How to Squeeze More AC Power from Solar Panels

When it comes to solar power, there’s more to it than just the shiny blue panels you see everywhere on roofs and RVs. You also have to consider the inverters which turn the electrical DC power into AC which makes it the second most important part of any solar panel system.

And now the new micro inverters created by a company called “Enphase Energy” of Petaluma CA can increase the efficiency of a solar panel system by 5% to 25%.

In a typical setup whether it’s on a roof or an RV, all the solar panels are connected together and the electricity generated is funneled into one inverter. The logic circuit in that inverter is designed to optimize the total current and voltage levels.

The problem in this kind of set up is if the current in one panel drops, it affects the output of the entire system. Something as simple as dust, debris or shade on one panel can make the whole connected array suffer and produce less than optimal results.

But micro inverters created by a company called Enphase Energy of Petaluma CA are set to change all that.

Micro-inverters optimize the voltage-current levels on each panel individually. This squeezes the most power from each panel and then adds it together, increasing the system’s efficiency. Any negative impact on a panel is limited to that module alone and no longer brings the entire system down.

Micro-inverters also have another advantage, flexibility.

You can simply plug in more panels to your array if you need more power. In a traditional solar panel system you can’t really do that because if you add more panels than the inverter can take, you’d have to go replace the second most expensive part of the system: your inverter.