[RE-wrenches] 300W 72 cell micro inverters

Jarmo.Venalainen at schneider-electric.com Jarmo.Venalainen at schneider-electric.com
Wed Feb 11 08:09:20 PST 2015


Hi:

It's all about cost versus benefit.  The following goes through it in more 
detail.

http://enphase.com/global/files/Enphase_White_Paper_Module_Rightsizing.pdf

With large commercial systems, the best return on money invested is with 
30% to 70% oversizing.

JARMO
_____________________________________________________________________________________ 


Jarmo Venalainen  |   Schneider Electric   |  Xantrex Brand  |   CANADA  | 
  Sales Application Engineer 
Phone: +604-422-2528  |   Tech Support: 800-670-0707  |   Mobile: 
+604-505-0291 
Email: jarmo.venalainen at schneider-electric.com  |   Site: www.Xantrex.com 
|   Address: 3700 Gilmore Way, Burnaby, BC V5G4M1 








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From:
Dave Click <daveclick at fsec.ucf.edu>
To:
re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org, 
Date:
02/10/2015 07:12 PM
Subject:
Re: [RE-wrenches] 300W 72 cell micro inverters
Sent by:
"RE-wrenches" <re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org>



Regarding the clipping, which the power electronics guys would rather I 
call "power limiting"...

To be clear, "Longer 100% production around noon" (implied in that image 
that this is somehow beneficial) means "this system could have produced 
more energy but didn't because the inverter was too small." Assuming 
similar efficiencies, a 300W micro-inverter clearly would have produced 
more energy on that day than the 250W inverter. I imagine that what you 
mean was that if you're locked into a certain ac limit here (either you 
can only use a 250W micro, or maybe your service conductors limit your ac 
rating) then yes, a higher dc/ac ratio may have more power limiting but 
will produce more energy at the expense of your kWh / kWdc yield (a 
consideration for some projects).

Given that the ABB inverters have their highest efficiencies at the higher 
end of their power outputs, which is not where PV modules typically 
operate (unless you stick a 400W module on it), I'm curious whether a 
typical 280W module would actually produce more energy over a year with an 
Enphase 240W vs the ABB 300W in most locations. Over the full Enphase 
power range it's more efficient than the ABB:

At ~100W dc input, Enphase is at about 96.4% efficient and the ABB 300W is 
at 95.8%. 
At ~250W input: Enphase 96.4%, ABB 96.1%. 
And yes, at 315W input: Enphase 76.2% steady-state, ABB 96.4%.

It could go without saying (but I have momentum) that you should not spend 
$2000 on a larger inverter(s) that will help your array produce $200 more 
energy over its 25-year life. It's up to you to figure that out given your 
site conditions and as noted in the last thread that addressed this topic, 
weather data probably underestimates the benefit due to its averaging out 
most short-term edge-of-cloud effects.

Anyway, maybe C250s would meet the OP's needs and they're actually the 
slightest bit more efficient than the standard 240W unit. That is, until 
you add the transformer since the output is 220-248V L-N. That presumably 
makes the ABB the efficiency winner, but hopefully the above is still 
useful. Sorry, no personal experience with any of the ABB/APS/C250 units. 
I probably should have opened with that to save you some time.

DKC

On 2015/2/10 13:05, Jarmo.Venalainen at schneider-electric.com wrote:
Hi: 

One thing to keep in mind with clipping, (module over sizing), is that if 
a system has 10%-15% off clipping, that will not affect total annual 
energy harvest and depending on dust and temperature conditions will 
likely even improve it. 

Heres' a graph which shows the energy harvest graphically for a 250W 
module with a 250W inverter and a and 300W module with a 250W inverter. 

  
Please note the graph does not include any dust effects.  To compensate 
for dust, the modules should always be of the order of 4% more powerful 
than the inverter, unless you plan on washing modules every month. 

Related to this, large commercial systems we have been supplying inverters 
to are 30-70% oversized as the sinking cost of modules makes the return on 
investment come out as maximized in that range of oversizing, 

JARMO 
_____________________________________________________________________________________ 


Jarmo Venalainen  |   Schneider Electric   |  Xantrex Brand  |   CANADA  | 
  Sales Application Engineer 
Phone: +604-422-2528  |   Tech Support: 800-670-0707  |   Mobile: 
+604-505-0291 
Email: jarmo.venalainen at schneider-electric.com  |   Site: www.Xantrex.com 
 |   Address: 3700 Gilmore Way, Burnaby, BC V5G4M1 








*** Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail



From: 
Drake <drake.chamberlin at redwoodalliance.org> 
To: 
RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>, 
Date: 
02/10/2015 06:51 AM 
Subject: 
Re: [RE-wrenches] 300W 72 cell micro inverters 
Sent by: 
"RE-wrenches" <re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org>




That  would be at the 120% rating, so by rule of 
thumb, OK. I have a ground mount that has a 
ration of 1.15% with M-190s (figuring 199 W / 
inverter). It has quite a bit of clipping in the 
spring. It has optimized tilt for the location. A 
ballasted roof mount with a 10 or 15 degree tilt 
likely wouldn't have that issue.

This system went in the spring of 2010, and has 
only  had one M-190 failure out of 24, amazingly enough.

At 10:22 AM 2/9/2015, you wrote:
>What do you typically get out of a 300 watt panel for production when you
>are grid tied? I know in theory (STC) it is a 300 watt module but we
>rarely if ever (except in very cold weather)see near that for an output. 
I
>use (as a general, 77 degrees F) design parameter, 77% for overall power
>production output output. I'm sure you would get a little clipping, but I
>guess a significant amount would depend on a number of variables on the
>site, time of the year, weather conditions, etc.
>
>Daryl
>
>
> > Yeah....if you're OK with a not insignificant amount of clipping going 
on.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] 
On
> > Behalf Of penobscotsolar at midmaine.com
> > Sent: Sunday, February 08, 2015 2:33 PM
> > To: RE-wrenches
> > Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] 300W 72 cell micro inverters
> >
> > Hey Jason,
> >    The M-250's work well with LG 300 watt (60 cell) modules.
> >
> > Daryl
> >
> >
> >> Hi Jason,
> >>
> >> The Enphase C250 Microinverters for three-phase commercial
> >> applications does work with 72 cell modules.
> >>
> >> On Sun, Feb 8, 2015 at 12:58 PM, Jason Szumlanski <
> >> jason at floridasolardesigngroup.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>> The ABB micros seem to be solid and easy to install. We have two
> >>> sites with them with no issues. Unfortunately, the monitoring system
> >>> sucks compared to Enphase and was far more difficult to set up. I
> >>> really wish Enphase would come up with a good 72 cell option because
> >>> we find ourselves competing with 300W modules occasionally, and
> >>> consumers (irrationally) jump to the conclusion that bigger is
> >>> better.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> [image: Logo-Sq-80.png]
> >>>
> >>> Jason Szumlanski
> >>>
> >>> Principal Solar Designer
> >>>
> >>> Florida Solar Design Group
> >>>
> >>> (239) 491-8010 office
> >>>
> >>> (239) 410-4985 mobile
> >>>
> >>> Authorized Sales Agent for Fafco Solar
> >>>
> >>> [image: Fafco-Solar-Enphase-Logo.png]
> >>>
> >>> License CVC56701
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On Sun, Feb 8, 2015 at 3:15 PM, Bill Hennessy <bill at berkssolar.com>
> >>> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> Hi folks--
> >>>>
> >>>> We're planning a micro inverter install using 300W 72 cell modules
> >>>> for an area with a fair amount of shading. The choices we've found
> >>>> are ABB micro
> >>>> 0.3 or APS YC500A.
> >>>> Any stories to tell about either of these or another suggestion?
> >>>>
> >>>> Thanks for your time.
> >>>>
> >>>> Bill Hennessy
> >>>> Berks Solar, LLC
> >>>> 371 Centennial Rd
> >>>> Mertztown, PA 19539
> >>>>
> >>>> o 610 682 4300
> >>>> c 484 560 4666
> >>>> NABCEP certified installer
> >>>> PA contractor #44411
> >>>> www.berkssolar.com
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
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> >> --
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> >> Cordially,
> >>
> >> Nick Soleil
> >> *Enphase Energy* | Field Applications Engineer
> >>
> >> office 707-763-4784 <%28707%29%20763.%204784> x7267 cell 07-321-2937
> >>
> >> <http://enphase.com/>
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> >> NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer #03262011-300
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> >>
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