SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC INVERTERS

Ranking as per market share

World (2017) India (2017)
1. Huawei 1. Huawei
2. Sungrow 2. Sungrow
3. SMA 3. ABB
4. TBEA Sunoasis 4. TMEIC
5. Wuxi Sineg 5. TBEA
6. ABB 6. SMA
7. Goodwe 7. Hitachi
8. Growatt 8. Schneider
9. Power Electronics 9. GE
10. Gamesa

Following are considered as the essential qualities of a solar photovoltaic inverter

1. Inverter topologies
Different inverter topologies are available in the market. A multilevel inverter is most suitable as the output
wave shape is close to the idea (sinusoidal) AC wave and thereby reduces the size of the filter circuit along with
reducing THD, improving operating p.f. and improving efficiency. Currently the commercially available
inverters, Huawei and Sungrow, uses 5 level topologies.
More recently the transformer less topologies played an important role to provide slim, light weight but
efficient inverter configurations. Transformers were used in the inverters to provide galvanic isolation.
Basically, galvanic protection ensures that there is no complete path in a circuit to flow. The AC side of the
inverter must be grounded as that is a part of requirements for connection to the grid and with grounded
arrays even the DC side of the inverter becomes grounded. So, a transformer is provided in between the two
sides so that there is no physical path for the current to flow from one side to the other. This creates a need for
an internal transformer in inverters. There are several drawbacks of this transformer which includes electrical
losses which decrease the efficiency of the inverter and additional weight of the transformer increasing the
shipping costs.
A transformer-less inverter has higher conversion efficiency for greater yield and lighter weight therefore
lower shipping costs. This also led to greater safety as now the inverter can detect ground fault currents at
lower levels.

2. DC Oversizing/Inverter oversizing
Inverter oversizing refers to adding more DC power to an inverter than it is rated for. For example, if you
connect 6 kWp of DC power to a 5 kW inverter, you oversize the system by 20%. This makes total sense,
because the peak power of 6 kWp will only come up in very few and short moments – so using a 6 kWp inverter
(no oversizing) would be unnecessary and therefore a waste of money. In situations where the system actually
generates more than 5 kW, the inverter would clip are so rare and so short, that it is negligible. The advantages
you gain by oversizing clearly outweigh the effects of clipping. Similarly, a system with 100 KW inverter having
a 130 kWp PV array connected to its DC side has Array-to-Inverter ratio of 1.3.
With the drastic fall of PV module prices oversizing the array (or under sizing the inverter) has become
increasingly lucrative. Under low light conditions, oversizing would lead to better utilization of the inverter
capacity. On the other hand, during the peak production period oversizing could lead to clipping of output
power. Therefore, an optimization is required to find out the ideal load ratio for a PV plant.
The factors influencing DC/AC ratio are the plant location, design specific DC loss factors (tilt angle, orientation,
mounting method, DC cable losses, mismatch and soiling). These factors affect the output of the solar panel thus
increasing the number of panels would provide a bigger output even from a lossy array.
With oversizing, the PV power plant’s nominal power is achieved faster in the morning, and the PV power plant
remains connected to the grid longer in the evening. Calculated for the total operating time of the PV project,
higher energy yields can thus be generated. Adequate oversizing increases the profitability of a PV power plant.

Other factors to consider:

When the inverter is oversized, it is subjected to more power from the array, greater short circuit current,
marginally higher full power input voltage during power limiting and greater number of operational hours at
maximum output. During a DC fault (especially low impedance faults like bolted fault), the inverter may be
exposed to high currents if the DC array is highly oversized. Inverters ability to control current is interruption
at best. All the DC side components of the inverter such as bus bars, cables and switches must be rated to carry
and interrupt the short circuit current of the array. The short circuit current rating of the inverter is
determined by the weakest link in the circuit.

Effect of Oversizing on Inverter Life

With oversizing, the inverter works for longer hours at full capacity and is under greater load trough out the
day. Also as noted earlier the inverter is exposed to higher currents which it does not have much protection
against. Beyond maximum power point voltage, majority of the commercial three phase inverters operate less
efficiently. This results in increased internal heat rejection. This might lead to faster aging of temperature
sensitive components.
Most inverters have thermal management systems which safeguards the inverter during longer durations of
maximum output. Further, inverters monitor the temperature of critical components and have are programmed
to increase the fan speed or increase cooling. Inverters also use power limiting to regulate internal
temperature. To top it all, inverters also have critical temperatures which when reached trigger shutdown.
Manufacturers understand this and thus some manufacturers have a limit to oversizing for the inverters of
their make. SolarEdge allows an oversizing of 135%. SMA specifies that while oversizing it is critical to never
exceed the DC input voltage limit provided in a data sheet. Sungrow on the other hand mentions that even
though the maximum input current for its inverter SG125HV is 148A, the maximum DC short circuit current is
240A and thus the inverter allows a maximum DC/AC ratio of 1.5.

3. String v/s Central

Traditionally, central inverters have been preferred over string inverters because of the cost savings they
provide. String inverters also provide certain benefits which may outweigh the difference in initial costs. These
include:
 Due to it modular design string inverters provide greater plant availability during inverter downtime.
Once a central inverter is down, a large section or in some cases the whole plant must be shutdown.
This causes loss in revenue. In case of a string inverter, even when one or more inverter fails, the rest
can still function. Central inverters require onsite maintenance while the string inverters are largely
sent back to the factory. Many companies such as SMA and Huawei offer replacement inverters to
reduce the loss due to unavailability of the inverter and have a response as short as 2 working days.
 String inverters also allow greater flexibility and control over the plant performance. When the plant
has strings with different tilt angles it is important that these strings have separate MPPTs (Maximum
power point trackers). This is also the case if the string lengths are different or if different modules are
being used in the same plant.

4. Shift of maximum input voltage from 1000V to 1500V

There has been a trend of moving to higher input side voltages of the inverter. Initially, there were inverters
with 600V as the DC side voltage. The example of such inverter would be PVI -Central -250/300(US/CAN) from
ABB and SOLARWARE 250 from TMEIC. These early products have now been discontinued and their 1000V
counterpart has taken the centre stage.
The reason behind this trend is to save system costs. Greater DC side voltage means greater number of PV
modules can be attached to the string, thus gaining more power while saving on DC home runs (DC cabling to
the inverters). Estimates suggest that capital expenditure on Balance of System (BoS) costs have reduced by
10% with 1500V systems. The shipping costs are reduced due to greater power density.
Greater DC/AC ratio also results in greater input voltage which is one of the further reasons for the shift
towards 1500V as this would allow greater DC/AC ratios.

5. DC input cable v/s AC output cable

DC cables are used predominantly in solar projects and hence, issues around their usage are still not
understood very well unlike AC cables, which are used extensively across the power sector. Moreover, intense
commercial pressure is forcing project developers and contractors to reduce capital cost resulting in the
selection of inferior products and/or sub-optimal design.
DC cables connect modules to inverters and are further segmented into two types. 1. String DC cables: These
cables are used to interconnect solar modules and to connect modules with string combiner boxes or an array
combiner boxes. 2. Main DC cables: These cables are used to connect array combiner boxes with inverters.
LT and HT Cables (AC Cables): LT and HT cables are AC cables with a higher voltage rated capacity. These
cables are used to connect inverters to transformer and transformer to the on-site substation.
Economically generating electricity from renewable sources requires a cabling system engineered to optimize
efficiency and minimize line losses. This allows more of the generated power to reach substations where it is
transmitted to the grid. To optimize efficiency, cables used at the point of solar power generation offer a higher
voltage range of up to 2,000 V versus the standard 600 V rating for conventional applications.

6. Conversion Module Input Configurations

The inverter models with same output power are available with different conversion module input
configurations which needs to be specified while ordering. These are:
1. Multi-master
2. Master/slave
3. Multi-master/Slave

Multi-master configuration: In this configuration the inverter system acts as a series of independent inverters
with power rating of each inverter equal to that of individual conversion module. Each inverter has its MPPT
system.
Multi-master/Slave configuration: In this configuration the inverter system acts as a series of separate
inverters with every two modules having one MPPT system. The power rating of the individual inverter is
double that of the individual constituent module.
Master/Slave configuration (with a single master): In this configuration the entire inverter system
functions as a single inverter with the power rating of the system equal to the sum of power rating of its
individual constituent modules. The whole system has a single MPPT system.

7. Grid Support for Utility Interactive Inverters

With greater share of renewable energy being integrated into the grids worldwide, there are greater
expectations from renewable sources. They should now play an active part in maintaining the security of the
grid. For doing so they need to constantly interact with the grid and have a dynamic response depending upon
the status of the grid. The PV industry is no exception. With expectations of steady rise in share of PV power in
the overall power generation, PV industry needs to make significant contribution to the grid support and
stability services. Indian Electricity Grid Code (IEGC) elaborates the facilitation of the development of
renewable energy sources by specifying the technical and commercial aspects for integration of those
resources into the grid.

8. Efficiency of an Inverter
The efficiency of an inverter is an important but not the only consideration while choosing an inverter.
Inverters have an efficiency curve which means they have different efficiencies at different levels of loading.
There are three kinds of efficiencies:
 Peak Efficiency: The efficiency of an inverter when it is operating at its rated capacity. For some inverter
it can be as high as 99% but this is not the final word when it comes to inverter efficiency.
 CEC (California Energy Commission) Efficiency:
𝜂𝐶𝐸𝐶=0.04∗𝜂10%+0.05∗𝜂20%+0.12∗𝜂30%+0.21∗𝜂50%+0.53∗𝜂75% +0.05∗𝜂100%

 European Efficiency:
𝜂𝐸𝑈=0.03∗𝜂5%+0.06∗𝜂10%+0.13∗𝜂20%+0.10∗𝜂30%+0.48∗𝜂50% +0.20∗𝜂100%
Tenders mention a minimum efficiency requirement. They also ask for efficiency at different loading such as
25%, 50%, 75% and 100%.
9. Derating
This is a protective measure taken by manufacturers to avoid high inverter and module temperature as this
causes damage to the PV system. Today, inverters have very high efficiency sometimes reaching as high as 99%.
The rest are losses which are dissipated in the environment as heat. Taking example of an inverter with 2500
kVA output at 50 degree centigrade, even 1% is large amount of heat, enough to damage ICs. When the ambient
temperatures reach beyond a certain level the inverter even with its cooling measures are not able to cool to
safe levels and so it starts reducing its output (this is termed as derating). This reduction in output generally
starts at around 42-45 degree centigrade. Many a times the customer asks for the inverter output at a
temperature (50 degree centigrade). Thus, inverter companies provide ‘extra capacity’ (over the capacity
mentioned in the name) so that when the temperature reaches 50 degree centigrade it provides the named
power.

10. Warranty and service agreement

The post installation services, such as warranty, must be carefully chosen to provide favourable repairing,
servicing, schedule maintenance as well as preventive maintenance for a sufficient longer duration. Most of the
inverters provide, more or less, 5 years warranty and 10 years of service agreement.

The following features differentiate a ‘smart inverter’ from an ordinary inverter. Therefore, must be
considered as desirable features before considering an inverter.

1. Anti-Islanding [Islanding detection]

This function detects the formation of unwanted electrical islands in the grid. Once detected, it immediately
disconnects the inverter from the grid. Such an island may form when the load on the on the PV or the battery
storage system is almost equivalent to the feed in current to the system. If the grid failure occurs in such a
situation there are chances that an unwanted island forms and the PV or the battery storage system continues
to supply power to the load. The inverter needs to detect such a situation and immediately disconnect from the
grid.

2. Voltage Ride-Through [Grid support depending on grid voltage]

This feature requires the inverter to constantly check the grid voltage. There are predefined thresholds which
when breached the inverter needs to respond as specified. Technical standards like UL 1741 SA specify the
thresholds and the actions that need to be taken by the inverter when these thresholds are breached.
The regulations provide a curve which specifies the mandatory thresholds beyond which the inverter should
stop supplying power to the grid. It also specifies the time through which the inverter can rides through i.e. it
supplies power/reduces power supply but does not trip and waits for the grid to normalize. There are two
ways in which the inverter may respond to non-permitted over and under voltages. These have been captured
through two different modes of operation:
Momentary Operation: In this mode of operation the inverter continues to feed in power upto a certain set
point in time after the grid voltage has passed the concerned threshold before it starts the shutdown process.
Under this mode of operation, the above curve specifies the length of time the inverter must continue feeding in
when the thresholds are breached in order to fulfill its obligation under voltage ride through.
Momentary Cessation: In this mode of operation the inverter reduces its output to zero upto a set point in
time after the grid voltage has crossed the concerned threshold before it starts the shutdown process. Under
this mode of operation, the above curve specifies the length of time the inverter must reduce its output power
to zero when the thresholds are breached in order to fulfill its obligation under voltage ride through.
By default, the inverter operates in the Momentary Operation mode.

3. Frequency Ride-Through [grid support depending on power frequency]

The inverter keeps a track of the grid frequency. The frequency ride through feature mandates the inverter to
provide backup to the grid at times when the frequency of the grid is wavering. The inverter should keep on
feeding power to the grid, even after the thresholds set by the regulations are breached till a time period
specified in the regulations. After this it starts the shutdown process. The time within which the inverter should
be shutdown (Must Trip) is set using an adjustable parameter.

4. Specified Power Factor [cosϕ]

The reactive power output of the inverter is controlled by varying the power factor [cos ϕ]. The power factor
might be positive or negative. By default, it is set to 1.
 Figure: Diagrammatic representation of power factor with example

It is to be noted that when the voltage drops the inverter provides leading capacitive reactive power (positive
cos ϕ) while when the voltage rises the inverter supplies inductive lagging reactive power (negative cos ϕ).
This way the inverter is able to provide a grid stabilizing service.