ANNOUNCEMENTS
Today we face the greatest challenge in all human history. Climate change threatens the survival of millions if not billions of our future generations. This has prompted the governments worldwide to act on solutions, primary of which is reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Integration of renewables has been the major focus of governments worldwide. This can be seen from the fact that renewables saw the highest growth rate of any energy source in 2017.
Solar photovoltaic has seen explosive growth this decade due to ever falling prices and favorable government policies worldwide. Inverters are responsible for 61% of total energy loss in solar plants. Out of all components in a solar plant inverter have the highest failure rate. Therefore, a study into the various aspects of inversion technologies would provide a better understanding of the solar photovoltaic industry.
Current trends in the inverter markets have been identified. Top four inverter manufacturers according to 2017 rankings based on MW shipped have been studied. Unique distinctive features of their inverters have been brought out. Grid support features of utility interactive inverters a.k.a. ‘smart inverters’ were studied. Recent developments in inverter standards like UL-1741 SA and regulations in certain states of the USA like California (Rule 21) and Hawaii (Rule 14H) were studied.
The aim of the project is to come up with a report which could be used to gain an overall understanding of the photovoltaic invertor sector around the world with India in focus.
