New Industry Products

Advanced Energy Introduces European Version Of Solaron 500 kW Photovoltaic Inverter

September 15, 2009 by Jeff Shepard

Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. (AEIS) introduced the Solaron® 500E, a European model of its high-efficiency, transformerless, grid-tie photovoltaic (PV) inverter. Operating at 500 kW, the Solaron 500E enables European commercial and utility-scale PV installations to achieve what is described as the lowest levelized cost of energy (LCOE) in the industry by increasing energy harvests and by reducing balance-of-system (BoS) and operating and maintenance (O&M) costs.

Rated at what is described as a record-setting 97.5% CEC-weighted (97.7% European-weighted) efficiency, the Solaron inverter enables higher energy harvests through its robust controls and patented soft-switching technology. The Solaron inverter’s transformerless design eliminates the need for a step-up transformer and makes it smaller and lighter than competitive products. The design of the Solaron inverter also allows multiple inverter connections to a single medium-voltage transformer, minimizing the number of such transformers required for a system. Additionally, the Solaron inverter comes in an outdoor-ready IP45 enclosure that is said to eliminate the need for and the cost of additional heating and cooling systems.

"Following the successful rollout of the Solaron platform in the U.S. market, we are pleased to now offer the same industry-leading, high performance features to the European market," said Dr. Hans Betz, President and CEO of Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. "We believe our Solaron product delivers the most effective inverter solution and allows customers to achieve maximum power and cost performance from their systems."