IRES Asia Pacific solar inverters reviews

The IRES Group of companies consisted of IRES Asia Pacific Pty Ltd, based in Melbourne, and IRES Solartec Service GmbH, which was based in Korbach, Germany.

When it was supplying IRES branded inverters, the company said they were manufactured to strict German quality control standards, which is usually an indicator they weren't produced in Germany. We're not even sure if the company had its own manufacturing facilities, or these were simply re-badged inverters; a practice that was (and is still) quite common.

When the company stopped offering/producing inverters and other solar components isn't clear, but IRES Group's activities moved on to focus on the development and turnkey engineering, procurement and construction of solar power plants of 1 megawatt capacity and larger. That too ceased, and IRES Asia Pacific was deregistered by ASIC in late 2021.

IRES Solar Inverters In Australia

Among the product lines available here were the Kräft range of single-phase inverters offering capacities of 3kW to 5kW. Offering a maximum efficiency of up to 97.7%, Kräft inverters were transformerless, had 2 Maximum Power Point Trackers, and an operating temperature range of -25C to +60C. The units measured 525 x 425 x 175 mm to 525 x 425 x 190 mm and weighed 23kg to 26 kg.

IRES's Australian website started redirecting to the global site sometime in 2015, and from that point IRES branded inverters such as the Kräft line were no longer mentioned. The IRES global website went offline sometime in 2020.

Warranty Details

IRES solar inverters were accompanied by a 5-year standard warranty, with optional extension periods of 10 and 15 years. This means inverters under the standard warranty no longer have coverage, and the same is likely for those with the 10-year warranty. Some with 15 year coverage would still be covered, but IRES no longer exists. This leaves the company that installed the inverter on the hook for warranty - assuming they are still around.

If you're thinking of repairing an IRES inverter outside of warranty, the money is probably likely better off going towards buying a new inverter from a reputable brand.