Intersolar Europe: A new variety of innovative solar inverters

06/19/2017 | Print view

Fronius cooperates with Loxone to integrate the charging stations for electric vehicles into self-consumption. - © HS — © HS

Fronius cooperates with Loxone to integrate the charging stations for electric vehicles into self-consumption.

At Intersolar Europe there were two trends for solar inverters: small hybrid inverters that control energy storage solar strings and charging stations of electrics vehicles. For commercial inverters the main focus is on reducing costs. In the case of commercial converters, the main concern is to reduce cost and to optimize self-consumption.

Intersolar 2017 in Munich was a real innovation show. Who thought that solar modules and inverters were technically matured, saw himself deceived. The suppliers of string inverters and battery charging technology had a lot to offer. It is clear: the power density of the inverters is increasing, the devices become more compact. For the smaller devices, the battery inverter is integrated into the string unit. And with the larger equipment for the project business, the costs continue to fall. Again, the devices are more compact and easier to install.

Hot core in the inverter

SMA has kept its feet for a few years, as far as real innovations are concerned. The engineers from Niestetal now had a completely new inverter concept. The Core 1 is a string inverter for commercial applications with 50 kilowatts of power. He implements the new concept of the so-called hot core. This means no atomic reactor, but the special arrangement of the cooler in the device center.

Fronius reports an increase of 37 percent

In the segment of small inverters for private customers, the standards are set by smaller providers such as Fronius or Kostal. "We have a crazy year that challenges us very much," comments Martin Hackl, head of the Solar Department of Fronius. "Our plans were far exceeded. By the end of April, we had a 37 per cent higher order backlog than in the previous year. At the moment it's just a lot of fun. "

Fronius has already begun years ago to optimize its Snap-Inverter for its own consumption. The battery is controlled by the inverter, which also manages the solar strings. In addition, relay contacts are available for free connection, for example, of current-intensive consumers. Emergency power is also possible: "Emergency power is a topic that electrifies every sales talk," confirms Martin Hackl.

Kostal shows the new Plenticore Plus

Kostal from Hagen also showed great interest in Munich. The new Plenticore storage inverter carries the program already in its name: Plenti is borrowed from the English Plenty, which means as much as variety. Core is not to be confused with the core concept of SMA, but stands here for all the important functionalities, which are combined in one device - the core of the self-consumption system. The inverter has two solar inputs and a third DC input, to which an additional module string or a storage battery can optionally be connected. The memory can also be integrated later. (HS / HCN)

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