Re: [pvusers] PV inverter reliability

[subu.muthu@philips.com]

Jeff:

Thanks for the response. I read about the PV inverter failure rate in a paper  from government labs NREL/Sandia  and there 
are lots of activities on this topic. The paper  says that the mean-time for the first failure of the PV inverters is less than five years. 
This paper was presented  in 2001 before the Trace's sun tie was introduced. I guess this paper must mean the inverter 
failure rate for long time.  Please see the report at    http://www.nrel.gov/ncpv_prm/pdfs/papers/149.pdf

Any comments? Any body else experienced the failed inverters?

Subu./

Jeff Clearwater <clrwater@earthlink.net> 05/02/02 12:42 PM

To:        pvusers@crest.org         cc:        (bcc: Subu Muthu/BRQ/RESEARCH/PHILIPS)         Subject:        Re: [pvusers] PV inverter reliability         Classification:

Hello PV users,

I've installed and serviced scores of inverters over the years.  In general your statement is not exactly true.  It depends on the inverter.

Trace SW inverters have an excellent record and have proven the workhorse of the off-grid industry.  Thier DR line also is highly reliable as is the Tiger series and the older U series.  The old Heart inverters also were a workhorse for many years with low call backs.

Sunny Boy inverters have over 100 MWatts now installed in Europe and a 8 year track record there with a very low failure rate.

Trace is having problems with the SunTie line and that may be where you are hearing problems.  Advanced Energy is also having some problems with their GC-1000 series and still working the bugs out of their new MM series. Those may be another source of what you have heard.

It also depends on the installation.  Inverters need to be well ventilated to be happy.

Hope that helps!

Jeff Clearwater
Ecovillage Design


I heard that PV inverter reliability is not good. i.e they fail within  five years.
Is it true?. Is so, PV will not be a successful one considering the high investment cost.

Does anybody - any PV owner have experience with PV inverter failure? What is
the actual failed component? Inverter or the PV module? What is the issue?

Please share your experience (anything you know). It will be very valuable to the PV community.


Subu./

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jeff Clearwater
Ecovillage Design Associates
Home, Community and Village Scale Renewable Energy Systems

2525 Arapahoe Ave, Suite E4, #280
Boulder, CO 80302
1-800-440-2523 PIN7071
Fax:  720-528-7813
clrwater@earthlink.net
jeffc@ic.org

Council Member - Ecovillage Network of the Americas - http://www.ecovillage.org
Founder:  Ecovillage Research, Development, and Demonstration Program:
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~clrwater/RDD/rdd.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~