Three-Phase Made Simple

This exclusive article from APsystems was featured in the recent Special Report by Solar Builder magazine, “The Case for Microinverters in C&I Solar.” It explores the growing adoption of microinverters in commercial applications, particularly the native 3-phase microinverters that have revolutionized the industry. The article highlights the simplified wiring diagrams and streamlined installation process made possible by the 3-phase system wiring, along with key considerations for PV module selection, layout design, next-gen microinverters, racking choices, and gateway placement.

To access the full article and gain valuable insights into the considerations and best practices for 3-phase microinverter design and installation:

READ THE ARTICLE HERE

Special Report: The Case for Microinverters in C&I Solar

Technology is revolutionizing the design of commercial and industrial (C&I) rooftop solar systems, and one innovation leading the way is microinverters. With panels reaching unprecedented capacities of 600 W and beyond, and the emergence of UL 3741 compliant systems that provide more options for meeting NEC 690.12, microinverters are set to simplify C&I solar, just as they have transformed the residential solar sector. In this special report, Solar Builder magazine explores the advancements and benefits of microinverters tailored for C&I applications with APsystems.

Inside you’ll find:

  • Cost comparisons vs. string systems
  • Benefits beyond shade mitigation
  • Making three-phase “plug and play”
  • Safety advantages
  • How to reduce failure points
  • Adding battery storage

READ THE CASE HERE

APsystems is proud to announce the winners of our annual Project Awards for 2020

Despite a certain microbial danger, it’s been a dynamic and exciting year at APsystems. Solar power has made significant headway toward becoming a mainstream power option despite the health crisis that defined 2020.

Why is that? Because there are more intelligent and creative people than ever involved in urging our energy culture toward this new, cleaner path to independence. Designers. Developers. Dreamers and builders of the new.

Each year, solar power system components designer and manufacturer APsystems selects two completed solar project installations—one residential, one business—that we feel deserve special recognition for inventiveness, prescience, and cohesion of philosophy and design sensibility. These projects put solar power in its best light, and illuminate the way moving forward as we continue to fight the good fight against those ecological liabilities, fossil fuels.

Learn more about this project here.

This year, we had so many entries that we decided to call attention to both runners-up in each category, and the recipient of a new Special Recognition accolade. The overall winners were Louisiana-based The Next Solar Energy Technology, the solar power project transformed a solar array into a symbol of restored freedom in the Deep South, and SkyFire Energy of Calgary, Alberta provided more than 2.1 MW of solar power to their Jayman houses, with over 6800 modules across more than 1100 systems.  Runners-up were installations from Okanagan Solar and Hot Solar SolutionsA special recognition to Dynamic Solar and Electric NW.

Learn more about this project here.

We hope to see even more contest entries next year, as solar power continues its forward momentum, and new creative forward-thinkers show their chops in the context of our uniquely rewarding industry and its community.

A Calgary Solar Power Connection

It doesn’t only have a marvelous name. Calgary’s SkyFire Energy is one of the most dynamic solar power outfits in Alberta. By linking solar systems and EV charging stations, designing solar/battery hybrid solutions, and positioning their brand via business, agriculture and First Nations project context specialties, SkyFire is one of the most innovative and community-oriented residential solar system providers in the Province. But it was their partnership with and system installations for Jayman Homes, also in Calgary, that made them the overall winners of APsystems residential Project Award for 2020.

SkyFire used APsystems components for their partnership with fellow progressive Calgary business Jayman Homes, a residential contractor who wanted to bring solar panels into the picture as a standard feature on all new builds. The two companies shook hands in 2018. As of their project competition entry date, the SkyFire systems provide more than 2.1 MW of solar power to Jayman houses, with over 6,800 modules across more than 1,100 systems.

Jayman homes are sold with a 6-panel system, and APsystems microinverters are used for every build. The cost/benefit of APsystems products in the context of contracting for developments allowed Jayman to keep the per-home cost down, an attractive feature for younger first-time buyers desiring to offset their new home’s energy footprint.

Learn more about other 2020 project winners here.

Community Confluence: Solar Power and Cultural Identity

For the first time, APsystems annual Project Awards has decided to give special recognition to a solar power company and its project: Yakima’s Dynamic Solar and Electric NW, and their installation at La Casa Hogar, a non-profit collaboration.

Dynamic Solar and Electric NW and La Casa Hogar occupy overlapping cultural and sociological space in Southern Washington State: both organizations are strong representatives of the Latina community in their home town of Yakima, and both are community-oriented and progressive.

In approaching the La Casa Hogar project, Dynamic Solar was therefore engaging with the Yakima community in a profound manner. La Casa Hogar, too, is so involved; a community center that specializes in education, assistance and cultural sustenance, the roots of the organization reach back to the 1980s.

A standing seam metal rooftop array was the 100% energy-offsetting solution Dynamic developed for La Casa Hogar. Using APsystems’ YC600 and QS1 microinverters made the system super-efficient and extremely failure-resistant, and kept the project within the guidelines for the Blue Sky Pacific power grant that funded the project.

Learn more about other 2020 project winners here.

 

A Residential Beacon in British Columbia

Headquartered in West Kelowna, British Columbia, Okanagan Solar has worked on residential and business projects across Western and Northwestern Canada, and in Nicaragua, where they’ve been active in volunteer work that promotes solar power as a potent economic and cultural solution.

One of Okanagan’s larger home town projects involved a multiple buildings at apartment community Carrington View. Okanagan was contracted for the last three buildings in the residential building project. The three buildings had to provide 277 kW. The Okanagan team elected to use APsystems 3-Phase YC1000 microinverters for additional efficiency and simplicity of installation. The YC1000 units helped the company bring the project in on time and on budget.

After Okanagan completed the work in mid-2020, Carrington View was graced with the distinction of having the biggest collection of residential solar installations in the Province. The aggregate services all 474 apartments and condominiums, and stands as proof positive that solar is both economically and ecologically advantageous.

Learn more about other 2020 project winners here.

 

A Large Array Supports Business in Washington State

In creating the solar array for the headquarters of Kennewick-based multi-business building CC West, local innovators Hot Solar Solutions had a whale of a time. The company was commissioned to convert the CC West building into a full solar site, giving their engineers and designers nearly 14,000 sq. ft. of roof area to use!

277 panels went into the finished project, making it one of the largest solar arrays in the area: the biggest in the Benton and Franklin PUD areas, and a substantial feather in the cap of the homegrown, grassroots solar power firm. Hybrid hot water heaters throughout the building assist in total electrical consumption being 85% offset by the Hot Solar system.

APsystems microinverters sealed the deal for Hot Solar, providing high efficiency and lowering costs to best competitor bids and give the Kennewick-based company the contract. The result is a 99.7kW system that produces over 115,000 kWh of electricity annually. The CC West building’s energy efficiency is equivalent to taking 218 cars off the road annually.

Learn more about other 2020 project winners here.

 

A Timely Solar Power Conversion in the Deep South

One of the most galvanizing 2020 APsystems project entries arrived courtesy of The Next Solar Energy Technology, and it took the APsystems honors for commercial winner in 2020. With an astonishingly prescient sense of timing, the Kenner, Louisiana-based solar power company transformed a solar array into a symbol of restored freedom in the Deep South.

Next Solar Energy was contacted by Liberty Self Storage, a multi-site business in Louisiana, about taking on the conversion project for one of their locations. Liberty Self Storage had dedicated itself to green energy in 2016, commissioning solar conversion for the first 9 of their 12 stores in St. Tammany Parish, but wanted to do something different for this location.

Next Solar Energy’s design arranged the solar panel array into an American flag. In trading string inverters for 64 APsystems microinverters in the project design, they created one of the most energy-efficient locations in the Liberty chain, and helped Liberty take the prize as one of the most progressive mid-sized companies in the South.

Learn more about other 2020 project winners here.

Powered by APsystems microinverters, the largest solar array in Manitoba goes live

The largest solar array in Manitoba, Canada, goes live this month, powered by APsystems microinverters.

The ambitious 200.2 kW ground-mount array will provide 100 percent of the power needs for the Crescent Beach Cottages, a waterfront vacation resort on scenic West Hawk Lake in the Whiteshell Provincial Park.

Installer Evolve Green of Manitoba and the resort owners chose APsystems YC500A dual-module microinverters for their high production and the integrated Energy Monitoring & Analysis system. The APsystems EMA allows real-time monitoring of individual modules in the array to ensure optimal production at all times.

The resort’s rocky, forested terrain posed a challenge for installation – system designers had little room to work with – but creative placement put the topography to advantage. Installers mounted the second row of modules on a rocky tier some 8 feet above grade, allowing the two racks of modules to be placed closer together and conserve space.

The two-rack ground-mount system includes 308 modules and 154 APsystems microinverter units per rack — more than 600 modules and 300 microinverters total — provided through Canadian solar equipment dealer National Solar Distributors.

In addition to achieving “net zero” energy use for the resort, the owners will recover 30 percent of their investment through a rebate program by regional utility Manitoba Hydro.

See a video of the Crescent Beach Cottages array here.

Lowen home and organic family farm, Coldstream, British Columbia

Helmi and Kornelius Lowen of Coldstream, British Columbia, wanted to eliminate their power bill – or better yet, start getting a check from the power company under the local net-metering program. Working with a leading Canadian installer Got Solar?, they were able to populate three slopes of their farmhouse roof with solar panels powered by APsystems microinverters.

GOT-SOLAR-HIGH-RES

 

The output from the solar array should come very close to achieving “net-zero” and maybe even “net-positive,” creating more power than the Lowen home and farm consume in a year. The grid-tied array was so ambitious, local power provider BC Hydro came out and upgraded the transformer and replaced the pole – at no charge to the Lowens.

Helmie-and-Kornelius

Add it up, and the Lowens earn distinction as Canada’s first 100-percent solar organic farm.

“What makes this project so special, is that even before we installed the solar system, the Lowens in essence already used solar power to create the majority of their profits,” said Chris Palmer of Got Solar? “The fruits, vegetables and other produce grown by this organic farm are all powered by the sun.”

The 3.7-acre family farm in Canada’s rich Okanagan valley raises tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, strawberries, spinach, lettuce, potatoes, beans, peas, beats, corn, squash, zucchini, and in one recent year, some 27,000 heads of garlic.

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“Just about anything you need in a kitchen, it’s right here,” Helmi Lowen told Okanagan Seniors in a video feature. “I get bored very quickly and so does Kornelius, so we enjoy doing the gardening.”

Perhaps more impressive: the Lowens, now in their late 70s and mid-80s, respectively, still work the farm largely on their own.

By helping the Lowens create enough power for both home and farm, Got Solar? and APsystems microinverters helped the couple complete the last link in their quest for self-sustainability. And they still plan to upgrade to an electric car.

Launched in 2015, Got Solar? provides grid-tied and off-grid solar energy systems in Kelowna, B.C., and surrounding areas for residential and commercial clients. They are also the only solar company in the Okanagan that caters to DIY installers.

For the Coldstream Corner project, Got Solar? selected APsystems YC500 dual-module microinverters to support 93, 315-watt modules by Canadian Solar, all but two being 72-cell units. Two 60-cell modules were required due to space constraints around a chimney.

Palmer cited the flexibility of APsystems microinverters that allowed system designers to handle the different module sizes seamlessly. That promises forward-compatibility through the life of the array, he said.

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“Should a solar module ever be damaged or fail in the next 30 years, APsystems has essentially ‘future proofed’ their product by making it so widely compatible through its wide-ranging input capabilities,” Palmer says. “No longer do you have to try and find vintage matching panels, rather, you replace with whatever is currently in use and in inventory.

“Thank you, APsystems, for allowing our crews to have shorter installation times, higher productivity, and ease-of-installation that has no equal.”

Like APsystems microinverters, the Lowens are proud examples of industry and productivity over the long haul.

“A lot of seniors come here and say, ‘I couldn’t do what you’re doing,’ and I don’t believe that,” Helmi Lowen told Okanagan Seniors. “A lot of people could do it. They don’t have to do it, but they could do it. They say no to big gardens, but they could start small in their own backyard or even in their apartment. There’s always a plot there for seniors to go and get their hands dirty.

“If you say you can’t, you can’t. But if you say you can, you can.”
Location: Okanagan, British Columbia
Capacity: 29kW
Installer: Got Solar?, B.C., Canada
Modules: Canadian Solar 315W, 72-cell and 60-cell monocrystalline
Number of modules: 93
Microinverters: APsystems YC500 dual module
No. of microinverters: 47