| | Here is a little-known historic event: the first-ever grid-tied photovoltaic (PV) system in the U.S. was powered up in 1979 on the University of Texas campus in Arlington. I was a young engineer at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory then, and was sent to document that system's birth. As I recall, the initial operation of that inaugural PV system garnered little attention. In retrospect this was truly a momentous occasion, offering a faint glimpse of a very bright future.
In the 30 years since, a global solar industry and $37b market have emerged, and a staggering 15,200 MW of PV installations have been installed worldwide. Equally astonishing is that very little about the basic design of PV systems has changed. Virtually all those PV MegaWatts are generated by systems very similar to that first cobbled-together PV project in Texas: an array of PV modules at high DC voltage, connected to a central inverter where the DC power is converted to utility-compatible AC. However, at long last a bona fide revolution in PV systems is underway
We are entering the new age of PV systems and it is all about micro-inverters and ultimately, fully integrated PV modules that directly produce AC power. The idea of combining a standard PV module with a small DC-to-AC inverter, or micro-inverter, occurred first in the early 1990s as a concept to simplify PV systems. Today, AC Modules are the next frontier for PV technology and for very good reason.
Most everyone knows that the market for PV systems, whether residential, commercial or utility-scale, has grown at a break-neck pace over the past decade. Now, with the challenge of solving climate change and the visible implications of energy policy on national security, the PV market’s growth seems inevitable. As this market expands to all corners of the world, a PV technology that is simple to understand, safe to work with, modular and scalable, and above all reliable - will make this rapid growth possible. Therein lays the compelling nature of AC Modules.
What are the advantages of an AC Module, that is, a PV module with an integrated micro-inverter? In short, the advantages are Performance, Modularity, Simplicity, Intelligence and Reliability...
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