When the panels are able to produce more than the inverter will...

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Quamera

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13/03/19

23:49

Post #: 37754366
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Originally posted by mudguts: ↑

A lot of installers are overdriving the inverter now. ie 3.5kw in panels with say a 3 kw inverter.

Was told by the installers that this was OK as well.

If the total exceeds the capacity of the inverter the excess is wasted (not sure if lost as heat or if any long term system issues).

However it does put your yield up as cost of panels are (now) fairly cheap & output will be consistently higher & inverter working in its efficiency range longer.

Most of the energy suppliers work off your inverter capacity not the panel capacity when working out system capacity export.

As a bit of an experiment I put some water cooling on my panels (small micromist irrigation) to use the evaporate effect. 1 gallon of water evaporating is the equivalent of approx 8000 BTU. Temps on a tin roof in summer would are around 60 to 65 deg cel. The panels are subjected to extreme heat & roll off the production capacity on hotter days.

Wasn't looking to flood the cells just mist them & keep them at a cooler (say 35 to 40 deg range) duringthe day.

Have ample tank water , with excess recycled back to tank (would not use 'hard' townwater as mineral content unkown).

Was on a timer from 9:30 till 3:00 cycling 2 minutes on 5 minutes off (+/-). had the sprays, pump (small 200w unit) & poly lying around. Was surprised in the consistent gains of 12 to 15% (in summer) as the ambient roof temperature was more controlled & closer to the cells efficiency point.

All cells have a roll off in performance as temperature rises (the better ones less so).......

However cheaper & easier just to add more panels.

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When the panels are able to produce more than the inverter will accept the excess power just "evaporates". It isn't dissipated as heat and there are no adverse effects on the inverter.
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