Is it true some inverters start harvesting sun rays at least half an hour earlier in the day than most and stop harvesting half an hour later than most (Solis for one). And if this is true assuming one has 25 panels on East facing roof and 25 on West facing roof in Brisbane - Would it be a substantial advantage to go with Solis based on this.
Hi, here is what I have learned in my journey. In general, the starting power required of a microinverter is going to be lowest, and theoretically can start harvesting earlier in the morning and keep going later in the day than any string system. That said, some string systems are better than others. In general, a microinverter system can give you ~1% more output most claim, but that will really depend upon your site and conditions. If you have partial shading in your morning or evening, then things get more complicated. Overall, not likely a concern when designing a system in my opinion for that extra1%, but it is a nice in inherent capability and feature of a micro system. There will be pluses and minuses for all systems. String inverters using less DC-AC-DC conversion with battery systems will make up for efficiency for example.
For redundancy, warranty, safety, best on/off grid performance, and panel level monitoring/troubleshooting, I’ll be going with Enphase8+ micros and likely their battery system for the tightest integration and feature set. It does come with more complexity and slightly more cost, but not by a lot and I feel it is worth it since I plan to have it for 20+ years.
If they have a lower start voltage they can start sooner, but it doesn’t really make much of an overall difference to energy production because you are talking about very small generation at these times.
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Hi Mots
Thanks for that very clear explanation.
Matt
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Hi Marty,
Thank you for your reply. I guess it wouldn’t contribute much overall.
Matt