SolarEdge 5000H vs SolarEdge 6000H

[pedrovaz]

Hello,

Sorry to write in English but my Dutch is really not good.

Recommended by a company, I recently put 16 LG Neon R 370W solar panels in my house, with a combined output of 5,920W. I was also told that I could probably get a max of 95% from each panel due to the latitude, so the max real output would be ~5,624W. With it, the company installed a SE5000H SolarEdge inverted which, has the ref shows, it has a max output of 5,000W.


We are only in April and domoticz reports that (due to the inverter capacity) I'm already maxing out the output of my solar panels:

https://imgur.com/a/FmksEQ2

The challenge:
I asked the consultant from the company why haven't they installed the SE6000H unit instead of the 5000, and he said it was because there is a compromise to be made between the capacity of the inverter and the effort of generating power. He said that the more powerful the unit, the more it needs to convert, so while I am maxed out in summer, I get better returns in winter, so I'm better off with the 5000.

The question:
Does anyone have experience with this to make the calculation and check if I'm being played or if indeed it makes more sense to have the 5000 instead of the 6000?

These are the specs for the US version but I think they won't differ much from the EU models:
https://www.solaredge.com...inverter-datasheet-na.pdf

Can anyone help?

Thanks,
Pedro

[Gerco-M]

This is a very common situation for conditions at the moment for many PV owners. Its pretty cold, while very sunny and also windy so then the panels can perform very well, even better then in full summer when there is more sun, but its also warmer.

Also with full continuous sun the panels warm up a bit which drops the power output, but with clouds and sun alternating the panels cool off during the clouds so they will reach their maximum with the next bit of sun. As you see it does not continu for a long time.

For 5920 Wp of power with a 5000 watt inverter its an 84% rated inverter which is fairly normal. This will create the flat peaks as you are seeing sometimes, but throughout the year this should not happen often enough to justify the higher investment of a bigger inverter. So as the consultant correctly stated the lower powered inverter is indeed more efficient most of the year. On a yearly basis it should only "cost" you 1% or less which does not justify the upgrade at all.
I hope this helps!

[busscherski]

You didn't tell us the exact orientation and slope but these sunny conditions are rare.
You just miss 0.2% of the yearly production. The bigger inverter would cost more than that.

In the Netherlands a 5 kW Inverter is the biggest possible on a single phase grid connection.

[Septillion]

I think you has a couple of great answers/insights. But as this is a Dutch forum I'll have to close this for now.