Publications Details

A Performance Model for Photovoltaic Modules with Integrated Microinverters

Riley, Daniel R.; Hansen, Clifford H.; Farr, Michaela

Photovoltaic (PV) systems using microinverters are becoming increasingly popular in the residential system market, as such systems offer several advantages over PV systems using central inverters. PV modules with integrated microinverters, termed AC modules, are emerging to fill this market space. Existing test procedures and performance models designed for separate DC and AC components are unusable for AC modules because these do not allow ready access to the intermediate DC bus. Sandia National Laboratories' Photovoltaics and Distributed Systems department has developed a set of procedures to test, characterize, and model PV modules with integrated microinverters. The resulting empirical model is able to predict the output AC power of with RMS error of 1-2%. This document describes these procedures and provides the results of model validation efforts.