12.10.2010 13:47 Satcon Launches Next Generation Utility Ready Inverter Solution with 98.5% Efficiency in North America Satcon Equinox 500 Kilowatt Solution and Satcon Solstice 500 Kilowatt System Showcased at Solar Power International
Satcon Technology Corporation®(NASDAQ CM: SATC), a leading provider of utility-grade power conversion solutions for the renewable energy market, today announced the North American launch of its next generation power conversion solution, Satcon Equinox?. The Equinox 500 kilowatt solution is now available in both North America and Europe and will be presented along with the recently launched Satcon Solstice 500 kilowatt system solution October 12-14 during Solar Power International at booth 909 in the West Hall.
Built on the foundation of Satcon's industry leading PowerGate® Plus inverter, which is the world's most widely deployed utility-ready solution, Equinox improves system wide energy harvest and solar plant yield, enabling the large-scale solar industry's lowest Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE). Satcon's Equinox solution delivers a best in class efficiency of 98.5% and offers the highest levels of system wide performance, uptime and reliability.
The Equinox solution comes complete with a NEMA 3R/IP54 enclosure and is available in three separate climate packages, enabling the large-scale commercial and utility-scale solar industry's broadest thermal operating range with fully rated performance at temperatures as high as 55 Celsius / 131 degrees Fahrenheit, and as low as -20 Celsius / -4 degrees Fahrenheit. Equinox's advanced utility ready features enable simplified grid interconnection and can be easily integrated into SCADA systems through standardized communication interfaces.
Satcon Solstice is the industry's first complete power-harvesting and array management solution for large-scale commercial and utility-scale solar power plants. The complete system solution revolutionizes large commercial and utility-scale solar power plants by enabling the central inverter to monitor, manage and control the array at less than three kilowatt increments, as well as optimize each string with its own individual Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT).
The combination of fine grained power harvesting of each panel string along with a highly efficient central inverter design helps to ensure the Solstice platform will deliver more power over the lifetime of the PV system by increasing total system harvest optimization and system uptime and safety. This innovative system boosts total system power production by 5-12 percent and lowers other balance of system material costs by 20-25 percent compared to a centralized inverter system.
The Equinox and Solstice 500 kilowatt system solutions expand upon Satcon's portfolio of industry leading solar power conversion solutions designed to address the needs of large multi -megawatt, utility scale systems, including the PowerGate Plus 500 kW, the Prism 1 MW medium voltage package solution, and the 1 MW PowerGate Plus inverter solution.
"As the leading solution provider for large scale systems in North America, Satcon continues to deliver the technical innovation that radically improves the value equation for large scale solar power plants," said Steve Rhoades, Satcon's President and Chief Executive Officer. "The challenges of multi-megawatt installations demand a specialized set of technological and system design expertise. With Solstice and Equinox, it's more than just building better inverter engines for large scale solar plants; it's about delivering the multi-megawatt building blocks that enable stepped improvements in system performance, uptime, and grid stability."
|