A mainland company that supplied a key component for many commercial and utility-scale solar photovoltaic projects in Hawaii has gone out of business, leaving its customers scrambling to come up with contingency plans for servicing the devices, which are critical to the operation of PV systems.
An estimated 400 PV commercial projects in Hawaii, including the state’s two largest, were built with power inverters made by Boston-based Satcon Technologies Inc., which began liquidating its assets last month after the financially troubled company failed to find a buyer. Satcon power inverters were not used on single-family homes.
Power inverters are an integral part of a PV system, converting the direct current flowing out of the PV panels into alternating current that can be used in homes or fed into the electrical grid. Although inverters are generally reliable, they can have a major impact on a PV system when they fail.
For example, a 1-megawatt, utility-scale PV project typically has four 250-kilowatt inverters. If one inverter were to fail, the project would lose one-quarter of its generating capacity. For PV developers with contracts to sell power to a utility, the loss of an inverter could result in thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
Commercial PV projects, which typically have one inverter for every 100 kilowatts of generating capacity, are also vulnerable.
"If a solar module (panel) or two or three goes out in a large array, no big deal," said Marco Mangelsdorf, president of ProVision Solar in Hilo. "Lose a 100 kw inverter for a 100 kw PV array and the whole system goes down for days or weeks at a time. Everyone who has Satcons in the field is scrambling regarding this issue," he said.
While the inverters on most residential PV systems can be replaced fairly easily, the ones on commercial and utility-scale projects are much more sophisticated and require technicians with specialized training to service them.
"It’s not like fixing a toaster. When it comes to a box full of components like you have with a three-phase inverter it’s a whole different order of magnitude," said Mangelsdorf, whose company used Satcon inverters on some of its PV installations.
There were 18 Hawaii-based companies listed as creditors in Satcon’s bankruptcy filing, including ProVision Solar, Hoku Solar, Distributed Energy Partners (which does business as RevoluSun), HNu Solar, and GreenPath Technologies. Several mainland companies with PV projects in Hawaii, including SunPower Corp. and SunEdison, also were listed as Satcon creditors.
The state’s largest PV project, a 6-megawatt facility developed by Alexander & Baldwin on Kauai, has Satcon inverters. Honolulu-based Hoku Solar partnered with an electrical contractor to design and build the project, which has been in operation since late last year. Both A&B and Hoku declined to comment for this story.
Satcon inverters also were used on a 5-megawatt PV project developed by SunPower Corp. on a 36-acre site in Kalaeloa in West Oahu that was completed in December and dedicated at a ceremony on Friday. SunPower officials also declined to comment.
Other sizable projects with Satcon inverters include a 5-megawatt facility being developed in West Oahu by IC Sunshine, SunEdison and Axio; the 1.2-megawatt La Ola facility on Lanai built by SunPower for Castle & Cooke; and a 1-megawatt facility in Campbell Industrial Park built by Hoku Solar for Forest City.
The departure of Satcon means its inverters will no longer be covered by a warranty. Satcon customers will have to make alternative arrangements to have the inverters serviced.
SunPower sent a notice to its customers on Feb. 26 informing them of the situation.
"The Satcon product warranty, a direct warranty to the system owner, will now be administered through the bankruptcy. Satcon is no longer fielding service requests or warranty claims," the notice read. "If our technical service engineers are unable to resolve the Satcon issue remotely, we can assist you in opening a direct service ticket with a third-party provider who offers Satcon field services."
Several Hawaii PV installation companies said they have been in contact with a group of former Satcon engineers who formed a company last month to provide service for inverters, including ones made by Satcon.
Bill Holmes, a longtime Satcon engineer, joined with three co-workers to form a company called PV Inverter Services (www.pvinverterservices.com).
"We’re looking at a couple of things for Hawaii," said Holmes, who is based in Ontario, Canada. "We could provide (telephone support) to anyone who is an electrician. We’re also looking at hiring a guy in Hawaii, depending on the volume we would have. We have a bunch of units out there. Probably around 400."
Briand Achong, president of GreenPath Technologies, said he was relieved to find out that a group of former Satcon workers was looking to fill the void left by the company’s closure.
"We’re working with them on service packages and finding replacement parts. We’ve been talking to them," he said.
ProVision’s Mangelsdorf said he also has been in contact with Holmes’ group. "I’m trying very hard to either have them hire someone based in Hawaii, or partner up with an existing contractor here that they could train," he said.
