Micro Inverters
Micro Inverters
(OP)
Hi guys,
I am currently analyzing the advantages of having a micro inverter instead of a central inverter for Solar farms.
Our current design consist of central inverters feeding into national grid.
As i understand, the dc cables (from solar cells to Inverter) will be replaced with ac cables (solar cells to grid).
My question is
Would appreciate any assistance rendered.
I am currently analyzing the advantages of having a micro inverter instead of a central inverter for Solar farms.
Our current design consist of central inverters feeding into national grid.
As i understand, the dc cables (from solar cells to Inverter) will be replaced with ac cables (solar cells to grid).
My question is
Would appreciate any assistance rendered.






RE: Micro Inverters
RE: Micro Inverters
Having a faulty PV cell would greatly reduce the power output from a string of cells.
The advantage of micro inverter would be to isolate each failure of PV cells.
I do agree that micro-inverters have a higher likely hood to fail than PV cells(after reading several reviews of early adopters). I believe the failure rate can be reduced as micro-inverters is still a relatively new concept.
Assuming non of the micro-inverters fail, would the losses from DC cables or AC cables be higher? given the same length? or are they negligible?
Also what would you mean by hungrier?
RE: Micro Inverters
Consider that there is no reactance in a DC circuit, only resistance. So there is less voltage drop in a DC circuit if current and wire size are the same. On the other hand you don't have the option of three phase with DC.
RE: Micro Inverters
The problem with microinverters is on a large farm, someone would be chasing bad inverters often. However, the knoledge needed to replace microinverters, versis having an expert arive on site to fix a large inverter might weigh out as a lower cost. The on-site person actually sounds like a good way to find and fix problems not related to the power production, things such as painting, fence, homeless people, etc.
RE: Micro Inverters
If your micro inverters put out a higher (but not too high) voltage, you might not need to swap all the cable. Possibly some re-wiring at each end. Unless you have something special installed, quite a bit of wiring is good for 600V. If this is the case, leave it in place. The inverter outputs will have lower currents, so ampacity will be a non-issue.