Delta Americas, the North American subsidiary of the Taiwanese power and energy company Delta, has launched this week the worlds first wall-mounted string inverter of 80kW  designed to meet the needs of the growing commercial and industrial (C&I) solar sector in the U.S.

The M80U is a three-phase, grid-tied, transformerless inverter that can be mounted on to the foothold of PV panels without the use of a house or container. Delta has developed an ergonomic grip and eye bolts to make installation easier, whether attached to a wall or installed at large-scale ground-mounted PV arrays.

Delta also boasts of the M80Us additional features, including efficiency of 98.8%, an operating range spanning 200 to 1,000 volts, two maximum power point trackers (MPPT), 16 strings with arc fault detection, and an enclosed structure that meets NEMA 4X Enclosure Standards, thus protecting against environmental degradation.

But it is the inverters size, at 80kW, that makes it an interesting addition to the string inverter segment  a segment that is increasingly being viewed as a solution for larger PV applications, not least atop C&I buildings but also at ground level.

A recent IHS report found that there is a growing acceptance among installers and EPCs for using three-phase string inverters in MW-scale solar applications, with the technology increasingly offering a wealth of advantages over the traditional central inverter approach.

These advantages include higher overall yield, lower balance of system (BOS) costs, greater reliability, more accurate monitoring and easier post-installation O&M. Companies such as Delta, Huawei and Refusol have enjoyed success in various markets by using string inverters at large scale.

Junes issue of pv magazine explores this trend in greater detail, speaking with EPCs and suppliers about the benefits of string inverters at MW-scale. The issue is published on June 13.

Popular content This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com. Share Ian Clover Ian joined the pv magazine team in 2013 and specializes in power electronics (inverters) and battery storage. Ian also reports on the UK solar market, having worked as a print and web journalist in Britain for various multimedia companies, covering topics ranging from renewable energy and sustainability to real estate, sport and film. More articles from Ian Clover Related content Elsewhere on pv magazine...