Overcoming Inverter Issues

Central inverters represent a single point of failure for a solar installation. Up to 40 percent of all field issues are related to the inverter. When the inverter goes down, all energy production ceases until the unit can be repaired or replaced – a process that can take weeks. While solar modules typically carry a warranty of 20 or 25 years, the standard warranty of most central inverters is generally five to 10 years. At least once or twice over the life of a PV system, central inverters must be replaced.

Furthermore, central inverters can only monitor performance at the system level. There is no visibility at the module level. Because of this limitation, failed or underperforming modules may go undetected indefinitely, and energy harvest suffers.

While detached microinverters address some drawbacks of central inverters, they fail to resolve reliability challenges and actually increase overall installation complexity. Most detached microinverters are simply scaled-down versions of larger central inverters, with similar topologies and components.

SolarBridge Pantheon microinverters are fully integrated into factory-assembled AC modules, which carry a full 20- or 25-year warranty. Reliable by design, SolarBridge microinverters are built from the ground up with patented technologies that optimize reliability.