People talk about solar panels and batteries a lot (at least the people I talk to). The reasons are that solar panels are conspicuous on rooftops — and batteries are what keep the lights on during increasingly frequent blackouts. But the real brains of a solar and battery storage system is the inverter.
With increased global production, solar panels and battery cells have become commodities — differentiated mainly by price and efficiency. For a variety of reasons, inverters are still quite specialized. Initially, inverters simply converted DC current to household AC current. Modern inverters also provide a variety of safety features (rapid shutdown and arc fault protection), monitoring, and grid support services. The next generation of inverters extends beyond solar, providing backup power, EV charging and home energy management capabilities.
Through a combination of great technology, disciplined execution and industry vision, SolarEdge has become the leading inverter company. Based on my experience in the field (and roof), they have the best combination of efficiency, safety, installation ease and overall value. Most importantly, SolarEdge continues to push the technology envelope as they expand into backup power and distributed grid services.
Our guest on this week’s Energy Show is Peter Mathews, General Manager of North America for SolarEdge. He has done a terrific job growing SolarEdge to over a 60% market share in the U.S. Please listen to this week’s Energy Show as Peter shares insights around SolarEdge’s business, how SolarEdge is addressing the power crisis in California, their new commercial products, and the company’s ongoing product vision for a distributed grid.