Marco,
We installed our first Enphase system in December 2009, and our last in
December 2011, when their high failure rate became a problem. (Currently 10%+
for us). We were only installing the Enphase units on sites with shading
issues, as a means to mitigate conditions.
After moving away from Enphase, we selected SolarEdge as the solution of
choice for those sites. The installation labor is comparable to the Enphase
solution, separate device under each module. One clear advantage is that there
are no custom trunk cables required, just the standard USE-2 cable and
connectors.
Our field experience has been better than expected production, and 1.4%
failure rate. In December we installed a SolarEdge system just down the street
from a site where we had previously installed an SMA string inverter on an
unshaded site. The SolarEdge system has some shading. Both arrays have roughly
the same orientation and pitch. To date the SolarEdge system with shading
continues to out produce the unshaded SMA system by 5-8% kWh/kWp.
I agree with your intuition on fewer components making a better solution and
"IF" there is a reliable solution that accomplishes this that would be
preferred.
I just priced out the Mage AC module (SolarBridge technology) side by side
with the Mage - SolarEdge combination and the later is less expensive equipment
wise but I think that advantage would be erased by labor savings on the
install.
All that said I'm still a fan of the old fashioned string inverter solution
unless the site shading conditions and or array geometry require an alternate
solution.
Cheers
Carl Adams
SunRock Solar
On Jun 14, 2013, at 9:15 PM, "Marco Mangelsdorf" <ma...@pvthawaii.com> wrote:
I’ve been educating myself on the Solar Edge product v. using micro inverters.
If you click on the link below, you can read the pitch that they make for using
their product over micros.
Any opinions out there on how convincing their strategy is? As well as any
experience in the field with the product?
Intuitively, it seems to me that if you can accomplish what you need to
accomplish (DC power from the PV mod to usable AC power) with fewer parts (as
in a micro inverter instead of a DC-DC converter and a separate inverter), then
that approach makes more sense.
http://www.solaredge.us/groups/us/technology/microinverters
thanks,
marco
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