Wi-Fi Can Cause Communication Issues Christopher Barrett, director of technical services, APsystems We often see issues our installers are facing related to communication, often due to misplacement of the gateway or an unreliable internet connection. Following best practices recommended by the manufacturer will help installers reduce repeat site visits toRead More

With the right installation, battery banks can provide reliable power for years. In this article, you’ll discover how to avoid costly, hard-to-diagnose battery installation mistakes, and you’ll learn a holistic approach that prevents costly errors long before installation. 1. Not Starting with Efficiency Each additional kWh of energy demand requiresRead More

Lower costs and a better environmental track record benefit the entire solar industry. Yet downstream solar is where cost reduction opportunities often seem the largest and where environmental sustainability pressures appear most acute. Developers are faced with a range of options for bringing down the cost of solar. They alsoRead More

Services for solar inverters are improving markedly, from commissioning through replacement, as the flow of panel and string-level data becomes more granular, fueling more sophisticated monitoring systems. From string inverters at a commercial and industrial (C&I) level, to microinverters now dominant in the residential market, manufacturers are embracing dynamic improvementsRead More

The 2019 version is now available. Check it out here. Inverters are the brains of the PV system, and if you want to tease out this metaphor (and I do), the comparison is deeper than just “the part that does the thinking.” Really, looking at the latest studies in neuroscience,Read More

Levelized cost of energy (LCOE) is one of the most important metrics used for judging the value of a PV system. It is also less easily understood and seemingly open to interpretation. How am I really calculating this figure? What is sitting outside this calculation? Ask five inverter companies, andRead More