onsemi (NASDAQ: ON), a leader in smart power and intelligent sensing technologies, and Ampt LLC, the world’s number one DC optimizer company for large-scale photovoltaic (PV) solar and energy storage systems, announced a partnership to meet the high demand for DC series optimizers. Ampt uses On’s EliteSiC series silicon carbide (SiC) technology N-channel SiC MOSFETs in its DC series optimizer for critical power switching applications.

Ampt series optimizers are used in large-scale photovoltaic power plants, enabling lower cost, higher performance solar and DC coupled energy storage systems to be jointly deployed in solar power plants. The series optimizer delivers power from the PV array at high fixed voltages, with system voltages ranging from 600 VDC to 1500 VDC, reducing the overall current requirements and costs of the plant. The Ampt optimizer leverages On’s latest SiC MOSEFT technology with extremely low on-resistance and switching losses to achieve higher bi-directional charge and discharge efficiency for energy storage systems and solar plants.

Levent Gun, CEO of Ampt, said: “Incorporating On Midea’s EliteSiC technology into our DC optimizer helps large PV plant developers improve the economics of their projects. Clearly, product performance is a key decision point for us, and ON proved to be a strong partner by providing technical support during the design phase and continuous supply guarantees to support the rapid expansion of Ampt.”

EliteSiC devices typically have a RDS(on) value of 80 mΩ, a gate charge (Qg) value of 56 nC, and a low Rg of 1.7Ohms. It is able to operate at a junction temperature of 175°C, reducing the thermal management requirements in the application, resulting in a smaller, less costly solution.

Simon Keeton, Executive vice President and General manager of Power Solutions at ON, said: “Our EliteSiC technology combines high performance with high reliability to achieve the efficient and reliable DC optimizers that industry leaders like Ampt have come to expect. We look forward to continuing to work together to develop new products that will move renewable energy applications forward and create a sustainable ecosystem.”