All Energy Solar completes unusual Minnesota solar project meant to double as art installation

Enphase Energy announced that All Energy Solar, a full-service energy company serving residential, commercial, agricultural, and government customers in the Midwest and Northeast, has deployed Enphase IQ 7+ microinverters in a unique, building-face-mounted solar array in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The 208 V_AC, three-phase solar system, which was designed and installed by All Energy Solar, now provides clean solar energy to the MoZaic East commercial building to complement the building’s LEED Gold certification.

The array features 112 solar modules installed at varying angles to add a distinctive wave pattern to the structure, with aesthetic enhancements of SolarSkin module overlays from Sistine Solar to add color and depth to the installation. All Energy Solar chose Enphase IQ 7+ microinverters to both offset output differentials from the differently angled and wrapped modules and simplify array service on the vertical mounting surface. The 43.12-kW_DC solar system at MoZaic East features the Enphase Network Protection Relay device, which allows commercial solar installers to quickly deploy the Enphase microinverters on commercial solar projects in jurisdictions that require compliance with IEEE 1547 for three-phase solar systems.

“Our goal with this commercial solar project was to highlight the innovative, future-focused, and welcoming concept of MoZaic East, and Enphase microinverters helped us deliver the highest possible energy production given the array’s one-of-a-kind citing,” said Michael R. Allen, president at All Energy Solar. “The desire to turn the array into a functional art installation required close collaboration between designers, manufacturers, installers, architects and the developer. I am proud of the work our team did to design the system as well as the custom mounting brackets, and in combination with the aesthetics of the SolarSkin module overlays, the result speaks for itself.”

“The array at MoZaic East performs the important task of making solar visible from the street-level through extraordinarily creative design and engineering, and it is an honor to see SolarSkin technology at the heart of this project,” said Senthil Balasubramanian, CEO at Sistine Solar. “Our patented SolarSkin technology is the world’s most efficient aesthetic solar technology of its kind and was developed specifically to achieve the integration of solar, art, and architecture to convert visually uninteresting solar modules into creative canvas space. The MoZaic East design team was able to leverage the nearly limitless design versatility of SolarSkin to create 24 distinct patterns with varying shades of purple, gray, and blue to complement the color-shifting characteristics of the building’s facade.”

The Enphase Three-Phase Network Protection Relay device with integrated Enphase IQ Envoy gateway and Enphase Mobile Connect modem device consolidates three-phase interconnection equipment into a single enclosure and streamlines installations by providing a consistent, pre-wired solution for three-phase commercial 208 VAC applications. The Enphase NPR device features a durable NEMA type 3R enclosure, a five-year warranty, and is compliant with UL 1741 SA for grid support functions enabling smarter, safer, reactive grid interconnection.

“Michael and the team at All Energy Solar combined their solar and construction experience in an innovative way on the MoZaic East building, and we congratulate them on the great result,” said Dave Ranhoff, chief commercial officer at Enphase Energy. “Solar energy is a powerful way to offset a building’s energy budget and reducing its carbon footprint, and All Energy Solar has made this investment highly visible at MoZaic East. At Enphase, we place a high value on innovation and high-quality design, and I am happy to see leading solar installers take full advantage of the benefits of Enphase products for commercial solar installations.”

News item from Enphase

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Original Source: https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2020/09/all-energy-solar-installs-solar-art-installation-minnesota/