HDPV™ Alliance Launches to Advance Industry Adoption of Lower Cost, Higher Performance PV Systems

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, solar industry leaders Ampt, KACO new energy, LTi REEnergy, and REFUsol Inc. announced the launch of the HDPV™ Alliance, an industry alliance aimed at reducing photovoltaic (PV) balance of system (BOS) costs while increasing energy production from PV plants. The HDPV Alliance leverages open technology standards to optimize the design and deployment of inverters, cabling, combiners and associated labor to deliver a lower total system cost and higher performance. Companies that join the Alliance are able to offer differentiated value and make it easy for their customers to identify and source products featuring the HDPV advantage.

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Also joining founders Ampt, KACO new energy, LTi REEnergy, and REFUsol in the announcement of HDPV are members ZNShine, Shoals Technologies Group, DECK Monitoring, Eoplly, Amphenol, meteocontrol, Suniva, Next Generation Energy, AlsoEnergy and Upsolar.

"The HDPV Alliance brings significant value to the industry," said Forrest Collins, Senior Systems Engineer at juwi solar Inc. "As a global developer of PV systems, we look for products that lower costs, and we prefer suppliers that collaborate to ensure compatibility over time.  By creating standards, the HDPV Alliance does both."

The HDPV Alliance was created in response to the solar industry's ever-increasing pressure to drive down system costs. Ampt, KACO new energy, LTi REEnergy, and REFUsol founded the Alliance to bring together members around a common vision for the development and adoption of lower cost and higher performance PV systems using open standards for HDPV-compliant inverters. HDPV inverters deliver up to twice the power at a higher efficiency than the same inverter operating in a normal mode. Doubling the rated power is equivalent to cutting cost in cents per watt (¢/W) in half. With HDPV inverters, systems also can have more PV modules in a series string to save up to fifty percent on DC BOS costs. The HDPV label identifies products and services as compatible with Alliance standards, and gives an edge to members who will have a more cost-effective solution that provides superior ROI.

"The solar industry is ripe for innovations that increase system performance and reliability while lowering total costs," said MJ Shiao, Senior Analyst, Solar Markets at GTM Research. "Initiatives like HDPV's open standard will help drive industry focus away from individual component costs towards total project economics."

The HDPV Alliance is open to new members who want to offer HDPV branded products or services.  Companies throughout the PV industry are encouraged to join, including system developers and engineering, procurement and construction professionals (EPCs), manufacturers or distributors of inverters, modules, BOS components, software monitoring and O&M providers. 

Companies interested in applying for membership to the HDPV Alliance can find more information at HDPV.org.

About Ampt

Ampt delivers innovative power conversion technology and communications capabilities that are changing the way PV systems are designed. The company, along with strategic partners, is lowering system cost, improving ROI, increasing energy generation and broadening the PV solar market. The result? Energy realized™.

About KACO new energy

KACO new energy is one of the world's largest manufacturers of grid-tie inverters for feeding solar energy. KACO offers a comprehensive range of inverters for PV systems for everything from single-family homes to multi-megawatt solar farms. The company has been producing inverters with a cumulative capacity of more than five gigawatts since 1999. Besides grid-tie and battery-based solar inverters, the company also supplies inverters for combined heat and power plants and concentrator modules as well as energy storage systems for solar power plants.

About LTi REEnergy

LTi REEnergy, a leading global supplier of Plug and Play PV inverter systems, is part of the privately held LTi Group. The Group has specialized in the high performance inverter, motion control and sensing markets for more than 40 years, with over 1 million inverters delivered around the world. 

About REFUsol, Inc.

With over 45 years of experience in power electronics, REFUsol is one of the top three providers of solar inverters globally and one of the fastest growing companies in this field. REFUsol's efficient and award-winning solar inverters help customers maximize the yield of their photovoltaic plants, whether for small roof-top installations or large-scale solar plants. REFUsol is headquartered in Metzingen, Germany and has further international offices in Europe, Korea, China, India and the U.S. as well as sales and service partners in key strategic photovoltaic markets around the world.

About the HDPV Alliance

HDPV, or High Definition PV, is the solar industry's standard for delivering a greater concentration of solar energy in kWh by providing higher resolution power optimization, information gathering and controls level at a much lower cost than previously achievable. The HDPV Alliance is an initiative to enable PV project developers, systems integrators, and EPCs to easily identify and source solutions that provide higher performance at a lower cost – the HDPV Advantage. The Alliance enables inverter manufacturers to deliver products that are compliant with an open set of HDPV standards, and to provide increased value to their customers. Membership in the Alliance lets customers know that your products or services feature the HDPV Advantage, and streamlines the process of building cost-effective solutions. Companies throughout the PV industry are encouraged to join.

SOURCE HDPV Alliance