SolarEdge provides groundbreaking distributed DC systems that maximize power generation of residential and large-scale PV sites, while reducing costs and complexities. Module manufacturers, integrators and installers benefit from constraint-free site design, full site space utilization, reduced installation time and maintenance cost, module-level monitoring, improved safety, theft prevention, and more.
The company was founded in 2006. Since then SolarEdge has built partnership agreements with module manufacturers and integrators in Europe, USA and Japan, which provide SolarEdge technology alongside their current services.
Technology
The SolarEdge three-fold architecture consists of PowerBoxesTM which perform module-level MPPT, a highly reliable inverter, and a web portal for module-level monitoring and fault detection. The PowerBox is embedded into each module by module-manufacturers, replacing the junction box, or retrofitted by PV installers onto c-Si, thin-film and CPV modules. The system features the following technological advancements:
- Module-level MPPT: A highly-optimized algorithm ensures that each module is constantly kept at MPP, preventing power losses even under panel mismatch or partial shading conditions. On top of the added energy benefit, module-level MPPT is faster than MPPT performed by a centralized inverter, allowing the modules to better react to changes in sun irradiance and temperature, and ensuring that minimal power is lost on cloudy days when changes in irradiance are frequent and fast.
- Highly Efficient DC Conversion: Each PowerBox employs DC-DC conversion allowing it to either boost or buck the output voltage of the module without changing the output power. The DC conversion is highly efficient with a peak efficiency of over 98%.
- Fixed String Voltage: A unique SolarEdge innovation: The string’s voltage is maintained fixed at the optimal point for DC to AC inversion, regardless of the number of modules in a string, their performance, or environmental conditions. The fixed string voltage enables constraint free site design, optimal inverter efficiency and reliability, and reduced installation cost.
- Advanced Power-Line-Communication: All PowerBoxes continuously measure and communicate a range of module-specific status indicators. Performance data is transmitted from the PowerBoxes to the inverter over the existing DC power lines (PLC), eliminating the need for additional wiring. In the inverter, a built-in communication gateway with LAN and wireless connectivity options, enables easy broadband connection to a remote monitoring server.
- ASIC Technology: One key factor in increasing the efficiency and overall reliability of the PowerBox is the elimination of discrete components and their integration into Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs): The high-voltage, high-current, analog blocks are implemented in a high-voltage Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) process, geared specifically for harsh-environmental conditions such as those of the automotive industry. The logic-based digital blocks are implemented in a mature, extremely high-yield process developed by the world's largest semiconductor fabrication plant.
Training
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