Everyone reading these words is familiar with smart phones, but not all of us are conversant with smart inverters. A wide majority is aware of solar panels that dot an ever-increasing number of rooftops or form a large array in corners of fields (or vineyards, if you live in Sonoma County, California).
So what is an inverter?
It’s simply a box, some large and others small, that connect to one or more solar panels. Those sparkling, crystalline, sun-thristy rectangles are busy converting sunlight (photons) into direct current (DC). Inside the inverter box is electronic circuitry transforming this DC current into alternating current (AC) that homeowners and businesses can use. This has been the state of affairs for the solar industry for more than 50 years.
So what is an inverter?
It’s simply a box, some large and others small, that connect to one or more solar panels. Those sparkling, crystalline, sun-thristy rectangles are busy converting sunlight (photons) into direct current (DC). Inside the inverter box is electronic circuitry transforming this DC current into alternating current (AC) that homeowners and businesses can use. This has been the state of affairs for the solar industry for more than 50 years.
At the turn of the millennium, investment in solar took off in the form of more efficient solar panels, advanced inverters, and more practical installation methods and materials. Enphase Energy, based in Petaluma, California, for example, invested in inverters. But the focus of this enterprising startup, then known as PVI, was to produce a micro-inverter that would place one small box on the underside of each solar panel instead of building one large box to service an array of solar panels. There are pros and cons to each design approach, but suffice it to say, that Enphase Energy’s pioneering work drove the solar industry to invest in improving existing, standalone inverter technology, while also spawning a host of competing micro-inverter players.
This development in the 2000s, in part, helped lower the cost of electrical energy production and increasingly made solar competitive with the cost of electrical production from massive coal-burning and nuclear-based power plants.
In chapter 7 of Breach of Trust, we get a sense of the political challenges the solar industry has faced since the end of World War II:
“Why did we end up building large coal-burning plants and then massive nuclear power plants in the 1970s?”
“Coal was cheap and abundant in America plus nuclear became the darling of the large utility companies in the seventies.” Laura thrust the Paley report in Gail’s direction. “The U.S. solar industry was put on hold by the military in the 1940’s when the Department of Defense chose to invest in nuclear power instead of solar energy.”
“Really?”
“Yes, the pro-solar scientists in the government were marginalized and their ideas were buried.” Laura tapped one of the boxes. “Just like their reports were buried.”
“Why would the government do that?”
“It’s related to the command and control thinking of the military mind. The idea of centralization of power is key to any general directing his troops.”
“You’re right,” Gail added. “Many leaders adopt this approach in their management style today. I can tell you a story or two about that.”
“And utility companies employ this centralized model too,” Laura interrupted. “The generating plant is king and the power is distributed over transmission lines to the subscribing peasants.
Gail augmented the analogy. “And like a monarch, the power plants are hidden from public view and most over-consume natural resources to produce little in return.”
“You got it. Conservationists claim that these centralized generating plants produce too much air and water pollution for relatively little power in return, especially for the amount of resources consumed.” Laura dropped the Paley Report on one of the boxes.
What about a smart inverter?
Inverters associated with every rooftop solar installation that provide data-collection and grid-support capabilities are at the heart of smart inverter technology, whether that inverter be of the traditional sort or newer micro-inverter type.
Smart inverters, like smart phones, which provide us with a wealth of data, offer the utility with visibility into voltage levels and quality, as well as the characteristics of the two-way flow of power.
This is an important development for utility companies. Whereas a smart phone provides the wireless company with the call minutes used, the number of texts processed, and the volume of data it consumes, a power utility has historically been blind to the rooftop solar systems operating in its territory. This situation has left them “with little information about how they’re interacting with the distribution network,” according to beat reporter, Jeff St. John, “from substations to feeder lines and down to neighborhood transformers.” The lack of data has also delayed the approval of solar installations in many states.
Smart meters installed at the home have begun to provide critical data, but only a few utilities have started leveraging this remote resource to improve management of their distribution grid. Smart inverter companies, as part of their solar installations, complement the utility operator’s management capability for this incremental power generation.
Enphase Energy, for example, with its micro-inverters delivers a wealth of information about the power produced from the accompanying solar panels. For years, the company has been capturing “5-minute interval data” on each installed system around the globe using its integrated powerline carrier communications capability. Gateways, taking advantage of either cellular networks or broadband networks, “feed the company’s cloud-based software platform.”
In chapter 7 of Breach of Trust, we get a sense of the political challenges the solar industry has faced since the end of World War II:
“Why did we end up building large coal-burning plants and then massive nuclear power plants in the 1970s?”
“Coal was cheap and abundant in America plus nuclear became the darling of the large utility companies in the seventies.” Laura thrust the Paley report in Gail’s direction. “The U.S. solar industry was put on hold by the military in the 1940’s when the Department of Defense chose to invest in nuclear power instead of solar energy.”
“Really?”
“Yes, the pro-solar scientists in the government were marginalized and their ideas were buried.” Laura tapped one of the boxes. “Just like their reports were buried.”
“Why would the government do that?”
“It’s related to the command and control thinking of the military mind. The idea of centralization of power is key to any general directing his troops.”
“You’re right,” Gail added. “Many leaders adopt this approach in their management style today. I can tell you a story or two about that.”
“And utility companies employ this centralized model too,” Laura interrupted. “The generating plant is king and the power is distributed over transmission lines to the subscribing peasants.
Gail augmented the analogy. “And like a monarch, the power plants are hidden from public view and most over-consume natural resources to produce little in return.”
“You got it. Conservationists claim that these centralized generating plants produce too much air and water pollution for relatively little power in return, especially for the amount of resources consumed.” Laura dropped the Paley Report on one of the boxes.
What about a smart inverter?
Inverters associated with every rooftop solar installation that provide data-collection and grid-support capabilities are at the heart of smart inverter technology, whether that inverter be of the traditional sort or newer micro-inverter type.
Smart inverters, like smart phones, which provide us with a wealth of data, offer the utility with visibility into voltage levels and quality, as well as the characteristics of the two-way flow of power.
This is an important development for utility companies. Whereas a smart phone provides the wireless company with the call minutes used, the number of texts processed, and the volume of data it consumes, a power utility has historically been blind to the rooftop solar systems operating in its territory. This situation has left them “with little information about how they’re interacting with the distribution network,” according to beat reporter, Jeff St. John, “from substations to feeder lines and down to neighborhood transformers.” The lack of data has also delayed the approval of solar installations in many states.
Smart meters installed at the home have begun to provide critical data, but only a few utilities have started leveraging this remote resource to improve management of their distribution grid. Smart inverter companies, as part of their solar installations, complement the utility operator’s management capability for this incremental power generation.
Enphase Energy, for example, with its micro-inverters delivers a wealth of information about the power produced from the accompanying solar panels. For years, the company has been capturing “5-minute interval data” on each installed system around the globe using its integrated powerline carrier communications capability. Gateways, taking advantage of either cellular networks or broadband networks, “feed the company’s cloud-based software platform.”
By networking a collection of these solar installations, the utility can easily monitor, interrogate, and control, in real-time, the power coming from these solar systems. This offers the power company a clear signal as to when to fire up a peaker plant to augment the grid for an increasing amount of electricity needed, in the near term [1], or to even plan for the closure of a coal-burning or nuclear power plant, in the long term.
Enphase Energy’s grid optimization approach is pioneering the ability for utility operators, at least for solar systems, to either simply monitor, or monitor AND control, their electrical grid. In the latter case, the utility can use a solar installation “endpoint” to improve the quality of the voltage on the grid through VAR (Volt-Ampere Reactive) compensation that each micro-inverter can provide. At the macro level, a proactive utility can move to optimize their entire distribution plant to support a demand response model where only the power needed is produced, and do so, close to real-time.
Smart inverters are leading the power industry to become a collection of smart utilities.
Can we hope for lower power bills too?
[1] Jeff St. John adds, “[Utilities] are asking for visibility into this rich store of edge-of-network information . . . that can allow utilities to see where PV generation is creating voltage disturbances or causing power to flow back up circuits toward substations.”
Enphase Energy’s grid optimization approach is pioneering the ability for utility operators, at least for solar systems, to either simply monitor, or monitor AND control, their electrical grid. In the latter case, the utility can use a solar installation “endpoint” to improve the quality of the voltage on the grid through VAR (Volt-Ampere Reactive) compensation that each micro-inverter can provide. At the macro level, a proactive utility can move to optimize their entire distribution plant to support a demand response model where only the power needed is produced, and do so, close to real-time.
Smart inverters are leading the power industry to become a collection of smart utilities.
Can we hope for lower power bills too?
[1] Jeff St. John adds, “[Utilities] are asking for visibility into this rich store of edge-of-network information . . . that can allow utilities to see where PV generation is creating voltage disturbances or causing power to flow back up circuits toward substations.”