Trina Solar, the Smart Module market leader, and Cobalt Power, a PV system installer, successfully commissioned the first commercial-scale installation of Trinasmart in North America on 23th, January. The 113kW system located in the San Francisco Bay Area is the first North American commercial project featuring Trinasmart modules, an innovative integration of Tigo Energy's optimizer technology into Trina Solar's industry-leading solar modules.
"Our partnership with Tigo and Cobalt made this first-of-its-kind installation using Trinasmart modules possible," said Mark Mendenhall, President of Trina Solar USA. "We expect this installation to be the first of many that utilize these innovative modules."
Trinasmart was the right solution for this customer, who was building a net zero energy office building and wanted to maximize energy production from the available roof area. The project, commissioned in last November, uses 462 Trinasmart 245W modules to maximize the energy produced on the roof.
"The Trinasmart installation went very well," said Mark Byington, CEO of Cobalt Power Systems Inc. "With the integrated smart module, there are far fewer components to install. This allows us to take advantage of all of the benefits of module-level optimization without the extra labor and inventory hassle. At the end of the day it saves us money and improves our bottom line."
The Trinasmart modules optimized by Tigo Energy are expected to produce about 3% more energy than traditional modules on this project. The system also has enhanced safety measures with panel-level disconnect, and is monitored and managed by Tigo Energy's advanced software engine.
"We're really happy to be a part of this project," said Tim Kubes, VP of North American Sales for Tigo Energy. "We have long had a vision to integrate our technology into the solar module to make it easier to implement smart systems. This project is a great milestone."