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 PHOTON's 3rd PV Inverter Conference
ENTERING THE ERA OF ON-GRID INVERTERS WITH 99-PERCENT EFFICIENCY
Conference outline:
As Western technology leaders have just pushed the efficiency of inverters to an impressive 99 percent, more and more Chinese products are flowing into the global solar market. Despite this new competition from Asia, prices for this grid-connection technology have not been under as much pressure as module prices this year. But that could change very quickly. PHOTON’s first US Inverter Conference will provide a comprehensive picture on the device needed for connecting PV systems to the grid – from technology, performance, reliability, and standards to supply, demand, and cost and price developments.
Topics covered:
- New competition from China: What to expect from Chinese inverters
- Inverter glut: An overview of inverter companies, global supply and demand
- Technology: The secrets to producing inverters with 99-percent efficiencies
- Microinverters: When does the use of microinverters make sense?
- String vs. central inverters: Pros and cons of the two inverter concepts
- Grid stability: What's needed for an inverter to reliably feed an increasing amount of solar electricity into the grid?
- The top inverter companies: Presentations from the best performers in PHOTON Lab's inverter tests
- Executive panel discussion
February 2, 2012, San Francisco
Registration: 8 am, start: 9 am,
End: approx. 6 pm
Ticket: US$ 840
(US$740 for PHOTON International and PHOTON – The Photovoltaic Magazine subscribers)
Discounts:
10% with ticket purchase before December 15, 2011
5% with ticket purchase before January 7, 2012
10% when buying tickets for two or more PHOTON USA conferences
PROGRAM
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TIME
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INVITED SPEAKER, ORGANIZATION
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TOPIC
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9:00 - 9:10
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CONFERENCE OPENING
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Chairpersons:
Philippe Welter, PHOTON, Germany
Sam Vanderhoof, Solar Cowboyz, USA
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9:10 -10:45
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FUNDAMENTALS & GRID INTEGRATION
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Sam Wilkinson, IMS Research, UK
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The Future Development of the PV Inverter Market - Latest findings from IMS Research
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Michael Schmela, PHOTON International, Germany
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First results from PHOTON's 2012 inverter survey
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Ward Bower, Sandia, USA
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Inverter benefits for the grid
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Bill Brooks, Brooks Engineering, USA
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Requirements for on-grid inverters in the US – lessons learned
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10:45 - 11:15
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Coffee Break
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11:15 - 13:00
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TECHNOLOGY: HIGH EFFICIENCY, LOW COST, LONG LIFE – HOW TO DESIGN THE PERFECT 99-PERCENT INVERTER
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Bill Erdman, BEW Engineering, USA
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The latest on inverter R&D
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Jeff Casady, SemiSouth, USA
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New transistors (SiC, GaP) for higher efficiencies
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Adrian Haering, SMA, Germany
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Sunny Tripower HE – the first 99-percent inverterer
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Thomas Helgeth, Steca, Germany
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Low-cost design of very high-efficiency small inverters
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Frank Liu, Chint, China
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High efficiency design of photovoltaic inverters
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13:00 - 14:00
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Lunch
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14:00 - 16:00
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TESTING INVERTERS
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Chris Flückiger, UL, USA
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Inverter certification – statistics from testing inverters for UL approval
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Heinz Neuenstein, PHOTON Laboratory, Germany
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PHOTON efficiency – update on a testing method to provide meaningful efficiency results
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Greg Madianos, Solarbridge, USA
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The California inverter listing – take-aways from many years of testing inverters
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Brent Harris, Sustainable Energy Technologies, Canada
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Inverter testing - a manufacturer's perspective
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Philippe Welter, PHOTON, Germany
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Inverter material analysis – possibilities for reducing cost
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16:00 - 16:30
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Coffee Break
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16:30 - 18:00
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LEVELIZED COST OF ELECTRICITY - POWER OPTIMIZERS, MICROINVERTERS & TRADITIONAL INVERTERS
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Raghu Belur, Enphase, USA
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Microinverters – performance data from the field
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John Berdner, SolarEdge, USA
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Combined power optimizer and inverter solution – case studies
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Martina Siebmanns, PHOTON Laboratory, Germany
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Testing PV optimizers – results and analysis
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Marco Trova, Power-One, USA
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LCOE from residential to large scale PV - comparing central, string and micro inverters - current status and future perspectives
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18:00 - 18:30
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PANEL DISCUSSION: WHAT WILL FUTURE INVERTERS LOOK LIKE?
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Conference program - download here
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Sponsored by:
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