Generac adds PWRmicro to home energy ecosystem | The Pitch
Generac recently unveiled its newest addition to the microinverter space with their PWRmicro technology. The dual-input 820 W microinverter fits within Generac’s ecosystem of residential energy technology solutions. Rex Liu, VP of product management, clean energy, at Generac Power Systems, came on The Pitch to provide an overview of the PWRmicro and how it fits into Generac’s wider product ecosystem.
Key quotes
What inspired the development of the PWRmicro?
Liu: “As the solar market has evolved, we’ve seen a lot of advantages of having a microinverter over a traditional string inverter. I think most people understand that you can get better performance out of each solar panel because with a microinverter, you’re really maximizing the performance directly at that panel. and that panel is not impacted by shading or string mismatch, or a number of other factors that can reduce the overall power of your system.
“You also get the benefit of redundancy. With microinverters, you don’t have a single point of failure. If there ever is an issue with a single device, you’re still getting power production from most of your system, meaning that the homeowner is still getting savings. It’s also easier to design an install, because with a microinverter, you can actually move different panels across the roof without having impacts on the adjacent panels. …
“A lot of installers have had the experience of showing up to a site and being ready to install, but what you have on your printout doesn’t match the roof itself. Maybe you didn’t catch an obstruction on the satellite map, and so the installer has to move one panel from one position to another. And instead of having to deal with complicated screen calculations or other design issues, you can actually just take one panel or two panels and move it to a different location and not impact the overall performance. And of course you also get panel level monitoring.
“With PWRmicro and most microinverter-based systems, you can see what each individual panel is producing which helps you quickly troubleshoot and identify potential issues. Today, installers who want to use a microinverter basically have one option. Generac saw the opportunity to provide a great alternative that meets the same high bar for quality and reliability but also comes from a brand that installers and homeowners know and trust.
How does the PWRmicro integrate with storage solutions?
Liu: “PWRmicro integrates seamlessly with PWRcell 2, and the two product lines speak to each other directly through CAN communication. This lets us control the microinverters in an outage situation much more effectively than with traditional communication methods. Most AC-coupled systems work with frequency control, which doesn’t always have the fastest response time or doesn’t give you the granular control levels to really optimize how your solar panels and your microinverters are working when your system is disconnected from the grid. That enables us to get the best backup experience for our homeowners, and it also helps when you’re commissioning the products because we commission them from the same app, and we can validate that it’s commissioned properly because of that communication between the two systems.
“All that being said, the PWRmicro was designed to also integrate with third-party battery solutions as well. Because it’s AC-coupled, we can integrate with pretty much any third-party AC-coupled battery.”
What feedback have you gotten from field testing?
Liu: “So far, installers are loving the product. The feedback that we’ve gotten is that it’s easy and intuitive to install. It really feels like a solid and a robust product and the performance is as we’re expecting, and of course the commissioning that I’ve already talked about has been a great experience for installers so far.
“We just are getting past the winter season and we’ve had multiple installers leverage the nighttime commissioning with the shorter days that we’ve had, and they’ve been able to commission and install the system in a single day. We actually had one installer that installed and commissioned a 20 kW system with microinverters, and the commissioning was performed at 9 p.m. at night.”
Pick up the video from there …
Timestamps
- 0:00 Overview of the Generac PWRmicro
- 1:53 Inspiration for the PWRmicro
- 3:54 Comparing the PWRmicro to other microinverters
- 4:40 Installation walkthrough
- 6:45 Two-to-one architecture
- 7:50 Integrating storage solutions
- 9:07 PWRmicro reliability
- 10:11 Feedback from field testing
- 11:01 Benefits of the PWRmicro
