Where I live we are beginning to see that we have too much solar power at certain times (and these times will only increase in next years)
So it is becoming more and more useful to disable grid-tied solar inverters. When you don't have any storage or can't consume the power yourself.
This topic is not about discussing why this is necessary, or that there are other options like storage.
This topic is a question/discussion about how you can best disable an active and working grid-tied inverter, to turn it back on later.
First of all, several grid-tied inverter brands are controllable by software. This way you can limit power as much as you want.
Whenever that is possible, that is the best way by far. For example, SolarEdge is commonly used, and you can control them that way.
But, there are a lot of "dumb" grid-tied inverters. Especially for private homes, where there was never thought about the use case of "too much energy".
Every grid-tied inverter here on the market in Wester Europe can always be disabled by cutting of the AC/grid to the inverter. When the inverter doesn't see any grid AC voltage anymore, it immediatly stops working.
This is also used for maintenance.
However, I doubt that it is a good idea to cut the AC everytime the solar power is unwanted. The inverter is for example producing 2000W on the AC side and suddenly you cut the AC. I assume you would seriously decrease the life expectancy of the inverter if you do that a 100 times a year.
To me it would seem safer to cut off the DC side (which would require high voltage DC contactors, but it can be done). This would offer a universal way to disconnect the inverter, regardless of what brand it is.
But the question remains, wouldn't you increase wear this way as well? So it is producing some power, and you cut of the source. It might be better than cutting the AC voltage. Perhaps an easy way to power down the flow coming from the solar panels. Which would require a lot more complicated solution. That would be a soft start/end to the power coming in over DC.
Cutting the AC or DC power will both stop the inverter from working. But what would be a solution that doesn't decrease the lifetime of the inverter?
So it is becoming more and more useful to disable grid-tied solar inverters. When you don't have any storage or can't consume the power yourself.
This topic is not about discussing why this is necessary, or that there are other options like storage.
This topic is a question/discussion about how you can best disable an active and working grid-tied inverter, to turn it back on later.
First of all, several grid-tied inverter brands are controllable by software. This way you can limit power as much as you want.
Whenever that is possible, that is the best way by far. For example, SolarEdge is commonly used, and you can control them that way.
But, there are a lot of "dumb" grid-tied inverters. Especially for private homes, where there was never thought about the use case of "too much energy".
Every grid-tied inverter here on the market in Wester Europe can always be disabled by cutting of the AC/grid to the inverter. When the inverter doesn't see any grid AC voltage anymore, it immediatly stops working.
This is also used for maintenance.
However, I doubt that it is a good idea to cut the AC everytime the solar power is unwanted. The inverter is for example producing 2000W on the AC side and suddenly you cut the AC. I assume you would seriously decrease the life expectancy of the inverter if you do that a 100 times a year.
To me it would seem safer to cut off the DC side (which would require high voltage DC contactors, but it can be done). This would offer a universal way to disconnect the inverter, regardless of what brand it is.
But the question remains, wouldn't you increase wear this way as well? So it is producing some power, and you cut of the source. It might be better than cutting the AC voltage. Perhaps an easy way to power down the flow coming from the solar panels. Which would require a lot more complicated solution. That would be a soft start/end to the power coming in over DC.
Cutting the AC or DC power will both stop the inverter from working. But what would be a solution that doesn't decrease the lifetime of the inverter?
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