The APsystems YC500i microinverter with EnergyMax™ has been certified for use in the Los Angeles market.

General Approval under the City of Los Angeles’ rigorous certification process was announced by the Department of Building and Safety, following testing by the Los Angeles City Electrical Testing Laboratory.

General Approval certifies compliance with Section 93.0303 of the Los Angeles City Electrical Code, “New Methods and Materials of Construction.” The unit is certified for both residential and commercial applications.

“The YC500i microinverter is built for safety and reliability, to meet the highest standards of local jurisdictions like the City of Los Angeles,” said Andrew Nichols, APsystems senior director of sales.

“We’re excited to earn certification and bring this powerful new unit to such a dynamic and fast-growing metropolitan market.”

EnergyMax™ technology allows the dual-module microinverter to produce 274 watts peak output per side (548W total), an almost 10 percent increase in peak power output over conventional microinverters to harvest the power of today’s high-output PV modules.

The YC500i builds on the same advanced platform as the popular YC500A flagship model. EnergyMax™ technology developed by APsystems maximizes the inverter’s output for higher energy harvest across the solar array.

The unit utilizes a trunk cable, offering installers an alternative to the daisy-chain design of APsystems YC500A microinverters. This provides a solution for installers who favor trunk cable architecture as well as markets where regulatory bodies prefer an integrated ground.

The YC500i microinverter is now available for order through APsystems U.S. distribution channels. Email sales@APsystems.com for ordering information.

Levelized Cost of Energy — the total cost of a PV system’s installation and maintenance over its lifetime, divided by the amount of power produced – is the industry standard for measuring a PV system’s value.

Individual components like microinverters are key to the formula.

In its new story “LCOE Heroes: How inverters drive down PV levelized cost of energy,” Solar Builder magazine considers how the proprietary APsystems chip-based design means better long-term value for installers and end buyers.

It all starts with the Field Programmable Gate Array chip, which does so much of the microinverter’s work that each APsystems unit can be built with about 30 percent fewer discrete components than other brands.

That means savings at the supply and manufacturing level that cascade into real savings for customers.

“The FPGA architecture allows multiple, distinct processes to run in parallel on the same chip,” Jason Higginson, senior director of marketing at APsystems, tells the magazine. “This cuts down significantly on the number of internal components. This again is a significant savings at the supply-chain level as fewer components must be sourced to manufacture each unit, while also gaining an increase in reliability.”

Read more on APsystems chip-based microinverter design and its effect on levelized system costs at Solar Builder magazine online.

APS microinverters power the uber-green Grow Community, a runner-up in Solar Builder magazine’s 2014 Project of the Year awards.

The roof-mount installation earns a feature in the magazine’s new issue, on newsstands now.

“We wanted to deliver a product that both was designed to be extremely energy efficient but also had the idea of solar in mind at the time of design,” project manager Greg Lotakis tells Solar Builder. “We started at the roof, asked how many panels we could get on it, designed the roof for that, [estimated] what we expected [to] produce, and then we used that energy budget and worked backwards into the house. What we are really striving to do: deliver a really healthy, energy-efficient home that has the ability to be net zero with solar.”

Grow Community is already the largest planned solar community in Washington state, with more solar on the way in two new neighborhoods now under development.

The installation includes 260-watt modules by itek Energy and racking by SunModo.

The project is being developed by Asani LLC, with construction by PHC.

APS distributor Blue Frog Solar of Poulsbo, WA, and its Simple Solar program got some great press this week with an in-depth feature in the Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal.

The KPBJ gives a comprehensive look at the incentives that make Washington solar such a great deal — and Simple Solar, which makes it easier than ever to make the move to energy self-sufficiency. It’s a great move for both existing homes and new construction.

As the Business Journal notes:

Blue Frog is collaborating on the largest residential solar project in Kitsap County — Bainbridge Island’s Grow Community, a project of real estate development and investment firm Asani. It’s an example of effectively designing and building homes to accommodate rooftop solar panels.
“We knew from the outset that our goal was to create a net-zero community using solar,” says Marja Preston, senior director of development at Asani and owner of a solar home at Grow. “So everything there was designed, including the apartments, so we could get enough solar panels on the roof to provide all the energy needed for the homeowner.”

Blue Frog’s Simple Solar program and partner installer A&R Solar of Seattle count on advanced microinverter technology from APS in all installations — including Grow Community, now the largest planed solar development in Washington state.

Read the whole story here.