2021 was a remarkable year. And while we may be fashionably late in announcing our 2021 project awards, we are thankful for those who submitted entries of their APsystems projects. While it’s certainly true that a degree of the anticipation we felt as 2021 progressed was due to the feeling that we might’ve seen the worst of the health crisis, the year was also galvanizing because of the new spirit of optimism in the fight against climate change, most aptly represented by our new administration’s aggressive approach to finding solutions to the problem. For many, 2021 felt like it could be a turning point.

For APsystems leadership and staff at work, 2021 was also important because technological advances in our chosen field have been substantial (think building-integrated solar), because sales were brisk due to adoption of microinverter tech, and because remarkable designs from our clients were more the rule than the exception. To highlight the work of our clients, we held our annual project awards contest, and we received a huge number of entries.

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While every one of the entries we received for the 2021 project awards contest was worthy, and the decision-making was not easy, we eventually decided that Ontario solar specialist Kajk Constructors should be honored with our residential project design award for their Lakes Park Project, and that Indiana firm A.G. Technologies should take home our commercial award for their El Paso project on behalf of Beck’s Superior Hybrids. We congratulate Kajk Constructors and A.G. Technologies for their ongoing work in the field, and their imaginative and important work using APsystems microinverters. And we thank all the companies who chose to enter the running for the 2021 APsystems Project Awards.

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We would also like to thank all of our customers who made a difference in advancing the cause for solar power in 2021, and advocating for this financially and ecologically rewarding alternative energy source as it grows in popularity and moves toward mainstream acceptance.

Kajk Constructors, an Ontario company riding the lucrative wave of solar energy specialism, accepted the challenge of this difficult residential roof installation this year, and their inventive answer to what has become a nagging question during such installations earned them the 2021 APsystems residential award.

Kajk is a thoroughgoing solar firm, and the spirit of meaningful change and damn-the-torpedoes development in an emerging market is evident from a look at their portfolio and project approach. Green from stem to stern, they promote energy conservation throughout the build process, utilizing what might be termed holistic sustainability, a full-circle methodology that even incorporates a build envelope to lower a project’s carbon footprint.

For this project — called the Lakes Park Project — the Kajk team confronted that nagging question yet again: how does one reconcile optimal placement and the access forethought necessary for easy upkeep, updates and repair when dealing with a roof installation? They selected APsystems componentry to help them formulate an answer.

The team reported that the APsystems QS1 quad-unit microinverters were the hardware solution to that perennial installation question, allowing them to come up with a plan for an array that “maximizes energy production” while sandwiching the QS1 microinverters between the two layers of panels, “minimizing both the risk of damage to the panels, and the time spent on maintenance.”

We congratulate Kajk Constructors for their artful design, their abundant experience with solar array installations, their spirit of conservation and iconoclasm, and their ability to use the versatility designed into APsystems’ componentry to its full potential.

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It doesn’t only have a marvelous name. Calgary’s SkyFire Energy is one of the most dynamic solar power outfits in Alberta. By linking solar systems and EV charging stations, designing solar/battery hybrid solutions, and positioning their brand via business, agriculture and First Nations project context specialties, SkyFire is one of the most innovative and community-oriented residential solar system providers in the Province. But it was their partnership with and system installations for Jayman Homes, also in Calgary, that made them the overall winners of APsystems residential Project Award for 2020.

SkyFire used APsystems components for their partnership with fellow progressive Calgary business Jayman Homes, a residential contractor who wanted to bring solar panels into the picture as a standard feature on all new builds. The two companies shook hands in 2018. As of their project competition entry date, the SkyFire systems provide more than 2.1 MW of solar power to Jayman houses, with over 6,800 modules across more than 1,100 systems.

Jayman homes are sold with a 6-panel system, and APsystems microinverters are used for every build. The cost/benefit of APsystems products in the context of contracting for developments allowed Jayman to keep the per-home cost down, an attractive feature for younger first-time buyers desiring to offset their new home’s energy footprint.

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Headquartered in West Kelowna, British Columbia, Okanagan Solar has worked on residential and business projects across Western and Northwestern Canada, and in Nicaragua, where they’ve been active in volunteer work that promotes solar power as a potent economic and cultural solution.

One of Okanagan’s larger home town projects involved a multiple buildings at apartment community Carrington View. Okanagan was contracted for the last three buildings in the residential building project. The three buildings had to provide 277 kW. The Okanagan team elected to use APsystems 3-Phase YC1000 microinverters for additional efficiency and simplicity of installation. The YC1000 units helped the company bring the project in on time and on budget.

After Okanagan completed the work in mid-2020, Carrington View was graced with the distinction of having the biggest collection of residential solar installations in the Province. The aggregate services all 474 apartments and condominiums, and stands as proof positive that solar is both economically and ecologically advantageous.

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One of the most galvanizing 2020 APsystems project entries arrived courtesy of The Next Solar Energy Technology, and it took the APsystems honors for commercial winner in 2020. With an astonishingly prescient sense of timing, the Kenner, Louisiana-based solar power company transformed a solar array into a symbol of restored freedom in the Deep South.

Next Solar Energy was contacted by Liberty Self Storage, a multi-site business in Louisiana, about taking on the conversion project for one of their locations. Liberty Self Storage had dedicated itself to green energy in 2016, commissioning solar conversion for the first 9 of their 12 stores in St. Tammany Parish, but wanted to do something different for this location.

Next Solar Energy’s design arranged the solar panel array into an American flag. In trading string inverters for 64 APsystems microinverters in the project design, they created one of the most energy-efficient locations in the Liberty chain, and helped Liberty take the prize as one of the most progressive mid-sized companies in the South.

Learn more about other 2020 project winners here.