PV Microinverters: Balcony Power Plants, Latest Efficiency Rankings, Yield Calculation for Overpowered Mini PV Systems

The market for microinverters is growing, especially in Europe. Driven by rising electricity prices and an easing in legislation since 2024, many mini-photovoltaic energy systems are being installed. Since 2014, microinverters have been studied indoors and outdoors at Paderborn University. In the indoor lab, conversion efficiencies as a function of load have been measured with high accuracy and ranked according to Euro and CEC weightings; the latest rankings from 2024 are included in this paper. In the outdoor lab, energy yields have been measured using identical and calibrated crystalline silicon PV modules; until 2020, measurements were carried out using 215 Wp modules. Because of increasing module power, 360 Wp modules were used from 2020 until 2024. In 2024, another upgrade to 410 Wp modules occurred, taking into account the increase from 600 W to 800 W in inverter power suitable for simplified operation permission (“plug-in”) in many European countries within a homogenized legislation for such mini-photovoltaic energy systems, or “balcony power plants”. This legislation for simplified operation also covers overpowered mini plants, although the maximum AC output remains limited to 800 W. Presently, yield assessments are being carried out in the outdoor lab, which will take at least a year to be valid and comparable. Kits consisting of PV modules, inverters, and mounting systems are also being evaluated. Yield rankings sometimes differ from efficiency rankings due to the use of different MPPT algorithms with different MPP approach speeds and accuracies. To accelerate yield assessment, we developed a simple formula to determine energy yield for any module and inverter configuration, including overpowered systems. This is a linear approach, determined by just two coefficients, a and b, which are given for several inverters. To reduce costs, inverters will be integrated into the module frame or the module terminal box in the future).