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Non-Tech : Alternative energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Eric who wrote (10250)	3/10/2011 12:14:18 PM
From: brokenst0nes	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16955

Thanks Eric. A follow on question if you don't mind. Do you know how a solar site typically gets specified, who determines which companies inverter is selected, and I guess that differs if it's a residential site compared to an industrial one? I assume an energy company for example doing a large scale site manage the project themselves and go through a formal quoting/approval process, but do solar panel manufactures like First Solar for example, typically only work with certain inverter companies like Power-One, or is it more a free for all? On a smaller site I guess there are specialist integrators who manage the project, or do some solar panel manufacturers have their own internal teams who put together the whole site and manage it to completion?

To: Eric who wrote (10250)	3/10/2011 3:16:43 PM
From: Doren	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16955

> (inverters) not rocket science I'm just making an educated guess here. Not nearly as knowledgeable as Eric. It looks like inverters are going to increasingly use microprocessor. However they don't need big boys. The microprocessors they use are small, pretty generic and dirt cheap. The operating system/application are small. Probably a basic UNIX kernel and a small dedicated application. In other words there is nothing proprietary to differentiate one from another when it comes to "smart." Same with power handling, although Eric might correct me here. The devices are made with off the shelf parts in general. One company might make a better inverter but they have higher cost to do so. No one company is going to have a huge advantage. It's all in market efficiencies. I'd say they are going to be pretty generic products. No huge profit margins in this business.