In a series of tests conducted by PV Evolution Labs (PVEL) and designed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), SolarEdge outperformed other inverters on a range of variables including light, medium and heavy shading scenarios.
The tests determine the annual percentage of energy recovered by power optimizers and micro-inverters when compared to traditional string inverter systems in shady conditions. SolarEdge achieved 2 percent, 5 percent and over 8 percent greater efficiency in light, medium and heavy shading respectively. It also outperformed all other systems tested in annual energy production.
“The SolarEdge system yielded more energy than the string inverter system in all tests” said Matt Donovan of PV Evolution Labs. “On an annual average, the SolarEdge system recovered 24.8% of energy lost due to shading, while the micro-inverter system recovered 23.2%.”
SolarEdge is a power optimizer that tracks Maximum Power Point (MPP) at module level and helps to mitigate shading losses associated with string or central MPP tracking. Power optimizers gain an advantage over micro-inverters by being able to track a module’s MPP at voltages as low as 5V, therefore allowing SolarEdge to optimize module performance even under severe shading conditions.
“The results of the NREL shading test further confirm what we have stated previously” said Peter Mathews, Vice President of North America Sales & Marketing. “The SolarEdge system offers the highest performing module-level power management at a cost that is similar to other string level PV inverter solutions. Not only do we offer a higher level of shading protection, we also offer an efficiency gain over other module-level solutions.”
As well as providing end-to-end distributed power optimization, SolarEdge Technologies also produces PV monitoring solutions. The company’s power optimizers perform MPPT per individual module while monitoring the performance of each module. The results of the PVEL tests were published on Thursday July 11th
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