Micro Inverters Achieving an optimized design for a 400W solar micro inverter

This article summarises the findings of a paper presented by CEA Tech at the PCIM Digital Days conference, 2020; these describe an evaluation of different wide-band-gap semiconductor-based designs for compact solar micro inverters.

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Standard photovoltaic (PV) power arrays comprise PV modules connected in series. However, the power of such a series chain can be significantly reduced as the modules become unbalanced in terms of their operating conditions. This is due to factors including radiation, shade, orientation, ageing, dirt, and temperature.

These factors can be mitigated, and the solar farm’s yield improved, by tracking the maximum power point at each PV module, rather than at string or multi-string level. This approach also has built-in redundancy; as such, it can ensure continued power availability even if a module’s power electronics fails – an improvement over using a single centralized inverter.