Micro invertors

[judgeelectrical]

Has anyone heard/used a micro invertor. I have just recieved some bumf from one of the wholsalers i use that a company called enecsys are making panels which each have an individual invertor fixed on the underside of them. They offewr the usual gaurontees, ie 5 year manufacturer on panels, 80 % of initial power at 25 years. The advantage is that each panel/invertor will send info by blue tooth to your pc, so performance of individual panels can be assessed , also, if one panel is down , it doesnt effect the whole string, and according to the the bumf they are 10% at least more efficient as if one panel is shaded the other panels still work at full power in correct conditions, also dont have to run high voltage dc cables.

Sounds quite good, but theese are a chinese manufacturer and none of the big boys seem to be doing them. A

Any thoughts

Chris

 

[TedM]

Extensively discussed here - http://www.electriciansforums.net/p...green-energy-forum/27920-micro-inverters.html

 

[BruceB]

The are difficuly to justify economically at present unless there are difficult shading or panel location issues. I think Enecsys have realised this as they are bringing out the Duo microinverter in 'Q3 2011' which will run 2 panels. If they can get the price point right they might begin to make inroads into the market.
Enecsys
Regards
Bruce

Edited to add that on 8 Jun they also announced a 480W version of the Duo
Enecsys

I do wish they would make some attempt to give availability and pricing as well though!

 

[judgeelectrical]

Thanks for the replys guys i will check out the link, and find out some prices. Sounds like a good option though if you have small mulisided roofs.

Chris

 

[Worcester]

At Intersolar, met up with two other micro-inverter providers currently going through G83 accreditation, don't expect it in 2011, that should disrupt the pricing a bit, as I specifically talked to them about cost issues, watch this space over the next 6 months (can't say anything else yet NDA's...)

 

[mourinho]

Sounds quite good, but theese are a chinese manufacturer and none of the big boys seem to be doing them. A

Any thoughts

Chris

Chris the advantages you mention for micro-inverters are correct, they also have guarantees 4 to 5 times the ones from central inverters (you will need to buy at least another central inverter over the 25 years), so the return on investment over the 25 years has no comparison, if u have shadding in any panel or diferent panel orientation then its a no-brainer! make sure to check with your vendor about the grid operator aproval before installing it, as i've seen in this forum enecsys has had to disconnect several already installed sites because they had DNO approval issues, the chinese manufacturer you mentioned is Involar which is the only other major micro-inverter producer with G83 approval to install in the UK, and they dont have the DNO interface problem as they have a grid interface device to deal with this issue.

 

[daytona600]

chinese inverters - buy some spares

 

[mourinho]

90% of microinverters installed at the moment, even not being from chinese companies are also produced in China, just like my nice Iphone is or most other electronics for that matter good or bad.... and for example 5 out of 7 of top panel makers are chinese... you just can't beat their bang for buck, unfortunately for the West

my panels are supposed to last 20 years so give me 20 year warranty on any microinverter, over a normal 5 year from a german central inverter and ill take that deal