Enphase Energy, Inc. today announced the launch of the IQ® Combiner Lite in the Netherlands to simplify installation and commissioning of small-scale solar installations on homes categorized as "social housing," where rent is capped by the Dutch government to increase accessibility for people with low incomes.
The Netherlands has approximately eight million homes, with social housing representing more than 2.3 million of these residences. Approximately 460,000 social housing residences currently have solar energy systems. They are typically row houses and apartment complexes, and each individual residential unit installs its own solar energy system. The solar projects are mostly financed by housing corporations that play the role of landlords, developers, and asset managers.
The IQ Combiner Lite consolidates the IQ® Gateway, IQ® Relay 1P (single-phase), and cellular modem products into a pre-wired compact box, which facilitates the simple, plug-and-play installation of smaller systems used for social housing. The commissioning process has been simplified to allow the installer crew to only focus on installation. The IQ Combiner Lite Kit includes the pre-wired IQ Combiner Lite along with six IQ8MC™ Microinverters. The IQ Combiner Lite comes with an industry-leading 5-year warranty and the IQ8MC Microinverters come with a 25-year limited warranty for all systems activated in the Netherlands.
"Social housing requires energy solutions that can be easily installed, commissioned, and maintained reliably without much intervention," said Joris Hauwert, building quality manager at BPD Property Development. "The compact design and connective capabilities make the IQ Combiner Lite the ideal solution to help our installers effectively scale solar across the millions of social housing residences in the Netherlands in need of more reliable and affordable energy solutions."
"Solar is rapidly growing across the Netherlands, and there is a significant opportunity to support the country's clean energy goals by expanding access to renewable energy solutions for the social housing segment," said Tom Molenaar, sales manager at Smit Elektrotechniek, part of the VDK Group. "The IQ Combiner Lite reduces our labor costs and installation time, allowing us to better serve social housing customers with the highest quality home energy systems."
"The IQ Combiner Lite is just another example of Enphase's ability to innovate and grow with the market, giving us a more competitive edge as a business," said Jasper Klein, owner of NewSolar Energy Solutions. "With Enphase, we can confidently provide our customers with not only best-in-class technology but also best-in-class service."
"We're demonstrating our commitment to this market by offering the products and services our installers and their customers need the most," said Sabbas Daniel, senior vice president of European sales at Enphase Energy. "The IQ Combiner Lite is the smarter, simpler, and more efficient solution that empowers our installers in the Netherlands to overcome the complexities of solar installations for social housing and better scale access to renewable energy."