inverter shoot-out at high noon [RE-wrenches]

[Bill Brooks]

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John,

Nothing was meant as an insult--so consider yourself not insulted ;-). It
was meant to start a discussion on how does the installer have any idea how
to evaluate, either the reason for staying with the product they are using,
or consider a new product. Performance is only one of many considerations in
that decision.

The post was, however, effective in getting a response out of Chris and
you--and that's good. This testing protocol is not connected in any way to
the CEC ERP rebate, but hopefully through our PIER project it eventually may
become linked.

A performance testing protocol is certainly limited in what it can teach
about a product, but it is none-the-less important to characterize the
operating aspects of an inverter that manufacturing spec sheets do not
cover. Hopefully this will expand technical specification to encorporate
additional meaningful information.

I would not say that we have learned anything earth-shattering about the
inverters tested, but it is very helpful to see how inverters respond to the
limits of their operation. It will also become an important differentiation
point between manufacturers as we see the selection of inverters
proliferate.

I talk with some of the most knowledgeable PV system designers that are in
the field and they are often supprised to learn things about inverters that
are either well-known to the manufacturer and never thought important enough
to share, or are issues that no one ever was looking closely enough to
identify.

I have found far more issues in the field through careful observation than
through a test protocol, but this does not minimize the need for such a
protocol. Thanks for looking through it and please comment on it as you
can--it is far from perfect and we know that very well.

Bill.

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