The CEO of microinverter and energy storage firm Enphase believes the company is beginning to climb out of “the bottom”, and should get back to growth shortly.
Enphase was established in 2006 and is best known for its microinverter products. Unlike a conventional solar inverter that is connected to multiple (a string or strings of) solar panels, a microinverter is a small device used with each solar panel that performs the same function, with some added features. You can learn more about microinverters here.
For the first quarter of this year, the company reported revenue of USD $263.3 million, a decline compared to the fourth quarter of 2023 ($302.57 million). Enphase says this was the result of seasonality and a further softening in U.S. demand, while the firm pursued reducing shipments to manage channel inventory.
Enphase shipped approximately 1.4 million microinverters and 75.5 megawatt- hours of batteries in the first quarter. The firm has shipped more than 73 million microinverters in total over the years and says approximately 4 million Enphase based systems have been deployed in more than 150 countries, including Australia.
Q1 shipments are just a fraction of what Enphase has set its sights on once manufacturing is fully realigned – 7.25 million microinverters per quarter, of which 5 million will be manufactured in the US. Previously the company reportedly had capacity for around 10 million units per quarter, but in December last year Enphase announced it was cutting expenses by consolidating facilities across its worldwide sites.
In the earnings call, Enphase President and CEO Badri Kothandaraman said the company expects to add battery manufacturing capability in the US during the third quarter of 2024. Mr. Kothandaraman says Enphase expects to ship 100- to 120-megawatt- hours of IQ batteries globally in the second quarter, and plans to pilot its fourth-generation battery later in the year.
Enphase In Australia
Commenting specifically on the Australian market, Mr. Kothandaraman noted Enphase Energy Systems being shipped here are powered by IQ8 microinverters and the IQ Battery 5P, which the company introduced in the middle of last year.
“We expect higher battery attachment rates in Australia during the second half of this year,” he said.
The IQ Battery 5P is an AC-coupled energy storage system with a total usable capacity of 5.0 kWh and includes six embedded IQ8D-BAT microinverters. More specs and Australian pricing on the IQ Battery 5P can be found on SQ’s solar battery comparison table.
As for the IQ8, it was a *very* long time coming for Australia. Originally unveiled in in October 2021 and available to the US market by December that year, it wasn’t until July 2023 the company began IQ8 microinverter shipments to Australia. Currently available locally as individual units are the IQ8AC and IQ8HC, which have a peak output power of 366 W and 384 W respectively, and can be used with solar modules up to 480W and 505W capacity. I noticed the IQ7 series is also still available in Australia.
The company’s microinverter products have been a solid performer in Australia over the years. Enphase microinverter reviews here on SQ from Australian customers have averaged 4.8 stars overall and 4.9 stars in the last 12 months. Australian installers seem to like working with them too, with Enphase taking silver in the SolarQuotes Installers Choice Awards for the best inverters in 2024. It also achieved bronze in the best inverter support category this year.
While the brand has a loyal following here in Australia, like any firm Enphase has its challenges; and Mr. Kothandaraman said the company is fully focused on solving installer pain points.
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I think one of the risks with Enphase in Australia is that they are lagging the market locally introducing new features overseas and they delaying enabling in Australia.
Two examples of this are their EV Chargers and their IQ Energy Router risking their existing customer base seeking 3rd party solutions rather than keeping within the integrated Enphase solutions. Additionally recent firmware upgrades have improved security, however this seemed to be at the expenses of openness of standards and customer accessing the information needed to explore uses for the associated collected information.
I think Enphase are probably trying to use limited resources and limiting international releases, however they risk alienating their best advocate – their existing customer base.
“Currently available locally as individual units are the IQ8AC and IQ8HC, which have a peak output power of 366 W and 384 W respectively, and can be used with solar modules up to 480W and 505W capacity.”
How does that work? Surely the inverters don’t result in that much of a power loss..
Hi Dale,
Enphase aren’t unique in this (but they do need some careful design to make the best solution work)
https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/enphase-pros-cons/
https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/beat-solar-oversize-rule/
https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/oversizing-solar-arrays/
Enphase have a great modular system. It will only gain market share when an API can dynamically change each batteries profile.
Other vendors are already providing API access to control the charge or discharge of a battery. They also provide API access to stop inverters from exporting power. Enphase have chosen to block this access from general user accounts.
With flexible exports rolling out across this country. There is now a clear need to shift loads. Homeassistant provides control. Homeassistant provides automation. Enphase will loose market share if it blocks an owners ability to dynamically change their own automation.
Yes it’s very annoying i can’t use API commands to have a flexible export limit.
I have resorted to a solution of using the digital inputs on the Envoy and settings on the cloud to trigger certain export threshold depending on the 4 digital input states.
This allows me to zero export limit when my retailer Amber has negative FiT and I can’t self consume it all.
That sounds great Scotty,
Feel free to share what you’re up to and we can disseminate it to a broader audience. I feel that if people do these sorts of hacks, Enphase might realise a closed shop isn’t that beneficial for all concerned.
Cheers
I have a 4ch zigbee relay but a 1ch will do just fine (I just got 4 for future ideas)
You just need to google “Setting PV power production limit with Tesla Powerwall 2”
Instead of setting a production limit as per the guide, you set an export limit.
Note this requires Enphase Enlighten manager and software 7.6.168 or above
I’ve had this successfully running on my setup for around 5 months now. Combined with Home Assistant, I have local zero export control now 🙂
I also was at Enphase head office last month and they were unaware you could do that.
Brilliant Scotty,
Thanks for that. I’ll stir Enphase up about documenting it from their end if I can.
Cheers
Let me know how it goes. I’d love for this feature to be more wide spread, to show people are interested
Enphase need to be more competitive cost wise with their battery systems. Last quote I got for a 10kw battery was 7k more than a powerwall and not close to a powerwall in spec.
Hi Ron,
People don’t realise they are very bulky too, a real drawback if you don’t have a lot of wall space.