Japanese energy companies are responding to shrinking feed-in tariffs by improving their technology to enable more cost-effective solar energy. As part of this process, GE installed the first of the two solar inverter units last month at the Looop Co. Ltd solar plant in Ibaragi prefecture. The successful commercial operation of the unit marks the entry of 1,500-volt solar technology in Japan’s solar market.
“Looop strives to make renewable energy become the central pillar of the electricity generation in Japan” said Soichiro Nakamura, president of Looop Co. Ltd. “We embrace advanced technology that leads to more cost-effective and thus, more viable, solar energy production. The partnership with GE has strengthened our confidence to achieve the goal”.
Paul English, APAC region sales leader, GE’s Power Conversion, added that the company is working to enable solutions that will help lower the cost of electricity while improving energy yields and that GE was the first to introduce 1,500-volt solar inverter technology into the global market.
GE was chosen to provide two, LV5 1-megawatt (MW), 1,500-volt inverters to Looop. The LV5 inverter from GE’s Power Conversion can provide broad-ranging benefits compared to the last generation of 1,000-volt inverters. The more-efficient inverter technology reduces costs associated with infrastructure, deployment and operation expenditures, which can lead to up to a 3 percent lower system cost and up to 15 percent less in maintenance costs.
Image: LV5 solar inverter GE Power Conversion
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