Enphase Energy Inc., a California-based technology company and supplier of solar microinverters, has announced the introduction of its seventh-generation Enphase IQ microinverters for the Enphase Home Energy Solution with IQ.
According to the company, the Enphase IQ 7 Micro and Enphase IQ 7+ Micro solutions are designed for worldwide markets and have started shipping to distributors in the U.S. Enphase IQ 7 microinverters will continue to be phased into markets around the world through the first half of this year.
Seventh-generation IQ microinverters are powered by Enphase’s software-defined architecture, which the company claims results in an efficient design, and a single hardware SKU worldwide. The IQ 7 family produce 4% more power and are 19% lighter and 17% smaller than the IQ 6 family of microinverters.
According to Enphase, the new IQ products offer the same ease of installation with two-wire cabling and leverages semiconductor integration for higher reliability and better economies of scale. The 250 W AC Enphase IQ 7 Micro and the 295 W AC Enphase IQ 7+ Micro will be followed by a new, high-power 320 W AC variant, the Enphase IQ 7X Micro, to address 96-cell modules. Enphase IQ 7X Micros are expected to be introduced in the second quarter of this year.
“With the IQ 7 family of microinverters, we continue to deliver on our vision of innovation and high quality,” says Badri Kothandaraman, president and CEO of Enphase Energy. “This in-line upgrade to the IQ family of microinverters represents another milestone in our mission to reduce manufacturing costs and reach our 30 percent gross margin, 20 percent OPEX, and 10 percent operating income (30/20/10) target operating model by the fourth quarter of 2018.”
