Xantrex Technology announced it has received a US$3.6 million order to supply solar inverters for North America's largest solar photovoltaic (PV) system at Nellis Air Force Base (AFB) in Nevada. Xantrex Grid Tie (GT) 250 kW inverters will be integrated into the Nellis AFB solar PV system which is rated at approximately 15 megawatts and is expected to generate in excess of 25 million kilowatt-hours of clean electricity annually and supply more than 25 percent of the power used at the base.
Xantrex will serve as the sole supplier to the primary contractor, SunPower Corporation's Systems subsidiary.
The GT 250 is Xantrex's latest North American commercial three phase solar inverter. The new line of three phase solar inverters features best-in-class California Energy Commission (CEC) efficiency of 96 percent and optimized energy harvest. The new compact, integrated, zero-clearance, sealed electronics cabinet design delivers long term reliability and can be installed in areas with limited space while maintaining ease of serviceability.
The ground-mounted solar system will use an advanced tracking system for its 70,000 solar electric panels to follow the sun and maximize energy harvest for Nellis AFB.
"The Nellis AFB solar project, which is the largest solar PV system in North America so far, confirms that renewable energy is getting traction among diverse customers including the U.S. government," said Mossadiq S. Umedaly, Xantrex chairman. "Such large-scale adoption of solar power is demonstrating a path to a sustainable future. We are pleased that, together with our partner, SunPower, we are able to offer the best solar power solutions to the world."
"We are pleased to be chosen as the sole supplier on this project," said John Wallace, chief executive officer of Xantrex. "Our latest generation of three phase, commercial solar inverters, which set a new standard for the industry, are meeting customer requirements for cost, effectiveness and performance."
"SunPower continues to lead the industry with its high-efficiency solar energy systems and we look forward to continuing our partnership with Xantrex to provide the inverter technology for the Nellis AFB project," said Dan Shugar, president of SunPower Corporation, Systems. "Together, our technology will decrease the base's energy needs from the utility grid and offer clean solar power without creating emissions or waste."
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Advanced Energy Enters The Global Solar Inverter Market With Innovative Solaron Platform
Fort Collins CO (SPX) Aug 22 – Advanced Energy Industries announced that it is extending its portfolio of solar offerings with the new Solaron line of photovoltaic (PV) inverters. For decades, AE has helped solar-cell manufacturing customers with innovative power and control technologies. Now AE has applied its proven, power-conversion expertise to offer a truly advanced, transformerless, grid-tie PV inverter for commercial system installations-with breakthrough efficiency and durability.
Producing solar-generated electricity on a commercial scale can require large, up-front capital investments. In addition, commercially viable PV systems must be designed for easy integration, unmonitored operation and minimal maintenance over years of service.
AE's PV inverter technology converts raw DC power from solar-cell arrays to high-quality AC-grid electricity, enabling commercial installations to produce targeted output power levels with fewer solar modules and potentially lower balance-of-system (BoS) costs than was previously possible. With 97 percent CEC-weighted efficiency, the new Solaron platform enables integrators and independent power producers to realize a substantial return on their inverter investment alone.
"One of AE's strengths is our ability to leverage technology in innovative ways that help extend our customers' processes. Our world-class R and D teams insightfully leveraged our high power, thin-film process power technology to develop a commercial, grid-tie inverter platform with unsurpassed efficiency," observed Dr. Hans Betz, president and CEO of AE. "The result is a new, solar inverter platform with financial and reliability advantages for our customers. As we enter this exciting, high-growth and environmentally conscious market, we are well positioned with our technology and service infrastructure."
Solaron 333 kW PV Inverter
Designed for the North American market, the first model of the Solaron platform offers a durable, transformerless, grid-tie design. With its robust controls and patented, soft-switching technology, the Solaron inverter achieves breakthrough 97 percent CEC efficiency and is NRTL-certified to UL 1741. A wide MPP (maximum power point) tracking window ensures maximum, day- long processing power. Both local and remote data access enables operators to monitor the system's remarkably high performance and reliability — from anywhere at anytime.
