Join each day information updates from CleanTechnica on electronic mail. Or observe us on Google Information!
SolarEdge is understood for prime effectivity inverters, and the corporate was at RE+ 2024 in Anaheim, California, once more this 12 months displaying off all the most recent enhancements and upgrades it has made to its residence photo voltaic ecosystem of merchandise.
Most individuals don’t get excited concerning the white and gray containers that get bolted onto the wall as a part of a photo voltaic set up, however we do. After speaking with SolarEdge final 12 months and diving deep with their specialists once more this 12 months, I’m right here to confidently say that SolarEdge’s inverters, batteries, and know-how is meaningfully completely different and will have you ever asking what model inverter your installer is planning to make use of.
SolarEdge’s Class-Main Inverters
Earlier than we get into that, let’s begin with what SolarEdge is already doing and what prospects and installers should buy at the moment. SolarEdge’s residence hub inverter is the center of the system, and is ready to flip energy from DC to AC with a exceptional effectivity of 99%.
It’s exceptional within the trade and is basically what set SolarEdge aside because the chief within the residential photo voltaic inverter area. Just under SolarEdge’s residence hub inverter in a typical set up is a field with a disconnect the place the DC feeds all faucet in to the system. This can be a magical little connection that Photo voltaic Edge affords and is a crucial differentiator, as a result of it permits the DC from a rooftop photo voltaic system to be despatched on to a devoted DC bus moderately than straight into the inverter.
That is significant, because it permits DC energy to be fed from the rooftop photo voltaic system on to different DC parts just like the battery, a DC EV charger, and even DC home equipment sooner or later. Batteries — like photo voltaic panels — retailer energy as DC and SolarEdge’s design resolution permits them to faucet immediately into the DC bus within the inverter with out having to flip it to AC first.
Permitting the battery to be charged immediately from rooftop photo voltaic is a game-changer, because it drastically improves the effectivity of the general system and minimizes the round-trip losses of going into the battery after which again into the house as usable AC energy.
Flipping the ability from DC to AC and again, also called the round-trip effectivity, is round a ten% loss in a typical system, however SolarEdge’s inverters can do that with a 98% round-trip effectivity. This can be a monumental benefit over its rivals, which need to flip energy to AC earlier than placing it again right into a battery and vice versa when pulling it again out of the DC battery. For owners, this interprets on to the underside line because it immediately produces extra usable energy from the rooftop photo voltaic system and from the saved battery.
The Subsequent Era
SolarEdge’s group doesn’t stand nonetheless. They’re all the time pushing out new merchandise (like their battery), making enhancements (like their DC bus), and making it simpler to put in their merchandise. At RE+, they showcased their subsequent technology {hardware} stack which is because of arrive within the second half of 2025. This new product lineup is an improve to their bottom-to-top residential infrastructure stack and brings efficiencies to each the installer and the home-owner within the type of a streamlined look.
The brand new lineup is actually a stack that mounts the inverter atop a set of 4.4 kilowatt-hour modular batteries. These modular batteries enable the home-owner to buy precisely how a lot power storage they want, with as much as 4 battery bricks per stack for a complete of 17.6 kWh every. Up high, SolarEdge consolidated its residence hub inverter, backup interface, PCS, bus bar, and residential fast-mount system all right into a single unit that stacks cleanly onto the modular battery system.
That not solely makes the system extra aesthetically pleasing, but it surely drastically reduces the time, effort, and price to put in the system. Switching to a modular battery system additionally improves the logistics of the system as the present wall-mounted SolarEdge battery system weighs 220 kilos / 100 kilograms, whereas the brand new battery modules solely weigh 70 kilos.
Which means a single installer can handle these out of the again of a van as a substitute of getting to deliver out a lift-gate truck with a forklift to handle at the moment’s monolithic battery.
This new system options the identical devoted DC bus bar that lets you cost the battery from the DC energy produced by a rooftop photo voltaic system, but additionally affords a major benefit with the addition of SolarEdge’s upcoming bi-directional residence EV charger. SolarEdge introduced the bi-directional EV charger final 12 months and is now showcasing it with its new residence inverter suite.
Because the identify implies, this DC charger faucets immediately into your electrical automobile with a DC connection. At present that’s the CCS1 adapter in North America, however SolarEdge confirms that swapping this out for a NACS-compatible charging cable is a simple operation. Extra importantly than that although, the brand new SolarEdge bi-directional DC charger faucets immediately into DC bus on their subsequent technology inverter.
Which means you possibly can transcend charging your EV with AC when your photo voltaic system is producing energy, and as a substitute faucet immediately into the DC energy being produced by the photo voltaic system in your roof with out having to run it via an inverter first. It additionally means you possibly can energy your house from the DC battery in your automobile, if it helps bi-directional energy output.
Total
Mixed, these bulletins give SolarEdge a major benefit over the competitors. To get the total good thing about the DC bus, you’ll want a SolarEdge Inverter with optimizers on every panel, a SolarEdge battery system, and the brand new SolarEdge bi-directional DC EV charger. That is lastly beginning to really feel like the longer term we have been promised.
That is monumental by way of effectivity and it will possibly additionally faucet into the house’s battery stack for an additional jolt of DC energy if wanted. It’s a ravishing integration not like something we’ve seen from every other photo voltaic provider within the trade and positively units a brand new excessive bar for what’s attainable when integrating — nay, optimizing — photo voltaic, power storage, and EV charging.
For extra details about SolarEdge’s at the moment out there Residence Sensible Power ecosystem or its subsequent technology residence ecosystem with the bi-directional EV charger, head over to the house photo voltaic merchandise web site.
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Need to promote? Need to counsel a visitor for our CleanTech Speak podcast? Contact us right here.
Newest CleanTechnica.TV Movies
CleanTechnica makes use of affiliate hyperlinks. See our coverage right here.
CleanTechnica’s Remark Coverage