SolarEdge HD-Wave Inverter Technology

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RegGuheert

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SolarEdge has announced their new HD-Wave inverter technology which greatly reduces inverter size and weight while simultaneously increasing the efficiency to above 99%:
SolarEdge said:
Inverters are the “brain” of the solar energy system, because they convert solar power into usable energy and are measured by size, efficiency, and reliability. While advances have been made in the solar inverter space throughout the years, the large size of magnetics and cooling components have significantly limited any leapfrogging in the inverter space. SolarEdge’s new HD-Wave technology will dramatically reduce the size of the inverter's magnetics by means of advanced digital processing. At the same time, the new technology is designed to increase reliability and optimize the performance of solar energy systems to 99% efficiency and beyond, an increase that will provide more solar power at lower cost.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ylj6natXzjI[/youtube]

I'm wondering if this inverter is designed to meet Google's $1M Little Box Challenge. Winners of the challenge will be announced in January, 2016. Here are the specifications for the Little Box Challenge:
Google said:
- Must be able to handle up to 2 kVA loads
- Must achieve a power density of equal to or greater than 50 W/in3
- Must be able to handle loads with power factors from 0.7–1, leading and lagging in an islanded mode
- Must be in a rectangular metal enclosure of no more than 40 in3
- Will be taking in 450 V DC power in series with a 10 ohm resistor
- Must output 240 V, 60 Hz AC single phase power
- Must have a total harmonic distortion + noise on both voltage and current of < 5%
- Must have an input ripple current of < 20%
- Must have an input ripple voltage of < 3%
- Must have a DC-AC efficiency of greater than 95%
- Must maintain a temperature of no more than 60°C during operation everywhere on the outside of the device that can be touched.
- Must conform to Electromagnetic Compliance standards as set out in FCC Part 15 B
- Can not use any external source of cooling (e.g. water) other than air
- Does not require galvanic isolation
In any case, SolarEdge's new inverter technology looks like it may be a significant breakthrough.
 
Here's a presentation with a bit more detail in it. It was linked from this article.

The presentation indicates that they have also eliminated the electrolytic capacitors from their design, which should allow them to extend their warranty.

But I calculate a density of 5.5 W/in^3 for their 7600-W inverter, which is about an order of magnitude lower than what is required to win the Tesla competition. Perhaps they are building a non-product version to try to compete in that.
 
RegGuheert said:
I was looking at the page for the HD-Wave inverter and noticed an interesting feature bullet:
SolarEdge said:
Optional self-sustaining power outlet supplying up to 1.5kW backup power
That sounds like a very attractive option! Does anyone know more about it?

If I remember from when I watched the video months ago it provides one 15a or 20a socket that will give you close to 120v with little or no buffering (no battery backup, the only buffer would be from the capacitors and other electronics that rectify the power) so that single socket can power a refrigerator or trickle charge an EV. But I think the socket only comes on when the main grid tie power drops out.
 
Thanks! That's always been one of the most frequently-requested features for grid-tied inverters: "Just let me have some power when the sun is shining!"
 
I believe most of the SMA TL (transformerless) inverters also have that option. I plan on installing one on my parent's house later this year. Backup power in south Florida can come in handy.
 
keydiver said:
I believe most of the SMA TL (transformerless) inverters also have that option. I plan on installing one on my parent's house later this year. Backup power in south Florida can come in handy.
Please try that feature out and let us know how it works once you get it installed. TIA!
 
RegGuheert said:
I was looking at the page for the HD-Wave inverter and noticed an interesting feature bullet:
SolarEdge said:
Optional self-sustaining power outlet supplying up to 1.5kW backup power
That sounds like a very attractive option! Does anyone know more about it?


Reg;
Thought I answered this a couple of days ago - must not have hit the submit!

I have the SB-4000 TL/US with the secure power supply (SPS). I have tested it to charge my 48 volt golf cart batteries (and a spare set) . The OEM charger required about 900 watts at full charge rate and gradually drops off. The SPS does a great job of keeping the charger on-line , actually seems to drop the charge rate if the solar production drops - within limits. It will cut-off when the solar production drops below around 400 watts during charging. I tried the SPS with full solar production and it will cut itself off if I put much more than the rated 1500 watts load (~1800 watt heater strip). It does reset itself automatically when solar production comes back - takes 10+ seconds.

I'm currently installing a 3000 watt PV system and plan on using the SB-3000 (SMA). The SolarEdge looks interesting - smaller, more efficient. I cannot find any pricing/availability. Anyone able to get more info??
 
Thanks, Marktm! That sounds very useful!

While I'm a fan of microinverters, this is one feature they currently do not offer.
 
RegGuheert said:
Thanks, Marktm! That sounds very useful!

While I'm a fan of microinverters, this is one feature they currently do not offer.

It can be done easily enough just not cheaply. I have a friend who really wants to do this but I don't think he ever will as it just costs too much.

http://www.outbackpower.com/index.php/applications/ac-coupling

http://www2.enphase.com/global/files/Enphase_Application-Note_AC-Coupled-Battery-Based-Systems.pdf
 
QueenBee said:
RegGuheert said:
Thanks, Marktm! That sounds very useful!

While I'm a fan of microinverters, this is one feature they currently do not offer.

It can be done easily enough just not cheaply. I have a friend who really wants to do this but I don't think he ever will as it just costs too much.

http://www.outbackpower.com/index.php/applications/ac-coupling

http://www2.enphase.com/global/files/Enphase_Application-Note_AC-Coupled-Battery-Based-Systems.pdf
Thanks, QueenBee!

I actually have a 2 kVA 12V Outback inverter and 800 Ah of SLA batteries (badly sulfated down to 200 Ah, but I am now slowly recovering their capacity). While I can certainly build such an arrangement using the parts I have and some additional safety equipment, I have to say that I think SunnyBoy has done some things that Enphase never has (to my knowledge). Specifically, rather than simply dropping off in a grid overfrequency event, the SunnyBoy inverters linearly reduce their output power as you increase the frequency of the source above around 60.5 Hz. This is particularly attractive to grid operators since these inverters will gradually reduce their generation in an oversupply event.

This also allows a clever control scheme that the Sunny Island inverters take advantage of to allow their grid-connected inverters to run islanded. I assume their TL SunnyBoy units use a similar scheme.

Since the SolarEdge inverters control the optimizers directly, I suppose they use their own methods for modulating PV production.

Unfortunately, to my knowledge, Enphase microinverters do not seem to have any concept beyond "harvest as much energy as possible". The underlying assumption being that the grid can accept whatever electricity the microinverters can produce. This makes operation of such an AC-coupled system with Enphase microinverters somewhat "fiddly".

Frankly, I'm more inclined to simply use my LEAF and/or SLA batteries with 12V inverter(s) to ride out a storm unless there was a long-term outage. Then I might consider trying to use my Outback Inverter to bring the PV array into service.

It would be nice if Enphase would make using the PV in a backup situation easier. One simple solution would be to create a mode for the inverters which matches the SunnyBoy output power versus frequency curve to allow use of Enphase inverters with a Sunny Island inverter. I guess there is no chance of that since it violates the NIV principle (Not Invented Here).

I suspect there will be something coming from Enphase fairly soon now that they have bi-directional inverters, AC batteries and advanced control schemes available with their Envoy-S.
 
Yeah, I have to think they are working on solving this issue as it would be silly to not when you are making an ecosystem like this. I'm hoping it's just that they want to get their main marketing use case going first, TOU shifting, and then backup power will come next.

I think the only thing you can do for our generation of models is create different profiles so that some shut off sooner than others so you can have a few levels of load/charging before all the microinverters shut down leaving you on just battery power until they start coming back online again and the cycle repeats. It should work well enough and be all automatic. During peak production you could also shut down some of the microinverter circuits to help keep the production down.

I bought a generator and converted it to tri fuel after buying the LEAF 5 years ago and have yet to actually have a use for it so It seems my local grid is stable enough that I'm not likely to ever get the itch to setup a way to use the solar power without the grid but it sure would be s fun project.
 
Isn't one of the features of Enphase's "Grid Optimization Services", relying on 5th gen Enphase S-inverters, that they can coordinate inverter behavior in regards to voltage, real and reactive power on some sort of near-real-time basis? Is that just marketing for future features? Beyond the basic grid profiles that exist today.
 
ltbighorn said:
Isn't one of the features of Enphase's "Grid Optimization Services", relying on 5th gen Enphase S-inverters, that they can coordinate inverter behavior in regards to voltage, real and reactive power on some sort of near-real-time basis? Is that just marketing for future features? Beyond the basic grid profiles that exist today.
Enphase inverters are current sources, not voltage sources. The new S-series units can provide leading or lagging current to the grid, but none of them can act like a voltage source. As such, I do not believe Enphase offers any way to create an island with their current product line.
 
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