technoPR client Enecsys Limited has raised a further GBP 2.5 million to add to the GBP 6 million received in June 2009, as it makes further headway towards the launch of its first solar power conversion product.
The Cambridge University spin out specialises in micro-inverter technology that promises to open up the mass market for solar power by increasing energy harvesting from photovoltaic systems, whilst reducing installation and maintenance costs.
In conventional photovoltaic solar installations, panels are strung together like beads on a necklace and linked into a central inverter that changes the direct current from the panels to alternating current for feeding into the power grid. Apart from the safety issues around the large voltages being fed through a central point, this means the performance of the whole system is compromised if there is a fault on an individual panel. And like an old-fashioned string of fairy lights, the only way to find a faulty panel is to test each one in turn.
Furthermore, central inverters are expensive pieces of equipment that are noisy and need regular maintenance. Even so, their lifespan is around half as long as that of photovoltaic panels.
Enecsys is developing micro-inverters that will be installed behind each solar panel. This will maximize the performance of the system as a whole, because a reduction in the output from one panel will have no effect on the other panels. In addition, it eliminates the most common source of system failure, which is a fault on the central inverter.
It also removes the safety hazard created by having large voltages flowing through a central converter.
Enecsys says the technology will make systems more flexible. As panels no longer need to be linked together they can be installed anywhere on a roof.
Armed with this latest round of funding, the company plans to make its first product announcement in early 2010.