APsystems at SNEC 15th Conference & Exhibition, Booth#: E7-550, June 3-5, 2021, Shanghai, China

Don’t miss the opportunity to get updated on the latest APsystems innovations to come in 2021.

Following a very special period for everyone, the whole APsystems team is now more than ever delighted and excited to present you a full range of innovations ranging from a complete new multi-module microinverters platform to future-oriented advanced rapid shutdown solutions and sneak preview on our upcoming module AC storage solution.

Highlights of day 1.

Celebrate live certification on APsystems booth!

APsystems booth has hold the on-site certification ceremony for the new generation of dual-core Rapid shutdown products. CSA Group leaders have visited APsystems booth of and issued relevant product certificates on site in presence of our co-founder, CEO and Chairman, Dr Zhi Min Ling.

Solar professionals upgrade their skills with live training on MLPE solutions.

Every day at 11 am and 14.30 PM, APsystems technical experts share best installation practices, system introduction and case studies analysis on the latest microinverters, rapid shutdown products and energy storage solutions onsite

Visit us, booth E7 550.

APsystems Launches EMA Manager App, an all-in-one application for solar professionals

APsystems introduces the EMA Manager app, a new app to manage APsystems microinverter system commissioning, monitoring and troubleshooting.

Installers can now enhance their customers service capabilities anywhere, anytime via their smartphone or tablet. This app conveniently streamlines monitored system installation while providing installers with many new and improved features for remote site management.

Benefit from all existing features available in the EMA web portal on your smartphone or tablet using a single sign-in. Real-time systems check, diagnostics capabilities and troubleshooting are now coming to your hands with the EMA Manager App. This new app, available on Google Play and APP Store which also includes a revamped ECU_APP, provides additional features including, ECU and microinverter connectivity, energy production, system troubleshooting, and full site configuration and monitoring capability without the need to be on-site.

Included in the new app are installer-specific statistics, including total number of customers, inverters installed, and total energy produced which provides installers with valuable information as well as a unique selling tool to showcase their environmental impact.

The new app is being introduced as APsystems has recently surpassed 100,000 registered installations in more than 120 countries on its EMA platform. As APsystems’ footprint continues to grow worldwide, this app redefines ease of solar inverter installation just as APsystems has redefined simplicity and convenience in its easy-to-install inverter platform.

APsystems looks ahead after a record 2020

New APsystems dual microinverter, the DS3

Despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the solar industry and the global economy overall, 2020 was a banner year for APsystems, which continues to advance its leadership in multi-module microinverter solutions.

The international company celebrated its 10th anniversary, surpassed 1 GW in microinverter shipments, marked a one-day delivery milestone, and further strengthened its relationships with partner companies, particularly in the emerging Latin American (LATAM) market.

The beginning

APsystems was founded in Silicon Valley in 2010 and has become a global leader in the development, manufacturing, and marketing of module-level power electronics (MLPE) products based on its solar technology.

The company’s co-founders, President and CEO Dr. Zhi-Min Ling and Chief Technology Officer Dr. Yuhao Luo, both have experience in the semiconductor and photovoltaics industries, having served in leading roles at Xilinx and Solaria Corp.

Within about two years, APsystems launched its first single and duo microinverter products. Later, the company launched the YC1000, the first native three-phase quad microinverter, then the dual microinverter YC600 with RPC function, and the QS1 microinverter.

In 2016, Olivier Jacques joined APsystems as vice president. With experience across many high-tech industries, including executive-level positions at Enphase Energy and Samsung Electronics, Jacques played an important role in increasing revenues, developing sales channels, launching a new product platform, and repositioning the company as a value-added solutions provider.

Alvin Xianyu, APsystems LATAM director

Today, APsystems has grown to encompass several global subsidiaries with warehouses, sales, marketing, and technical support teams around the world, including LatAm, Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific, serving customers in more than 120 countries.

Main products include both AC-side microinverters and DC-side rapid shutdown devices for residential and commercial solar installations. The company’s EMA energy monitoring and analysis software also provides customer control over each individual module and microinverter in a solar array.

Alvin Xianyu, LATAM director of APsystems, called the company’s 10-year anniversary a “major landmark,” especially in the evolving inverter industry. “It has been a long and exciting journey,” said Xianyu. “The path we’ve taken to get here has been incredibly fulfilling and has brought a strong sense of accomplishment.”

The company has also been profitable each of the past nine years.

“Staying alive is one thing,” said Xianyu, “but growing profitably when you need to heavily invest in R&D on one side, while keeping enough agility to adapt to an ever-changing emerging market on the other side, is another challenge.”

He added that APsystems’ success is primarily due to the “hard work, determination, and patience of the hundreds of talented and committed people who have joined and believed in this company over the years.”

The milestones

By the end of 2020, APsystems’ global cumulative microinverter shipments surpassed 1 GW, representing more than 3.5 million individual units. They are expected to generate a total 1.24 billion kWh annually and reduce carbon dioxide output by 910,000 tons, equal to the environmental benefits of 45 million trees.

When the impacts of Covid-19 started in early 2020, APsystems adjusted its production and business strategy in a timely manner and achieved growth in several main markets, including the United States, Europe, and LatAm.

APsystems plans to keep concentrating on product and market development. In fact, the company’s next goal is to achieve 1 GW of microinverter shipments annually.

It also reached a one-day delivery milestone last year: On Dec. 1, 2020, the company shipped 22,000 microinverter units totaling over 27 MW. Xianyu said the units were mostly quad microinverters, which offer distributors and installers increased reliability and lower MLPE system costs.

He added the delivery represented a record-setting moment for APsystems and an achievement for any inverter supplier to ship such volume in a single day.

Building long-term partnerships

In 2020, APsystems remained focused on steady growth in the emerging LatAm solar market, especially Brazil. To support that growth, the company also devoted itself to strengthening its relationships with key regional partners.

The company has been in the LatAm market for over eight years, and its products have earned a good reputation among regional installers and other industry stakeholders. Xianyu said the company saw the strong potential of the “fast-growing” LatAm market.

“When you combine sufficient solar irradiance with supportive policies on clean energy from local governments, you obtain strong driving factors which set the foundation for a growing and sustainable solar business in LatAm,” he explained.

Another key to APsystems’ success in LatAm has been close collaboration with leading distributors. The company has been working with Ecori Energia Solar, one of the largest distributed generation (DG) PV system distributors in Brazil, for almost six years. Their partnership has helped increase APsystems’ presence in the promising Brazilian market.

“Both of us have the same view of the MLPE segment, and we treat each other as reliable partners as well as good friends,” said Xianyu.

Leandro Martins, president and founder of Ecori

“With a great sense of professionalism and ethics, together we created this market from scratch,” said Martins. “Our resellers started to migrate their sales from other technologies to APsystems microinverters, and they love it.”

Xianyu credited Ecori’s large business and service network in Brazil to the company’s “very professional team highly responsible for added value and contribution to this market through consistent best-in-class technical support and training.”

Although Brazil is among LatAm’s largest solar markets, it still has some obstacles to overcome. “Each coin has two sides; opportunity and challenge always coexist,” said Xianyu.

He said APsystems keeps an eye on uncertainties like potential policy change, unstable exchange rates, and other big challenges like the unexpected impact of Covid-19. Xianyu also cited a desire to continually lower system costs so that microinverter solutions gain even more interest in commercial applications.

“The greatest challenge we face here is to ensure the resellers also do a great job on their installations,” said Martins. “We know that education and training are key for newcomers in the market, as many new companies need to acquire the necessary knowledge to guarantee high-quality installation services for residential and commercial system owners. We believe this is improving.”

Martins pointed out that Ecori offers free training, both online and at the company’s center in São Paulo city. He said, “We are always available to make our market more professional.”

Another challenge is the discussion over potential changes to Brazil’s DG rules. Martins said he hopes the country’s politicians will protect the solar industry, noting President Jair Bolsonaro “already gave many speeches in its favor.” Martins said some associations, such as Movimento Solar Livre, are also “doing a great job trying to avoid any kind of taxation.”

Both Martins and Xianyu are pleased and encouraged to see Brazil’s DG market becoming increasingly mature.

According to Brazilian solar association ABSolar, the country recently surpassed the historic mark of 7 GW of operational PV power. DG solar accounted for most of that capacity, with more than 4 GW installed. Brazil’s government also recently set a target of 45% renewables by 2050.

To help expand Brazil’s MLPE use, APsystems and Ecori plan on maintaining their partnership. Martins said the companies’ six-year relationship is “just the beginning of a very long journey together.”

The future

APsystems already has some new solutions under development. Xianyu said the company will launch a new generation of microinverters for both residential and large roofs based on an entirely new architecture in a few months.

New APsystems dual microinverter, the DS3

 

For example, Xianyu mentioned the new APsystems dual microinverter, the DS3. He said this third-generation dual microinverter is the result of unprecedented integration work that has enabled APsystems to reduce the number of components by 20%. It will offer unprecedented power density, delivering 50% more AC output power than the YC600, and will be “fully compatible with our current single-phase dual and quad, the YC600 & QS1, for installation on the same roof.”

After celebrating the company’s 10-year anniversary, reaching milestones, and strengthening key partnerships in emerging markets, APsystems is excited about the future.

“APsystems is now well recognized for its leadership in multi-module microinverter solutions, bringing innovative products to market that are built to last,” said Xianyu. “This is the DNA of the company and will continue to be.”

APsystems is proud to announce the winners of our annual North American Project Awards for 2020

Despite a certain microbial danger, it’s been a dynamic and exciting year at APsystems North America. Solar power has made significant headway toward becoming a mainstream power option despite the health crisis that defined 2020.

Why is that? Because there are more intelligent and creative people than ever involved in urging our energy culture toward this new, cleaner path to independence. Designers. Developers. Dreamers and builders of the new.

Each year, solar power system components designer and manufacturer APsystems NA selects two completed solar project installations—one residential, one business—that we feel deserve special recognition for inventiveness, prescience, and cohesion of philosophy and design sensibility. These projects put solar power in its best light, and illuminate the way moving forward as we continue to fight the good fight against those ecological liabilities, fossil fuels.

Learn more about this project here.

This year, we had so many entries that we decided to call attention to both runners-up in each category, and the recipient of a new Special Recognition accolade. The overall winners were Louisiana-based The Next Solar Energy Technology, the solar power project transformed a solar array into a symbol of restored freedom in the Deep South, and SkyFire Energy of Calgary, Alberta provided more than 2.1 MW of solar power to their Jayman houses, with over 6800 modules across more than 1100 systems.  Runners-up were installations from Okanagan Solar and Hot Solar Solutions.  A special recognition to Dynamic Solar and Electric NW.

Learn more about this project here.

We hope to see even more contest entries next year, as solar power continues its forward momentum, and new creative forward-thinkers show their chops in the context of our uniquely rewarding industry and its community.

APsystems Global Cumulative Microinverter Shipments Exceed 1GW

APsystems announces its cumulative global shipments of Microinverter products have exceeded 1GW as of December 31, 2020.

In early 2020, despite the impact of COVID-19, APsystems adjusted its production and business strategy in a timely manner and achieved growth in a number of countries and regions against the global trend. APsystems continues to focus on strong product and market development, and has set its next goal to achieve 1GW of microinverter shipments annually.

Since its establishment, APsystems has been focusing on product quality and meeting customer needs, and has steadily achieved brand awareness and market share, building its path to 1GW. The 1GW shipment represents more than 3.5 million APsystems microinverters shipped worldwide (calculated on a single unit basis), which are expected to generate 1.24 billion kWh a year, reducing greenhouse gases by 910,000 tons of CO2 and equal to the environmental benefits of 45 million trees.

APsystems ranked No. 2 in global market share among top microinverter suppliers by shipments in 2013-2019. APsystems was founded in Silicon Valley in 2010 and has established offices and warehouses in several key regions and countries, forming a global sales and service network. With its fast and steady development over the past 10 years, APsystems maintains sustained profitability every year since 2012 due to its sound financial planning and practices. APsystems R&D personnel account for more than two thirds of the total staff of the company. APsystems has more than 130 approved patents, and our products have obtained a significant number of safety and performance certifications to operate in markets throughout the world. Today, more than 100,000 unique APsystems microinverter systems have been installed and operate well in over 120 countries.

Happy Holidays 2020 from APsystems

Wishing you a happy and healthy holiday season!

– Your friends at APsystems

New APsystems project references video available

Did You Know? APsystems products are installed both in residential and C&I, powering the next generation of Zero-Energy Buildings all over the world.  From Europe to Australia, the USA or China, APsystems serves solar professionals in more than 80 countries.

See how APsystems and its installation partners contribute to a more sustainable energy future through solar powered buildings across the world. You can also download our project references PDF overview here.

 

Interview from Dr Ling, co-founder and Chairman at APsystems

When uncertain times defy innovation, new opportunities shine brightly for a long time.

This year marks APsystems’ 10th anniversary. While the situation worldwide is facing unexpected challenges on many fronts during this very particular year 2020 with the Coronavirus pandemic, Dr Zhi Min Ling, co-founder and chairman of APsystems, shares his views on his entrepreneurial story with APsystems from its very beginning when the economic effects of the 2008 financial crisis were still strongly present to where APsystems is today, having become the #1 multi-module microinverter supplier in the world. It is as if challenging uncertainty could also be a key in building long-lasting opportunities.

2020 is the year of APsystems celebrating its 1st decade, how does it make you feel?

Fortunate, honored and grateful. It is a major milestone for the company, especially in this very fast-changing inverter industry which is at the crossroads of high-tech microelectronics, energy and environmentally-friendly building sectors. Staying alive is one thing but growing profitably when you need to heavily invest in R&D on one side, while keeping enough agility to adapt to an ever-changing emerging market on the other side, is another challenge. The fact that we have been growing for 10 years while reaching profitability every year since 2012, is primarily down to the hard work, determination and patience of the hundreds of talented and committed people who have joined and believed in this company over the years.

What encouraged you to set up APsystems? And how has the company evolved over the years?

The company has changed dramatically for sure. We can look at the company’s development in two phases, I think. The foundation 2010 – 2012: it was the very beginning where every priority was focused on setting up our expertise in power electronics conversion designs to create a robust and cost-efficient microinverter solution. Within about two years, we managed to design, manufacture and launch our 1st single and duo microinverter products with the YC250 and YC500 which later became the best-selling duo microinverter worldwide. We set up our headquarters in Jiaxing, China, where we still manufacture our products thanks to the help of TDG group, our main shareholder and share our R&D department between Jiaxing and Cupertino….Then the 2nd phase was characterized by one obsession: how to make APsystems Grow Internationally with no compromise to profitability. Although we are still in this phase with constant profitability every year since 2012, I would say that over the past six years (2013-2019), and especially since Olivier Jacques joined the company in 2015, we have managed to structure ourselves by Business Units on all continents enabling us to serve our customers in more than 80 countries today.

What were the main challenges along the way?

It is quite fascinating to be able to be part of this solar revolution. Helping to make solar an affordable clean energy solution to everyone on this earth is inspiring but of course, the technological challenges are big. If you take communications for example, microinverters manage a considerable number of data points that need to be communicated back from the microinverters through the gateway and to the monitoring platform in the cloud. This means when systems like the YC1000, QS1 and YC600 apply remote firmware upgrades, this creates a demanding bidirectional data flow and traditional powerline communication isn’t going to cut it. This is the reason why we moved our portfolio to high-speed wireless Zigbee, which is up to three times faster than conventional powerline communication (PLC), creating a local 2.4GHz mesh network for fast and reliable data communication between the microinverters and the gateway.

Another constant challenge has been to adapt to increasingly complex market needs. The progressive integration of PV into the electricity networks has required Inverter manufacturers in many countries to release products capable of interacting in real-time with grid operators. Whether it is to adjust the PV production instantaneously, depending on the state of the network, or to prevent any electron from being sent back, performing such a functionality for the coming 20 years in a reliable manner with a product smaller than an A4 sheet and weighing 3kg average is a genuine achievement in technological integration, entailing very sophisticated R&D , manufacturing and testing capabilities.

How is the Pandemic situation affecting your activity?

When the COVID-19 first appeared in China at the beginning of the year, our activities were relatively spared since part of our production comes from outside China, even though a slowdown in manufacturing occurred during a period of about 1 month in the first quarter. The good news is that as we master the production infrastructure, we were able to quickly increase our production rate when the situation improved a few weeks later, ensuring a constant continuity of supply to all our customers and warehouse locations across the world.

Despite the inherent agility of our distributor partners and solar installers staying open and continuing their job as far as possible, we have inevitably been confronted by a slowdown in our sales activity worldwide this quarter. Uncertainty is the most difficult parameter to deal with when it lasts, it is the same for everyone as an individual but it is also a genuine opportunity to confront and challenge ourselves by overtaking obstacles with self-confidence. I strongly believe that the creativity and flexibility of our industry will rapidly lead to recovery during the 2nd half of this year.

What’s next for APsystems?

APsystems is now well recognized for its leadership in multi-module microinverters solutions bringing innovative products to market that are built to last. This is the DNA of the company and will continue to be. We have several new microinverter products planned to be launched in the coming 18 months including a new native 3-phase QUAD microinverter at the end of this year, but our ambition moving forward is also to increase our position in other Module Level Power Electronics. We have recently launched, especially in the United States, APsmart, a new Business Unit that includes advanced safety products such as a Module Level Rapid Shut-Down (MLRSD) device to meet new safety regulations on MW-scale solar projects. The APsmart MLRSD System is a SunSpec Alliance Certified device which maintains constant communication between the RSD and Transmitter, constantly monitoring voltage and current. APsmart offers state-of-the-art PV module rapid shutdown devices (RSD), ideal for any new or existing string or central inverter system, and meeting U.S. NEC 2017 690.12 Rapid Shutdown requirements.

APsystems is also working on a modular AC coupled Energy Storage System (ESS) for residential where priority, similarly to every product we manufacture, is given to high quality & reliability.

Download the full article here

 

 

Asolar & Alset Earn APsystems Best LATAM Project Contest Awards

Earlier this year, APsystems held the Best LATAM Project Contest for installers, selecting one residential and one commercial winner for the Project Awards. We had more entries than expected and do very much appreciate your participation.

APsystems Best LATAM Project honors solar installers Asolar and Alset from Mexico. Both of these companies deserve recognition for their forward thinking, their inventiveness, and for helping so many people and businesses alike go solar.

Asolar took our Residential Award. They started in 2013 and mainly served as a residential solar integrator. APsystems LATAM chose to honor their contribution to La Punta, a beautiful 21.9kW residential project. To help power this project, Asolar used 15 APsystems QS1 microinverters, eliminating the negative effect of the shading in the projects.

Our Commercial Award went to Alset for their Carnes G Capacidad installation. It is a very new project which was installed in March, 2020 in Jalisco, Mexico. The installation uses 375 APsystems QS1 microinverters, installed by Alset, and delivering 500 kilowatts of solar energy.

APsystems congratulates both winners of our APsystems Best LATAM Project Contest. We especially look forward to seeing all your entries next time, so be on the lookout for more information about APsystems LATAMs’ activities.

Happy Holidays from APsystems!

Best wishes for a joyous holiday season and a very bright and happy New Year.

– Your friends at APsystems