Format: 2013-05-23
Format: 2013-05-23
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Author Bio

AnandKamannavar's picture

Anand Kamannavar

Anand serves as investment director for Applied Ventures, the venture capital arm of Applied Materials. He focuses on identifying and managing investments in the areas of Cleantech, Materials and in the India region. Anand also serves as Applied's board observer for Enphase Energy (NASDAQ: ENPH), Adesto Technologies, Tessolve India, Kotak Urja India, Infinite Power Solutions and Iosil Energy.

Solar

Microinverter Pioneer Enphase Energy Goes IPO – Disrupting Solar!

By Anand Kamannavar
Apr52012

The solar market has grown far beyond what most analysts had predicted even 5-10 years ago, and Applied Materials has played a key role in driving down the costs of solar modules by helping to improve efficiencies and through advances in solar cell manufacturing technology.

However, while falling module prices have made solar somewhat more affordable, the net system installed cost is still very high, especially in the residential and commercial markets. As anyone who has tried installing a solar system on their rooftop knows, the final, installed price is still high, largely because of the balance of system (BOS) – all the upfront costs associated with a photovoltaic system except the module* – hasn’t declined at the same rate as the modules prices. If we could lower the BOS cost, we believe a great deal of pent-up demand could be unleashed.

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