Nothing confuses a grid-tied solar newbie more than the fact that they won’t have power when the grid goes down. Standard inverters need the grid to maintain the AC voltage waveform and provide surge power, and without the grid, a standard inverter can’t function. Sorry, that’s just the way itRead More

Operations and maintenance (O&M) is mostly about keeping the status quo of a solar plant. Fix issues. Prevent failures. Hit benchmarks. But in a tech-driven industry, is maintaining the status quo of a decades-old legacy site the best strategy? Many plant owners and operators are facing this question as theirRead More

Can you trust an inverter datasheet? Results from independent testing show that datasheets can mislead buyers: reported efficiency may be impossible to achieve in real-world conditions, and certifications do not guarantee safe operation. With independent testing, inverter buyers and system owners can stop relying on marketing materials and use realRead More

Rapid shutdown probably feels like old news at this point, but the product market is just now hitting its stride. Initially, the NEC 2017 and 2020 code changes directly favored the technology of certain module-level power electronic brands, and early versions of inverter-agnostic rapid shutdown devices that paired with stringRead More

Ask any solar developer, installer or asset owner if they have experienced inverter issues and the response is usually a resounding “yes!” There are stories of manufacturers that failed to honor warranty terms and products that failed to operate upon removal from their packaging. But the most insidious form ofRead More

The success of widely-adopted technologies is often tied to standardization. From video formats to the Internet, and now to the energy grid, the establishment of standards reduces the cost and complexity of systems and enables broad adoption at a global scale. With standards, distributed energy — and the solar sectorRead More

Our annual Solar PV Inverter Buyer’s Guide is a chance to check in with all of the inverter manufacturers – from the market leaders to the up-and-comers – to get a sense of how their technology has evolved and what new products are now available for installation. This year weRead More

Grid-connected single-phase PV and energy storage system inverter provider Growatt has joined the Tigo Enhanced program to bring rapid shutdown solutions to PV installers. Growatt’s latest lineup of single-phase hybrid inverters – the XH series – will integrate Tigo Rapid Shutdown System (RSS) Transmitters, enabling plug and play installation with Tigo’sRead More

Sunrun will start offering SolarEdge’s next generation PV inverter, Energy Hub, for residential customers as part of a newly signed strategic supply agreement. SolarEdge’s tech has been key to Sunrun’s residential energy ecosystem. Together, the companies are focused on expanding value to customers through the offering of products such as smartRead More

As part of our Wire and Cable Management Buyer’s Guide, we asked manufacturers for some installation tips. Here is what they had to say. Working off the roof. Installers are still doing most of the wire management assembly once they are up on the roof. We have seen several installersRead More