Ginlong (Solis) Technologies, a well-known China-based PV inverter maker, launched its latest hybrid inverters – Solis LV Residential Hybrid (9.6–16kW) and Solis Commercial Hybrid (30–60kW) – for the US market.
As their names indicate, the former is designed for the US’ residential solar plus storage applications, while the latter is for commercial & industrial (C&I) use cases. Key among their features, Solis underscores energy independence tailored for different applications. Switching to backup mode under 10 ms, the residential inverter (6-EH2P(9.6-16)K03-SV-YD-L-US) delivers continuous single-phase backup of up to 16 kW for a certain duration depending on the paired battery bank’s storage capacity, during a grid outage or failure. On the other hand, when connected to an external diesel generator (DG) set, it can transition to pass-through mode, bypassing the inverter and allowing AC input of up to 200 A, thereby providing whole-home backup. In addition to the on-grid application, it supports off-grid (without grid supply) and microgrid (local independent grid) configurations. It offers a range of single-phase power outputs, from 9.6 kW to 16 kW, and 3 MPPT channels of up to 20 A DC capacity each.
The C&I inverter (S6-EH3P(30-60)K-NV-YD-H-US) can be upscaled by connecting 6 units in parallel and allows DG sets with capacities ranging from 10 kW to 50 kW. It also supports different batteries, which the company refers to as an open battery ecosystem. This flexibility and scalability address the evolving uninterrupted energy demands of C&I consumers.
The product supports a higher range of power outputs (3-phase) compared to its residential counterpart, ranging from 30 kW to 60 kW. Additionally, the number of MPPT channels also sees an increase to 4 channels with 40 A capacity each. The MPPT channels of both these inverters can support large-format, high-capacity PV modules, which enhances the power density of individual inverters. As a result, it mitigates potential losses due to the clipping of PV power during peak hours of generation. However, the company hasn’t disclosed the reference parameters for PV modules. As the PV modules rarely operate at nominal power due to soiling and shading, among other reasons, inverters paired with additional DC capacities (oversizing) run closer to full load compared to PV plants (DC to AC) of equivalent size for a greater portion of the day.
While the residential inverter is engineered for up to 160% oversizing (DC/AC), the C&I peer is designed for a maximum of 200% overloading to maximize the utilization of PV power. Solis states that the new residential inverter can handle charge or discharge storage current of up to 290 A, further boosting energy harvesting by storing surplus energy generated from PV systems.
