Inverter maxed out on ground mounted system 11.4kw

[Mrtimou812]

I have a ground mounted array 13.7kw and 4 more panels to add soon that will bring it up to 15.2kw. I have the entire array pointing south and they all max out production in the middle of the day. My inverter is a single phase solaredge grid tied inverter. I have high voltage DC running 400feet to the house and it gets inverted to AC at the inverter next to my meter. My problem is the fact that every day (almost) I exceed theupper limit of the inverter (11.4kw) and the production in the middle of the day beyond 11.4kw is wasted/lost due to lack of capacity of my system. Can I add a second inverter? does anyone sell a bigger one? Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks

 

[GXMnow]

Since this is a Solar Edge system, that means you have panel optimizers, right?

Could you aim some of your panels a bit west, and some of the panels a bit east? Your peak output will be less, but the array will start making power earlier and keep making power later. It may still top out the 11.4 KW into the inverter, if enough panel still gets enough light, but you could fatten the curve by 2, 3, or even 4 hours. With the "Time of Use" rates here, it could be very helpful to aim a group of panels to the west to keep making solar power into the high rate 4-9 pm time frame.

Yes, you can run 2 inverters. But what is your back feed current limit? 11.4 KW at 240 volts is already 47.5 amps, that should be on a 60 amp breaker. I am guessing you have a 250 amp panel with a 200 amps main, or a 200 amp panel with only a 150 amp main. You could squeeze in a little more back feed then, but not a lot. My NEM 2.0 agreement states a 16 amp peak back feed limit, and back feeding no more than 900 KWH per month. Your agreement probably has similar limits based on your original installed system capacity.

 

[OzSolar]

I have a ground mounted array 13.7kw and 4 more panels to add soon that will bring it up to 15.2kw. I have the entire array pointing south and they all max out production in the middle of the day. My inverter is a single phase solaredge grid tied inverter. I have high voltage DC running 400feet to the house and it gets inverted to AC at the inverter next to my meter. My problem is the fact that every day (almost) I exceed theupper limit of the inverter (11.4kw) and the production in the middle of the day beyond 11.4kw is wasted/lost due to lack of capacity of my system. Can I add a second inverter? does anyone sell a bigger one? Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks

How long has this system been in place? Not very long is my guess. I suspect that after a year you will see that you're only clipping a few weeks out of the year which is totally acceptable and actually a good design practice. IE: Why buy all the extra hardware just for it to be unused 95% of the time?

SolarEdge has some really nice design tools. You should drop your system in there and it will generate the monthly production and clipping numbers. I don't have that 11400 spec sheet right in front of me but 150% array to inverter ratio is what's coming to mind.

 

[OzSolar]

How long has this system been in place? Not very long is my guess. I suspect that after a year you will see that you're only clipping a few weeks out of the year which is totally acceptable and actually a good design practice. IE: Why buy all the extra hardware just for it to be unused 95% of the time?

SolarEdge has some really nice design tools. You should drop your system in there and it will generate the monthly production and clipping numbers. I don't have that 11400 spec sheet right in front of me but 150% array to inverter ratio is what's coming to mind.h

Here's the SolarEdge report from a 22.2kW project I just did. It's has two inverters, 11400 and a 7600. 104% PV on the 11400 and 136% on the 7600. Not much clipping at all and more would be perfectly acceptable.. Any attempt to reduce that would be very expensive compared to energy captured.