TCK solar

SOLAREDGE AND ENPHASE

to be updated

TCK Solar offers both SolarEdge Inverters with optimisers, as well as Enphase microinverters. Both are great options and equally popular on the market. TCK Solar will guide and help you make the best decision to power your home.

The task of an inverter is to convert direct current (DC) electricity from your solar panels into alternating current (AC) electricity that you can use in your home or export to the grid. Let’s have a look at the differences and similarities of a string-inverter with optimisers vs. a microinverter.

Enphase

Enphase has been producing microinverters since 2006, but they caught our eye, when they started to collaborate with SunPower and produced the SunPower Maxeon 5AC module with a 25-year warranty. The newest version of their microinverter has been redesigned to be extremely durable by removing all moving parts. We are now offering the use of microinverters with all of our panels, as well as in the Maxeon 5AC module. The main difference to the string-inverter is that the microinverter converts DC power into AC energy at panel level. This means there is no need for another box on the side of your house, the cables from the solar system will be connected straight to your switchboard. This also takes the more dangerous DC current off your roof. Panel level monitoring is also available with an Enphase system, if you add the Enphase Envoy, which will the communicate energy in and output of your system, as well as energy consumption of your household.

Microinverters have long been prohibitively expensive in comparison to string-inverters. However, the pricing has come down significantly and since the installation is often easier, the savings from a string-inverter are often equalised through less labour costs.

Expansion with microinverters can be extremely easy, or a bit cumbersome. Enphase microinverters are connected 11 at a time for single-phase users and 13 at a time for three-phase users. If you have a single-phase system of 11 panel and want to upgrade slightly to 15 panels, a whole new set of cables need to be strung, making the slight upgrade more labour intensive. If, however you upgrade from seven to 11 panels, it’s pretty much plug and play. Again, talk to us about your plans for your all-electric future and we can guide you to find the best way for your household.

We have gotten a lot of questions about the discrepancy between the panels efficiency, i.e. 410W and the Enphase’s output of 349-366VA output. Fact is that a panel will hardly ever give you 100% efficiency, as panels efficiency very much depends on how warm/hot they have gotten. The difference between 410 and 366 is about 11%, which is negligible really when it comes to solar consumption. Enphase’s panels do work from dawn to dusk thus extrapolating more energy. We are happy to talk to you more about this, if you have more detailed questions.

SolarEdge

SolarEdge has inverters that connect the solar panels and the DC energy they produce is routed down to the inverter. The inverter turns it into AC power that you can then use or export. The optimisers are attached to each panel, which gives you the opportunity to monitor each panel’s energy production. SolarEdge optimisers come with a 25-year warranty. As the panels function separately from each other with the optimisers installed, if shading occurs, the panel is dirty, or even has a broken cell, it will only influence one of the panels. If one of the optimisers breaks, only one panel is affected. Alas, if the inverter breaks, the whole system is down. We do, however, work with SolarEdge inverters because they are the best on the market and come with a 12-year warranty. We pair the right inverter and the right optimiser to our SunPower solar panels, so they will give you the most power. There is a chance that you will need to replace your inverter after 12+ years, or if you want to expand your system. Depending on when you are thinking about expanding your system, we can work with you, to make sure that you are set up to easily do this.