Last April, we wrote that the long, long-awaited Enphase IQ8 microinverter was due to land in Australia – by the second quarter of this year.
Enphase’s promised delivery down under hasn’t happened, but in May the company posted a banner on its Website saying the microinverter, and the IQ Battery 5P, are available for pre-order, with shipping to installers due in July.
It’s been a long wait for the device. Launched in October 2021, it’s been shipping in the US since December 2021.
As we noted in our microinverter explainer, Enphase is both the most popular and arguably the best microinverter available, so the long wait for the IQ8 is frustrating for the industry.
Enphase says there will be three variants offered here: the IQ8HC, IQ8AC, and the IQ8MC-ACM, which is for exclusive use with SunPower-Maxeon AC Solar Panels.
The IQ8 Microinverters come with a standard 15-year limited warranty, extendable to 20 or 25 years.
In comparison to the previous IQ7 series, the IQ8 supports the latest high-current solar modules using M10 wafers with a higher DC current handling capacity of 14 A, versus the 10.2 A supported by the IQ7A Microinverters.
The IQ8HC (High Current) Microinverter has a power output of 380W. If you want to claim STCs (AKA the Solar Rebate), Australia’s rules allow a solar panel size up to 133% larger than the inverter power rating. That makes the IQ8HC microinverter ‘compatible’ with solar panels up to 505 W.
IQ Energy Router on the Way
If you want to mark your calendar, Australia can start waiting for the next key technology from Enphase, with its IQ Energy Router showing up outside the US, in Germany and Austria.
The energy router products integrate Enphase solar and battery systems with EV chargers (IQ Energy Router) and heat pumps (IQ Energy Router+).
The IQ Energy Routers monitor and control energy usage of chargers and heat pumps, with the Enphase Energy System providing solar production forecasting and consumption forecasting, with an ‘optimisation engine’ designed to maximise self-consumption.
Note from Finn: Enphase is cooking up a router that’s going to link their microinverters with EV chargers and heat pumps. It’s likely using Enphase’s own APIs. And there’s the worry. Enphase’s track record on open API access is sketchy at best—Good luck syncing up ChargeHQ, Amber or Solar Analytics with Enphase.
The mystery remains: will Enphase play ball with the open OCPP standard for EV chargers, or are they going to keep it in the family with their own stuff? This closed shop, ‘walled garden’ mentality could be a big stumbling block for folks with a home packed full of different solar, battery, and EV charging gear.
Enphase, if you’re listening, take a page from history. Open up, play nice, and let your Energy Router be a beacon of the future, not a relic of the past. The clock’s ticking!
We asked Enphase when the IQ Energy Router will arrive in Australia.
An Enphase spokesperson gave the company a generous amount of leeway: the product is expected here “sometime next year”.
About Richard Chirgwin
RSS - Posts
Now for the hard questions.
– How much?
– Will it play nicely with my existing Enphase equipment?
If I can’t pull data for my Home Assistant automation, that makes it less attractive.
I keep seeing this idea that the warranty on Enphase microinverters is “extendable” but I’ve never found anything on how it is done. Does anyone have any idea?
Found an answer. Straightforward!
1) Go to https://encare.enphase.com/ and log in. However, do NOT choose to subscribe to “Enlighten Manager Upgrade Program”
2) On the top right under “Services”, select “Enhanced Warranty Protection”.
You should then be able to choose your system and get prices for the various extended warranty options.
Do the IQ8 Inverters offer he full 15 Year warranty with extendable options for Australian use. I understand the IQ7 has a limited 10 Year warranty when used in specific countries including Australia.
Hey Solar Quotes team,
We’re also excited about the release of the IQ8 Microinverter in July, so glad you are too!
The IQ8 Microinverter’s out-of-the-box, industry-leading 15-year warranty (extendable up to 25 years) is really something to write about, and we’re excited to bring this to the ANZ market in July to not only complement the current high-powered modules but also the IQ Battery 5P.
Enphase is always happy to consider API integrations with our platform, and have a number in place around the globe. Our priority right now is bringing our storage product to market, which ships in the next few weeks, and is highly awaited by our customers! Once this complete, we will turn our attention to the several open requests we have from local companies who would like to integrate with our platform. There are lots of exciting possibilities that have been presented and we look forward to getting involved!
We’re always happy to chat with the Solar Quotes team, and their readers, about the many benefits of “Catching more rays” with the Enphase Energy System.
Shine brighter,
Team Enphase ANZ
Enphase Australia team is iq8 now orderable? None of your installers are willing to quote/design an iq8 based system and instead suggest going with iq7.
“the IQ8MC-ACM, which is for exclusive use with SunPower-Maxeon AC Solar Panels”, this claim doesn’t seem to be supported anywhere else. The IQ8M is a lower power version.
Magic Solar and Battery in Bunbury WA are quoting IQ8’s with the new Controller Unit or retain Envoy as Controller Unit.
IQ8’s arriving next week.
Exciting times….
> The mystery remains: will Enphase play ball with the open OCPP standard for EV chargers, or are they going to keep it in the family with their own stuff?
According to the following link, the IQ Energy Router **does** support connecting to 3rd party EV chargers with OCPP:
> “The Enphase system utilizes the Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) for
communication between EV chargers and the IQ Energy Router and backend systems of Enphase.”
https://enphase.com/en-de/download/wallbox-pulsar-pluspulsar-max-ev-chargers-configuration-guide-iq-energy-router
Here’s hoping this remains the case.
Is there any benefit / disbenefit of going with IQ8AC vs IQ8HC now or in the future since I’ve be told I will be getting 440 watt panels ? I was told bigger is better but was told this was not the case.
Matt Green
I have an existing system using IQ7 and am thinking of adding another 6.6kW.
Can the addition be IQ8 with more powerful panels.
Also have a Powerwall.
Hi CJ,
I’m pretty sure IQ series will play nicely together, and they’ll cope with flexible exports too, you’ll be limited by the network connection though.
https://www.solarquotes.com.au/grid-connection/
https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/enphase-pros-cons/
Hi, Thanks for that info. I currently have a 11kW system with 31 panels using IQ7 and am thinking of adding another 6.6kW. I’m assuming that would put me over the 10kW inverter limit for Ausgrid.
IQ8 and IQ7 cannot be mixed in the same system.
Thanks for the info Joel
I was told by enphase that they do indeed work with iq7/+/A, but requires a minimum of 50% iq8 to be able to form microgrid in event of power loss.