Cambridge University spin-out Enecsys raises €2.5M for solar photovoltaics

Funding

Enecsys Ltd, a manufacturer of solar photovoltaic (PV) micro-inverters, has raised £2.5 million from Good Energies, an investor in renewable energy. This new investment adds to the £6 million the company raised from Wellington Partners and BankInvest in June 2009.

Enecsys was spun out of Cambridge University in 2003 to develop micro-inverter technology, which has the potential to open up solar photovoltaic technology to the mass market by reducing the cost of installing and maintaining systems, and making them more flexible and reliable   

Current photovoltaic systems consist of daisy chains of panels linked to a central inverter for converting the electrical current from DC to AC and feeding it into the electricity grid. This design reduces the efficiency of the system as a whole because if one panel fails in any way, there is a knock-on effect on the rest of the system. It also has safety implications because of the amount of current flowing through a central point. In addition, central inverters are large and noisy pieces of equipment that need regular maintenance.

The micro-inverter technology under development by Enecsys will allow each panel to have its own inverter. This will make systems more flexible and cheaper to install, increase efficiency and reduce maintenance costs, enabling mass market deployment of solar photovoltaics, the company says.