Enphase Energy and Wocozon Bring PV to Netherlands Social Housing
Enphase Energy, Inc has entered a strategic partnership with BV, a Dutch nonprofit service company that provides renewable energy services to social housing projects. Wocozon will install solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays equipped with Enphase solar energy systems on 2,700 homes in multiple social housing dwellings across the Netherlands.
Wocozon is managing a two-year energy services development program that will provide social housing tenants with Enphase systems to reduce their energy bills and their environmental footprint. The company fully finances and owns the solar PV arrays providing the power, while social housing tenants pay a monthly energy fee that is far lower than their normal utility bills.
Each social housing unit will be equipped with an average of 10 PV modules and Enphase solar energy systems, with an installed capacity of approximately 2.5 kilowatt-peak (kWp) per array. The systems will produce more than 85 percent of the energy consumed in the households, saving tenants up to 20 percent on their energy costs. In addition, the energy fee that tenants pay will be fixed, so occupants will never see an increase on their bills.
The solar systems installed via the program will generate a total of 7 MWh per year and be managed by Wocozon for 20 years. The PV installation and operations and maintenance support will be provided by a network of local solar companies.
"We benchmarked the Enphase system against rival inverter solutions and found Enphase unsurpassed in several technological and performance categories. We also found that the Enphase 20-year warranty is unmatched in the industry," said Raymond van Hooft, financial director of Wocozon. "Additionally, the Enphase Enlighten monitoring platform offers an unparalleled customer experience, enabling tenants to track their systems' performance in real-time as well as their energy production."
"Wocozon chose Enphase for our best-in-class solar energy technology, which provides superior long-term energy production yields when compared to competing inverter solutions," said Frank Berets, Netherlands country manager for Enphase Energy. "The company also sees the benefits of the flexible design and installation simplicity inherent in the Enphase system."
The Netherlands has one of the largest social housing programs in Europe, with approximately 2.4 million rented units, the majority of which are owned by nonprofit housing foundations or associations. More than 40 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions produced in the country emanate from residential properties.
"To lower the environmental impact of social housing buildings and contribute to reaching the European Union's ambitious "˜20-20-20 by 2020' goal, we want to equip at least 100,000 social dwellings with solar PV over the next five years," added Van Hooft. "We intend to motivate our customers and other social organizations to embrace renewable energy."
