1 3Kw interveter or 10 300w micro inverter? For 3Kw solar panel system?

weijing3333's picture
weijing3333 started the topic in Tuesday, 28 Jul 2015 at 1:49pm

Any advantage of one over the other?

udo's picture
udo's picture
udo Wednesday, 29 Jul 2015 at 7:53am

This ones for Mr Southey to answer.
Why is it in The Shaping bay forum.

southey's picture
southey's picture
southey Wednesday, 29 Jul 2015 at 9:45am

I'm not a big fan of micro's , but in saying that it just depends on the specific site .
Any inverter itself is a weak point that ( generally speaking ) will only last 15-20 years max even the best ones . Why you would want to put those ( multiple ) up on the roof where they are subject to higher temperatures , are harder to access and much harder to change is beyond me . If it's s tilt system then it's not so bad .
The only advantages are that there is only very low ( <45v ) DC on the roof , you can avoid shadows significantly reducing output ,and the panels can be mounted in a sorts of configurations ( numbers and directions ).
<600v DC is safe when installed by experts , I'm more of the opinion that if you are after the benefits listed above , then optimisers are a much better option. ( they are safer again , as when isolated their is only 1v DC on string side and theoretically more reliable for warranty as they only regulate the DC voltage , and there is still an inverter converting to AC near the switchboard ) . Certain brands like Solar Edge also have a large advantage when storage becomes viable .