Add panels to Sol-Ark system using micro inverters

[Mutt]

I have a Sol-Ark 12K system with 9.6 kw of panels with SOK batteries in the mix. I have a couple of extra panels that I can put on a shed about 100' from my home. I do have AC power to the shed through 8-3 wire and a sub panel in the shed.

My question is this: Can I add the two extra panels I have to the shed and tie them in using micro inverters which would feed back through the Sol-Ark L1/L2 Load side of the inverter?

Thanks in advance.

 

[zanydroid]

They're supposed to go in through the Generator side, to give the inverter the ability to emergency disconnect them if something bad happens. The inverter should still send power through that path, however you may need to check with SolArk to see if they sanity check the power flow on the generator port in AC couple mode.

If by "Can I" you were asking, will it function? Yeah, it will function. And being on grid will make it easier than off-grid case.

Two microinverters will be fine to backfeed up the 8/3, wrt 705.12 current sizing.

 

[timselectric]

It will be fine, as long as the following doesn't happen.
You lose grid
And
The battery is full
And
The loads are less than what the extra panels are producing.

 

[DIYrich]

I have been thinking about this. You need 220v into the shed because most micros are 220v. If the panels are small enough, you might be able to ac couple into the load side if all of it will be immediately used.

 

[Mutt]

Thanks for the responses. I appreciate all of the knowledge here.
I do have 220 going to the shed so that's not an issue.
I can't think of any scenario where I wouldn't consume the power as it's being generated (it would be about 750 watts), but I suppose it could be possible in the late afternoon of a day when the batteries are full and there's no load. What happens at that point?
I'll give Sol-Ark a call to discuss. I didn't know that the Gen input can send power in both directions.

 

[zanydroid]

What happens at that point?

There’s no way to ramp down microinverters other than cutting the relay. So it will export if grid is up. You need to write down the matrix of scenarios and work through it.

Technically speaking you need to get an interconnection agreement for the microinverters.

You will need to ask support for details or check the manual. On the last AC couple manual I looked at (not SolArk) they disavowed export limiting on attached microinverters. If you wanted something that fancy you would have bought an all Enphase system.