How To Pick A Good Solar Inverter?

What Exactly Is A Solar Inverter?

Solar panels produce Direct Current (DC) electricity; however, all the household appliances work on Alternating Current (AC) electricity. Fortunately, DC electricity can easily be changed into AC electricity by a gadget called an inverter. Thus, the solar inverter becomes a core component that enables a house to use solar electricity.

A solar inverter will always ensure that the produced solar energy will be used first to power the house, only accessing additional energy from the grid when the solar production is not enough. With the right solar inverter for home, you can maximise the available energy that is generated by the solar panels.

Now, there are different types of solar inverters available

Let’s know a bit about them in detail:

1. String Inverter

This is the most common type of residential inverter used. They are by far the most commonly deployed option globally and comprise the vast majority of the world’s inverter market, especially for larger scale systems. The strings of the solar panel are connected to the inverter once installed, therefore called a string inverter. It is the simplest and the least expensive option available. A perfect fit for the cases with no shading and complexity.

2. Micro Inverter

Tiny solar inverters needed per solar panel are termed as micro inverters. They
optimise each panel individually, deliver more energy and can be very useful if you
have a shaded roof condition at your site. In scenarios where your roof is shaded, the
panel level optimization afforded by a micro inverter results in higher system efficiency.

A great alternative to a Micro inverter is using Optimisers + string inverters for shading areas as this will provide both system and panel level monitoring. This will also result in independent optimization of the power output of each panel.

3. Hybrid Inverter

This is a string solar inverter with an added feature of connecting batteries to the solar
system and keeps it running even in case of a blackout. It interfaces with the battery
using a technique called ‘DC coupling‘, and its electronics coordinate the charging and
discharging of the battery.

But which residential inverter size do you need?

The size of your residential inverter depends upon the size of your solar panel
array. Generally, the size of a solar inverter is rated in kilowatts(kW)and is the
maximum amount of power generated by a solar system that the inverter can
manage.

The solar panel array capacity can be upto 133% of the solar inverter capacity or
in other words, the solar inverter’s maximum output capacity must be at least
75% of the solar panel array capacity.

The residential inverters are generally located practically nearer to your electricity
meter. Therefore, the best advice is to have a look at the solar inverter’s specification and see whether it will fit near your electricity meter or not!

AT LECA, we provide you with quality inverters that help customers not only in savings, but also doing their bit towards making this environment better. We always make sure that our services meet our customer’s expectations and they have a great experience with us.