Enphase Microinverters are cleverly designed such that each solar panel brings its energy production to a consolidation point in parallel. This avoids common performance issues commonly experienced by ordinary solar systems.

This design reduces the occurrence of single-point failures. It also enhances the ability to monitor and control individual solar panels. As such, system performance and reliability improves.

The Enphase Microinverter makes use of advanced digital technology to condition and control the power from each PV panel. This leads to great improvement in the overall power output. It also adds a dimension of intelligence to your PV system.

Each microinverter is networked to the Envoy Communications Gateway. This component transmits performance data and presents the consolidated information to the Internet with the help of proprietary software.

This allows your solar panels to work together as an intelligent network. It also enables you to know what is going on within the system on a whole new level. Even if you are not at home, you can connect to the Internet to know the status of your PV system if you want to.

Coping with environmental factors

Solar power output is constantly influenced by external factors such as weather, shade, dust and debris. With traditional PV panels, the lowest performing panel determines the effectiveness of your solar power system. As soon as shading occurs on just one panel, your entire solar power production attenuates considerably.

This does not happen with the Enphase Microinverter system. If any particular solar panel is shaded by leaves, the parallel energy delivery system enables full power from other panels to reach its destination. The affected PV panel drops in performance without influencing other modules.

There is yet another problem that traditional inverter systems experience. During low-light conditions such as the morning or evenings (or during thick cloud or fog cover), solar power systems effectively shut down. They require a minimum amount of power to operate efficiently. If this threshold is not reached, there is no electrical output even though your solar panels are illuminated.

Enphase microinverters circumvent this limitation with its “Burst Mode” solution. During low-light condition, each microinverter stores up trickles of energy output from the PV panel. Energy is accumulated to the point where it exceeds the minimum operating threshold before it is released to the power grid or the charge controllers.

With this, your solar panels continue to produce electricity even during low-light conditions. As a result, the efficiency of your solar energy system improves.

Quality control and reliability

Each Enphase Microinverter is manufactured based on the principles and philosophy of the Six Sigma Quality Process. Every new design and improvement is also subject to both in-house and third-party evaluations.

Each product goes through rigorous testing in the factory before they are deployed. Because of its design, each inverter’s performance can continue to be tracked even after deployment.

Industry-standard evaluations ensure us that Enphase Microinverters have a service life beyond 25 years (with over 99.7% reliability).

The 215-Series Microinverter is protected with a 25-year limited warranty while the previous generations of Enphase microinverters (like the M175, M190, M200, M210 and D380) are covered by a 15-year limited warranty. On top of that, Enphase also has a 100% Uptime Guarantee and a Rapid Replacement program that consumers can take advantage of.

Maintenance

With typical solar installations, inverter failure can result in the shutdown of the entire system. With Enphase microinverters, only the affected solar module shuts off. The impact to the solar power generator is minimal in comparison. As such, failed inverters do not necessarily require emergency repairs. Instead, they can even be replaced during the next regular maintenance.

Enphase Microinverters can be replaced with basic hand tools. Thus you do not need specialized personnel or equipment. This helps you save maintenance cost in the long run.

Continue Reading:

1. Sizing Your Solar Energy Panels – Part 3
2. Important Facts And Properties of A Solar (PV) Panel You Must Know About (Part 1 of 3)
3. Homemade Solar Panels — Common Mistakes to Take Note Of When Building And Installing Photovoltaic (PV) Panels

After you know where most of your household energy goes to, you are now ready to plan for your system size. For grid-tied system (without batteries and charge controllers), you only need to make sure the inverter you use is large enough to handle the power generated by the solar panels.

If you are thinking of scaling up your system in the future, you can get a bigger inverter so there’s room to handle more power. You can also get an inverter that fits the power output of your current solar panel, and then add another inverter when you bring in more solar panels. Between these two options, it’ll be more cost effective to have a larger specification if you know your plans beforehand.

For solar power generators with batteries, you’ll need a little more planning…

For a start, we’ll look at how to determine the size of your solar array. Here are the steps to do it:

1. Compute the average Watt-Hours (usage) per day

2. Find out the Average Daily Solar Radiation figure for your location

3. Calculate the number of watts you have to generate per hour of solar exposure (divide #1 by #2)

4. With the solar module you have in mind, multiply its power rating by a factor of 0.7. If you are using a Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) charge controller, you’ll multiply it by a factor of 0.8 instead.

5. Finally, you get the number of modules needed when you divide #3 (energy you need) by #4 (energy generated by your solar panels)

After you arrive at the number of solar modules you need, you’ll also know how much space is needed on your roof. If there isn’t enough space, choose a more efficient photovoltaic module and do the calculations again. Going over this a few times, you will be able to find the solar module that’s most suitable for you and at the right price.

Continue Reading:

1. Solar Energy Panels For Big “Toys”
2. Sizing Your Solar Energy Panels – Part 1
3. Sizing Your Solar Energy Panels – Part 3