L.A. please contact me.

3D solar photovoltaic cells

The problem with solar cells on the market today is that they are only 2D, meaning they produce the most power when they have direct sun exposure. Although scientists at Georgia Institute of Technology have developed 3D solar cells that have a surface that looks like tiny pyramids that have the ability to capture more diffused light than traditional 2D solar cells.

Not only do the 3D solar cells capture more diffused light and turn it into electricity but they are more resilient to dust build up since when water hits the solar panel it beads off the 3D structure and takes the dust with it, you can call them self cleaning solar panels. According to the simulations conducted by Georgia Institute of Technology, they claim the 3D solar cell surface can increase solar cell efficiency by up to 2%.

I think solar cells will need to become 3D to maximize energy harvest, I wonder how long this technology will take to develop before we see 3D solar panels on the market. What do you think about 3D solar cells, do you think they will make a big difference in performance gains over traditional 2D solar cells?

solar energy in the sunshine state?

I had a customer call in today from Florida and he was telling me how disappointed he was that he doesn't see too many solar panels in Florida, he stressed it is the "sunshine state". It's unfortunate that amount of solar irradiation has no relation to how many solar panels are installed in region, for example Germany is leading the world in solar energy usage and they are well known for their cloudy climate, in fact they have half the solar irradiation then we do here in the U.S.

In Germany the energy policy is very favorable towards green energy and that's why solar panels are much more common out there. Here in the U.S. we have very bias policies in support fossil fuels over green energy, unfortunately.

Reflecting on the conversation I had with our customer, Florida is one of the top states leading the green energy revolution. In fact, this earlier this year the first feed-in tariff in America was passed in Gainesville, FL, now that's historic.

Just today, Progress Energy a major electric company in Florida announced that the hit a significant milestone of installing one megawatt (MW) of solar power capacity. Their solar rebate program encouraged more than 140 customers to install solar panels to offset their electric bills. Progress also has 20 solar pv farms generating clean power over 35 service territories.

I agree we don't see solar on every rooftop in the USA yet, although in my opinion we soon will, the technology will become as common as life is today with cell phones and computers. The green energy revolution will not transition us over night, but we will soon notice the change. One day in the future we'll be reflecting, "remember the time when we used to have to pay for energy" What do you think? Do you agree with me?

blue solar panels rejected by HOA

Palos Verdes is an affluent residential community in Southern California, recently three homeowners in the community decided to install solar panels on their home but instead of being recognized for being green energy leaders the homeowners were confronted by the Home Owners Association (HOA) because the color of the solar panels were blue!

Can you believe that?! The HOA argued to the homeowners that the solar panels should be a more "appealing color" than blue and would not approve the permit. What do you think, is the HOA being too picky? The HOA preferred black solar panels only since they are concerned with the looks of the blue solar panels would diminish property values in Palos Verdes Estates.

In the end I don't think the HOA will be able to stand their fight in court because of a law drafted in 1978 called the solar rights act (California civil code 714) which promotes solar energy by prohibiting cities and HOA from restricting solar panel installations unless they pose a risk to the safety of residents. I say to the Palos Verdes Estates HOA, get over it already, don't get in the way of the green energy revolution. If a homeowner wants to use blue solar panels, its none of the HOA business unless it poses a risk to safety.

I hope this case does not have to go all the way to court for the homeowners to be able to use the solar panels they want, because in the end civil code 714 will be interpreted We're in an energy crisis here, we don't have time to bicker about the color of a solar panel, if its a safe installation and produces clean power why worry about how they look, everyone has a different view of what looks "good", do you agree?

the photovoltaic effect

Albert Einstein is most commonly known about his theory of relativity, particularly the mass energy equivalence, E = mc^2. What most people don't know is that Einstein conducted the most comprehensive theoretical work on the photovoltaic effect, which means turning light into electricity.

In fact in 1921 Einstein won the Noble Prize for his explanation of photovoltaics. Einstein explanation stated that light was a stream of particles, called photons. His studies suggested that when you shine a light upon certain metals, a stream of particles, electrons are emitted from the metal. Einstein concluded in his studies of the photovoltaics:

• the number of electrons emitted depends on the intensity of the light beam.
  
• electrons move faster if the applied light has higher frequency.
  
• light has to hit the threshold frequency before electrons can be generated.

Many physicists were perplexed because they thought of light as a wave, not a stream of particles. Although Einstein proved that light has a dual nature, it can act both as a wave or a stream of particles depending on the conditions. Looking back at history the first discovery of the photovoltaic effect happened back in 1839, so why are we still so behind in terms of adopting solar photovoltaic panels in our daily lives?

It seems like the world has known about photovoltaics for such a long time but has not moved forward aggressively enough to take full advantage of the largest energy source known to man, the sun. Do you think photovoltaics is one of society's best kept secretes?

building integrated wind energy

Architectural Wind is a new term we came across at renewable energy world 2009. AeroVironment has developed a rooftop wind turbine called the AVX1000 which is designed for quick and easy installation on top of concrete tilt up wind turbines. The wind turbines bolt right onto the parapet wall of the building. The advantages of using this type of mounting is that it avoids not only costly towers associated with traditional wind turbines but also eliminates the need for roof penetrations.



Each AVX1000 building integrated wind turbine weighs approximately 130 pounds and at an average wind speed of 30 MPH the AVX1000 can produce up to 1,000 watts of power. The picture above shows an array of AXV1000 building integrated wind turbines on the Logan International Airport in Boston. These wind energy systems are completely scalable, meaning you can continue to add capacity to the system in the future. What do you think about wind energy systems that can be easily integrated into buildings?

supersized thin film solar panels

ENN solar, a Chinese thin film solar panel manufacturer has released their supersized solar panel EST series which has a STC (standard test condition) output up to 458 watts! That's the largest power output from a single solar panel that I've ever seen. I wonder what the efficiency of the EST series are? According to the company large solar panels reduce installation costs, would you agree? Since the ENN solar panels are thin film they perform well in low, diffused light and high temperatures compared to standard crystalline solar panels.

Thin film solar panels are also flexible so they can be applied in places traditional crystalline solar panels cannot be mounted onto. To understand the size of the EST series, they are 5.7 square meters which is more than four times larger than traditional solar panels. The company says that the larger solar panel footprint and high efficiencies will able them to deliver a lower cost per watt. What do you think?

solar panels on the international space station

Did you know that without the invention of solar photovoltaic technology, life as we know it today would not be possible? Even though solar panels are not common on our rooftops here on earth they've been very popular in space for a long time. How else do you think our satellites that drive our modern communication are able to generate power in space?

Today two astronauts from shuttle Discovery completed their first space walk out of three to add more solar panels to the array that powers the International Space Station (ISS) The goal of adding solar panels to the array is to power up to full power for the first time in 10 years. Once the new solar panels are installed it would boost the size of the solar array from 90 kW (kilo-watts) to 120 kW.

This is a great example of how solar electric systems are scalable, meaning you can always add to the system later. The additional power produced by the 120 kW solar array will enable scientists on the ISS to conduct more experiments thus increasing the capabilities of the space station.

Pretty interesting project, wouldn't you agree?

earth4energy is misleading

If you have been shopping for solar panels or wind turbines, most likely you have ran into earth4 energy, a manual and videos which you can buy for $48 that claims you can make $200 solar or wind power system that has the potential to eliminate 80% to 100% of your electric bill! Earth4Energy also says that the system would be equivalent to a professional system that would typically cost thousands of dollars.

I don't think so! Professional grade solar and wind power systems are UL listed, which means they are authorized to connect to the grid per the interconnection agreement you must attain from your utility before you can hook your solar panels or wind turbines to the grid.

Eliminating 80 - 100% of your electric bill with wind or solar panels would require a large system and more than likely you would be a novice in making a solar panel or wind generator, would you really trust the saftey of your product? There would be a high risk you could start a fire and burn down your home.

Although in my opinion the earth4energy website makes some outrageous claims, it may add value if you are trying to develop a small scale solar panel or wind turbine to charge a few batteries, which would be enough to charge a laptop or a small appliance. But if your expecting to eliminate 80% to 100% of your electric bill, earth4energy will not help you do that.

Have you heard about earth4energy? What do you think about it? Do you agree with my opinion?

do wind turbines kill birds?

I think this rumor that wind turbines are bad because they kill birds is exaggerated. I agree there have been reports that a birds have collided with wind turbines, but on the flip side a lot more birds have died in result of flying into windows and sky scrapers, wouldn't you agree? There was a study done for large utility scale wind turbines in which concluded wind turbines account for less than 0. 003% of all human caused bird deaths, on the other hand house cats kill around 1 billion birds each year!

Making that comparison, I suppose it puts it into perspective that wind turbines are harmless to bird populations. Why do you think so many people out there believe that wind turbines are a hazard to birds?

educating the leaders of tomorrow

If we want to change the way the world views energy and eventually have a society in which green energy is just a normal part of life, then we need to start with the kids. Today's kids are the leaders of tomorrow and I think part of school studies should focus on renewable energy and energy efficiency, wouldn't you agree?

The SMARTT (Students making advancements in renewable transportation technologies) challenge. The grade school students get a hands on approach to learn about solar panels by getting involved in building a toy solar car and then racing them against each other, I wish I got to do that in school. What do you think about the SMARTT Challenge? how do you think we can make programs like this more common? Is this a method to get kids curious about solar panels?

mounting solar panels hasn't been this easy

Veranda Solar, a start up company is developing a plug and play solar panel system that can be easily clipped to gutters and balconies or may be hung from your window. The unique looking solar panels can snap together and is similar to a solar power appliance which can be installed in a couple hours.

The company was founded by two students at Stanford University in spring 2008 who developed their unique solar panel design as a product design thesis, according to their website they expect to have their system on the market by the end of 2009.

This concept looks really good, but I think they will have challenges with making sure the solar panels can resist high wind loads and also connecting the solar panels to the grid, how will they interconnect? Will they use a plug n play grid tie inverter? The current grid tie inverters on the market that can be plugged directly into an A/C outlet are not UL listed.



I wonder how efficient the solar cells are? Will the mounts be able to tilt the solar panels in the optimal degree to maximize power generation? There are just so many unanswered questions today with this product but I think this company is on the right track by developing products that make solar panels more "plug and play". What do you think about this unique small scale solar power concept?

PVPowered gird tie inverter enhancements

We visited the PVPowered booth last week at Renewable Energy World 2009 (rew 2009) in Las Vegas, according to the company's representatives the PVPowered residential grid tie inverters have made some improvements to simplify the installation.

PVPowered has included a single knob AC/DC disconnect with a wire raceway. Integrated disconnects is a trend we're seeing with grid tie inverters, seems like now this is becoming a standard feature on new models from various manufacturers.



The picture of the PVP3000 was taken at PVPowered's booth at rew 2009, PVPowered offers 9 different residential string grid tie inverters in their product family including models ranging from 1.1 kW to 5.2 kW.

The company says the benefits of the integrated disconnects eliminates the need for unnecessary conduit which saves money on installation materials and shortens the time to install their grid tie inverter.

Check out the specifications sheet below, what do you think about PVPowered residental string grid tie inverters? What do you think their unique features are over SMA, Fronius or Xantrex?

New Sanyo HIT N series solar panel

Sanyo is a leader in highly efficient solar panels, has released their N series solar panels now with 72 solar cells that are 5 inches in size. The new Sanyo HIT N Series comes in 205W, 210w, and 215w power outputs and are made of hybrid technology which allows them to perform better in higher temperatures compared to traditional crystalline solar panels.

Even though Sanyo is a Japanese company the wafers and ingots that the Sanyo HIT N Series are composed of are made right here in the USA. Since Sanyo solar panels are high efficient that means you produce more watts per square foot. The great aspect of Sanyo solar panels is you receive a minimum guaranteed power, meaning you can be confident that your solar panel will produce at least the nameplate STC (standard test conditions) or better.

The 72 solar cell configuration has lowered voltage of each solar panel compared to previous higher voltage models, now you can string up to 10 solar panels in a string. check out the PDF below that compares a Sanyo HIT N Series solar panel versus a traditional crystalline solar panel, do you think Sanyo solar panels are worth the extra price for the premium power output you'll receive?

closing up rew 2009

Today ends Renewable Energy World 2009 Confrence & Expo in Las Vegas....it was a great event, I got to reconnect with many friends and business partners in the industry. I did notice this year the attendance was quite low compared to the last couple years so you can say that the economy has caused companies to scale back in the renewable energy industry too.

I want to share some interesting pictures with you. Below is a typical setup of how a grid tie system is connected your electric meter. The picture highlights a Solectria residential solar grid tie inverter, on the left side of the inverter, thats the DC disconnect. On the right side, thats the AC disconnect right above the revenue grade utility meter. Doesn't seem too complicated, wouldn't you agree?



I got some great close up pictures of the Skystream 3.7 wind power system. A user friendly feature of the Skystream 3.7 is that the grid tie inverter is built into the head of the wind turbine. The picture below shows the housing in which the grid tie inverter sits inside.



A closeup shot of inside the head of the Skystream 3.7 that shows the guts of the grid tie inverter. The downside to having the inverter and communications interface built into the head of the inverter is that if you ever need to service the grid tie inverter you would have to access the top of your tower, which could be very inconvenient. What do you think? Regardless, the Southwest Windpower, the company that makes the Skystream 3.7 booth at the trade show will continuously busy, it seems like there is still extremely high demand for their products.



The back of the housing seems to features a heat sink cover to help the built in grid tie inverter to stay cool, notice the short antenna? That's there to monitor the output and overall performance and health of the system through a wireless connection.



Anyways, I hope you enjoy this short review of our experience at the leading renewable energy expo of the year. If your interested in checking out more pictures of our experience please check out our community!

exceltech's plug n play micro inverter?!

We're in Las Vegas this week learning about new products at Renewable Energy World 2009....I'd have to say I'm quite disappointed since there are not many new products at the highly anticipated trade show, although I did run into a "game changing technology" in the works. ExcelTech, traditionally a manufacturer of off-grid inverters is working on a couple products to enter the grid tie inverter market.

According to ExcelTech, they have been working on their own version of a grid tie micro-inverter that attaches right to the back of a solar panel, similar an Enphase micro inverter. The demo unit at Excel tech's booth even had a standard household AC plug that can be connected directly to the gird via a household socket. Very interesting don't you agree?

Although ExcelTech said they have hundreds of these units in the field operating flawlessly, the company not released their micro inverter to the public because they want a solar panel manufacturer to integrate the inverter right into the solar panel so the micro-inverter itself can operate without connecting a DC disconnect to every unit, which is required by NEC code. Do you think ExcelTech can convince a solar panel manufacturer to build in their micro-inverter right into a solar panel? This is some game changing technology, would you not agree?

heading to renewable energy world

Hi folks, we're heading to Las Vegas today for the Renewable Energy World Conference & Expo, for the next couple days we'll take you along with us, highlighting cutting edge products right from the trade show room floor. I attend many trade shows in this industry, but I really get a chance to learn a lot from attending Renewable Energy World since its a diversified experience meaning we'll see companies from biofuels, ocean power to more common technologies such as solar power.

I think a lot of people attending this show are going to be talking about the Obama's administration unprecedented support for renewable energy in the economic stimulus plan passed last month, there going to be a lot of excitement, since the renewable energy industry is set to skyrocket as the economic stimulus money starts to trickle down to the companies in this industry.

Anyways, we'll be updating you today via the community. The tradeshow floor will have a grand opening reception today from 5 pm - 7 pm (pacific time), we'll up sharing pictures with you of the event via our community. By the way, if you're going to be in Vegas this week, please do connect with me!

university installs skystream 3.7

William Penn University recently installed a Skystream 3.7 grid tie wind power system to help produce clean electricity right on campus to help power the Musco Technology Center. The Skystream 3.7 is mounted on a tower that is 99 ft high, which is very high compared to most installations I've seen. The Skystream 3.7 in it's first month of operation produced 352 kilowatt-hours (kWh) which equals to about $35 dollars in savings, seems quite low for a tower that's 99 feet up, maybe their average wind speeds are quite last month?

The Skystream 3.7 was donated to William Penn University primarily for education purposes, what a great tool to help future generations learn about renewable energy, wouldn't you agree? The wind power system blades are designed to operate quietly so the wind turbine itself is not going to be a distraction when classes are in session. I'm looking forward to following this wind turbine project to see how much electricity is generated over a course of a year. What do you think about the Skystream 3.7 at the Willam Penn University Campus?

solar power window shutters

(Photo Credit: Chloe Kemp)

Stratton Hatfield a college student from Bermuda decided undertake a sustainable design project for his senior year. The island of Bermuda is providing incentives for people who install solar panels, but Stratton wondered why the adoption rate of solar panels on homes was still very low even though there was financial support for people who produce their own clean energy from the sun.

After talking to homeowners on the island and collecting feedback, Stratton found out that aesthetics was a big concern and a barrier for people to embrace solar panels into their lives. Orginally Stratton was considering designing a roof mounted solar electric array, but his design teacher pushed him to think outside the box. After analyzing many possible locations for homeowners to install solar panels Stratton, came up with an interesting proposal, solar panels that act as window shutters.



Window shutters are common in Bermudian architecture therefore his final design was a top or side hung shutters with thin film solar cells which is angled at the optimal pitch to capture to most sunshine each day. The shutters not only produce energy during the day but act a shading device similar to traditional shutters which help keep the temperature inside the home comfortable.

This story is a great example of building integrated solar which are products that can be integrated into a building directly, keeping the traditional look and feel of your home while getting dual use out of building material to reduce installation costs, improve aesthetics, and generate clean electricity at the same time. What do you think about Stratton solar power window shutter design? What are some other examples of building integrated solar?

advantages of thin film solar panels

When people think about thin film solar panels the first thing that comes to mind is the lower cost, but that's not the only advantage of thin film solar panels. Thin film solar panels perform more efficiently than crystalline solar panels in low light or shady conditions. They weigh 10% less than traditional silicon based solar panels and can be flexible which allows them to be installed on various surfaces.

Thin film solar panels are more resilient to hail, rocks, golf balls...etc. If part of a crystalline solar panel is damaged, the whole solar panel will stop working...on the other hand a thin film solar panel will continue to operate at a lower output if a part of the solar panel is damaged. The downside of thin film solar panels is they're less efficient than traditional crystalline solar panels, you will need more surface area to work with. Silicon based solar panels typically produce more watts per square foot. What type of solar power projects do you think thin film solar panels are a good fit for?

solar panels help fire trucks use less gas?

The Fire & Medical division in Lawrence-Douglas county, Kansas is undertaking an interesting pilot program using 80watt solar panels to help reduce fuel costs for fire trucks and ambulances when they are idling. Often emergency vehicles turn signals and radios are operating when the vehicles are idling which discharges the batteries in the vehicles very quickly, this puts extra load on the alternator, end result the fire truck has to burn more fuel.

The goal of the solar panels that have been installed on two fire trucks and ambulances is to keep the batteries charged without the use of the alternator, which can save the Fire & Medical division enough on fuel costs to hopefully break even within 24 months, the cost of the solar panels was $500 each. I wanted to highlight this story since its a good example of how people are using small scale solar power to make a large financial impact. If the results of the tests are positive then the county will add a solar panel to their fleet of fire trucks and ambulances, which would greatly increase the savings. What do you think about this test project? Do you think the project will make financial sense?

meet the enphase m190 grid tie inverter

Enphase Energy, the manufacturer of the revolutionary micro inverter system has released a new and improved version of the micro inverter called the m190. Enphase recently put out their preliminary datasheet of their newest addition to the Enphase product mix. The m190 is compatible with 60 and 70 cell solar panels and has the following improvements over the m175 and m200 product lines:

• a wider temperature range the micro inverter can operate in. The enphase m190 can operate in ambient temperatures between -40c to +65C


• mean time between failures (MTBF) of 365 years, which triples the MTBF rating of the M175/M200 models. According to the company this was verified by testing the micro inverter for 10 million unit hours of operation in the field.
  
  
• The M190 makes installation even easier by reducing the number of cables to manage to one 6' cable versus two 3' cables on the M175/M200 models.
  
  
• You thought the M175/M200 was small enough? The new m190 has a 30% smaller footprint than its predecessors.
  
  
• upgraded racking bracket makes it easier and more flexible to install the m190 face up or down and allows for easier cable routing.
  

The Enphase M190 marks a significant milestone in how the micro-inverter is evolving. In my opinion it's a good sign that Enphase Energy is making continuous improvements with their product because the results are going to be a more a even smaller, easier to install grid tie inverter solution. Check out the preliminary datasheet below. What do you think about the Enphase M190?

champlain cable for solar pv panels

Your solar electric system's performance rests upon one of the most simple components in the overall system, the electric wire. Not only does the gauge size of the wire count, but the overall quality of the wire used in your solar panel installation can make your system run smoothly into the future.

Champlain Cable a company that traditionally focuses on high performance general wire and cables has entered the solar photovoltaic market by introducing their Exar 150PV and the Exar 180PV UL rated photovoltaic wires. Since your solar electric system will not only generate power for the next 25 years plus, but the wire needs to survive the extreme environmental conditions your solar electric system is subjected to over time. Most wires on standard photovoltaic systems are not designed to outlast the 25 year warranty on your solar panels offered by manufacturers.

The Exar 150PV and 180PV stand out because they can handle high amounts of UV radiation, water and steam which can cause a typical wire to fail. According to the company the special PV series wires will last more then ten times longer than the standard THHW (Flame Retardant, Heat Resistent Thermoplasitc) a common wire used in most solar PV installations

Solarphire PV glass

The team at PPG Industries is quite confident in their new Solarphire PV glass, a new type of solar panel that boasts higher efficiencies than crystalline solar panels. According to the company the proprietary glass formulation gives Solarphire PV glass an enhanced ability to capture the sun's ultraviolet spectrum between 350 and 1100 nanometers, in which traditional silicon based solar cells are not as responsive.

From the picture the solar panel looks very similar to a crystalline solar panel, it dose not look like the solar pv glass I wrote about in the past. PPG Industries is not a familiar brand in the solar power industry since the company is originally a glass & high performance coating company that is now making "glass based solar panels", pretty interesting don't you agree? I'm not convinced yet about the ability of the new solar glass, I went on PPG Energy's website and didn't find much information about their game changing technology. What do you think?

whats the deal with open circuit voltage?

I want to talk about Open Circuit Voltage (Voc) since I know this important electrical rule is not understood by most people who buy solar panels. For example, lets say we have a nominal 12v solar panel and you take it outside on a sunny day without a load connected to the solar panel and test the voltage. The results might surprise you, if you don't understand Voc since the voltage will read higher than the nominal or "rated voltage" on the solar panel.

Voc is the maximum voltage a solar panel is able to output when there is no current flowing through the solar panel, once you connect a load to the solar panel, the voltage will decrease closer to the nominal voltage. This is one of the basic building blocks of understanding how solar panels work, so I hope you got some value out of this short explanation. Does open circuit voltage make sense?

What do you think about the cool-n-save?

It's always more cost effective to "reduce consumption and then produce clean energy". Considering your air conditioner (A/C) is one of the largest energy hogs, there is got to be a way to make your A/C run more efficiently.

Cool-N-Save, is an interesting energy efficiency product that does just that, by piggybacking onto your A/C and spraying a light water mist it helps your A/C suck cooler air which makes it run up to 30% more efficiently.

Large corporations with high A/C bills have been using pre-cooling A/C systems for years. The Cool-N-Save misting system is much like the misters you may have experienced in restaurant patios and amusement parks.

The Cool-N-Save can be installed within 5 minutes without any tools. Cool-N-Save is only activated when you turn on your A/C, air from the condenser unit’s fan raises the flap allowing water to flow to the misters that surround the A/C thus allowing maximum efficiency. According to the company, the Cool-N-Save will only use 6 cents worth of water per day. What do you think about the Cool-N-Save?