Rhombus Energy’s multi-port C&I smart inverters are now UL-certified

Rhombus Energy Solutions is announcing the certification of its 30-kW/60-kW Multi-Port Smart Inverter to UL 1741 and UL 1741-SA standards. This standard defines the design and testing requirements to certify that bi-directional, grid tied, “smart” inverters can be safely used to support the distributed generation grid services and applications. Utilities in the United States and worldwide are increasingly interested in opportunities to cost effectively add energy storage to support increasing levels of intermittent renewable energy sources.

This new listing for a multi-port inverter adds to Rhombus’ growing portfolio of products that bear the UL mark. In addition to Rhombus’ RES-BESS60DP-480 smart inverter, the company also offers certified single port 50-kW, 60-kW and 125-kW energy storage inverters. This new addition to Rhombus’ smart inverter family has two independently controlled DC input ports that can be utilized with either battery storage systems or photovoltaic solar energy sources, with a combined 60-kW_AC output, and allows customers to either add battery-based energy storage to existing solar installations or to construct independent microgrids. This product is targeted at commercial and small industrial applications, particularly for peak shaving, load balancing and power factor correction.

“Rhombus Energy Solutions has partnered with several of our customers to develop the 30-kW/60-kW Multi-Port Smart Inverter,” said Rick Sander, CEO of Rhombus Energy Solutions. “The product uniquely fills the requirements of commercial and industrial customers who need to minimize equipment footprint, but still want high reliability and the ability to run applications such as peak shaving software. It is one of our most popular smart inverters.”

For applications where putting power back onto the utility grid is part of the use case, the bi-directional smart inverter must be certified to UL 1741 and UL 1741-SA standards. The Rhombus 30-kW/60-kW Multi-Port Smart Inverter is one of the few UL 1741-SA certified smart inverters with multiple DC ports. Each DC port can support up to 30-kW of power, while the AC port can support up to 60kW of power.

“Achieving UL 1741-SA certification is challenging from both an engineering and a testing perspective,” said Joseph Gottlieb, CTO of Rhombus Energy Solutions. “Because of our team’s unparalleled expertise building and testing high-power bi-directional products, we were able to bring this product to market and achieve UL 1741-SA certification quickly, while incorporating cutting-edge technologies such as our integrated VectorStat controller and software. These capabilities enable our customers to deploy products that will meet their needs both today and in the future.”

Bi-directional multi-port inverters are critical to reducing the equipment footprint in applications such as microgrids and behind-the-meter peak shaving applications, where the combination of PV solar and battery storage are utilized to reduce overall energy costs and/or minimize the need for a utility grid connection. To support these applications, the Rhombus Multi-Port Smart Inverter provides one of the widest ranges of DC operating voltages and reactive power factors available in an outdoor-rated bi-directional inverter. The product also incorporates numerous state-of-the-art technologies and design concepts to enhance its reliability and maintainability, as well as Rhombus’ VectorStat controller and energy management system software and remote MODBUS controllability, to further minimize equipment footprint.

The expertise of the Rhombus team has allowed the company to ship over 800 high-power, bi-directional, high-reliability fleet EV charging systems and inverters for energy storage and PV solar-based microgrids, for customers in a variety of demanding operational environments.

News item from Rhombus Energy Solutions

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Original Source: https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2020/09/rhombus-energy-multi-port-commercial-industrial-smart-inverter-ul-certified/