As one of the biggest producers of solar inverters in the world, the SolarEdge Company is known for investing in the most innovative technology, while their products undergo very demanding tests to ensure top quality. They focused their business to the greatest extent on Serbia, Slovenia, Greece, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria, but they did not bypass the other Western Balkan countries either. The energy crisis and the drive to achieve energy independence accelerated the company’s development in 2023.
We talked with Christian Carraro, General Manager for South Europe at SolarEdge, about the photovoltaic (PV) market, inverter capacity, the company’s operations in the year marked by the energy crisis and ensuring safety under the solar roof.
What business venture in Serbia in 2023 are you most proud of and why?
We are very proud of the installations we developed together with our partners – 700KW at the Bizerba building, 1MW at the Gemax building and 1MW at the Champicomp building. Of course, our inverters are used and can be seen at many other solar power plants throughout Serbia. I must point out that we are working on several ongoing projects together with multinational corporations. These are mostly roof installations. In terms of the PV market, there is strong interest in residential buildings and even more so in commercial and industrial buildings. The PV market has been developing rapidly in the post-summer season, but not as rapidly as at the beginning of the year.
IN FOCUS:
- THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION FOR THE TRANSITION TO CIRCULAR SOLUTIONS
- GREEN CITY DEVELOPMENT – A NEW APPROACH TO URBAN PLANNING AND SAVINGS
- OVERVIEW OF THE SITUATION IN SERBIA REGARDING THE TRANSITION TO A CIRCULAR ECONOMY
You are recognized for your leadership potential in the inverter sector thanks to technology, research and development. How do on-grid inverters work and what are their most important advantages?
First and foremost, I need to explain the inverter’s role. A traditional inverter connects to the grid, converts DC to AC to DC and finds its maximum point at the array level on a group of modules. What does SolarEdge do differently than others? Thanks to the power optimizers, the inverter can find the MPPT at the single module level, therefore allowing the system to produce more power.
On top of that, it can provide greater safety thanks to two technologies – Sense Connect, which automatically detects and warns of abnormal temperature, and SafeDC, which automatically shuts down the system to reach safe levels, keeping maintenance teams or rescuers safe. Last but not least, thanks to the power optimizers, the performance of each individual module can be monitored. SolarEdge offers customers complete solutions.
Which facilities are best suited for SolarEdge installations and why?
All residential and commercial/ industrial roofs are suitable for SolareEdge installations. We also launched a new Agri PV sector, which is an agricultural solar solution for the generation of electricity from renewable sources with almost uninterrupted use of agricultural land. Plus, next year we will have a dedicated utility-scale solution. We have already started the production of a new 330KW inverter.
Interviewed by: Mirjana Vujadinović Tomevski
Read the story in the new issue of the Energy portal Magazine ESPONSIBLE BUSINESS.
