Project Case Study
988kW at
Furman University.
Detail Solar maintains and upgraded this commercial-scale ground-mount system to Enphase IQ9 microinverters, engineered for performance, safety, and federal procurement compliance.
The Project
A large ground-mount
array, maintained right.
Detail Solar provides ongoing maintenance for Furman University's 988kW ground-mount system and led the upgrade to Enphase IQ9 microinverters, a showcase example of what that architecture can do at commercial scale. The system covers a large open ground-mount array delivering three-phase power directly to the university's electrical infrastructure.
Ground-mount arrays at this scale present unique engineering challenges: string inverter solutions typically require combiner boxes, long DC home-run runs with associated voltage drop and arc-flash risk, and multiple large inverter skids. The Enphase architecture eliminates the high-voltage DC runs entirely: each microinverter outputs AC at the panel, so cabling to the aggregation point carries only AC power.
Why Microinverters
No single point
of failure.
Traditional string inverter systems tie every panel on a circuit together, so one shaded, soiled, or underperforming panel drags down the entire string. Enphase IQ9 and IQ8 microinverters give each panel its own dedicated inverter, so every module operates at its individual maximum power point regardless of what the panels around it are doing.
No single point of failure
If one microinverter fails, the other hundreds keep producing, since there's no central inverter whose failure takes the whole system offline.
Module-level monitoring
Enphase Enlighten shows real-time performance data for every individual panel, making it possible to pinpoint an issue without a site visit.
97.5% CEC weighted efficiency
Among the highest in the microinverter category, minimizing conversion losses at every panel.
Native 480V 3-phase output
IQ9 commercial microinverters output directly to three-phase 480V grids, the standard for commercial and industrial utility connections, without additional step-up transformers.
Procurement Compliance
Buy America Act
eligible.
The Buy America Act (BAA) requires that manufactured products used in federally funded infrastructure projects be produced in the United States. Enphase microinverters are manufactured in the United States, which made the Furman upgrade eligible under the university's procurement guidelines and opens Enphase-based systems to universities, school districts, municipal utilities, and government contractors that are required to source compliant equipment.
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