Photovoltaic Collector Controls

Inverters are required to make the PV cell generators compatible with the installed base of electrical consumers, because cells produce direct current and the power distribution grid uses alternating current. A simple electronic inverter is similar in function to the converters used in variable-speed drives to drive the load. One of the many inverters on the market is SMA Technolo-gie s Sunny Boy, which has been used in nearly one million installations and is available in sizes from 400 Wp up to mWp capacities. 

In order to provide a grid-connected inverter, such an inverter must maintain the same frequency as the incoming grid and must detect the loss of the 

Grid-connected inverters can either drive into the grid as a power supply or can supply part of a large load. The third option is to drive the main s current draw to zero, which requires a more delicate balance. The choice among these options depends upon the specifics of the local electricity supply and upon the receptiveness of the supply authority to generators, which are not owned by them. 

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Solar cells, 22 220, 9 729, 23 32. See also Photovoltaic (PV) cells antimony compounds, 3 53-54 dye-sensitized, 26 878 degradation of, 22 139 economics of, 22 140 efficiency of, 23 15 for electricity generation, 23 26 hydrogenated amorphous silicon in, 22 135, 136, 138-139 materials for, 23 14-15 micromorph, 22 140 polymethine dyes in, 20 516-517 silicon for, 22 507-508 silicon purification for, 22 496 stacking, 23 38-39 vitreous silica in, 22 444 Solar collectors, 23 25 Solar constant, 23 2 Solar control coatings, 23 16 Solar desalination, 26 89-94 Solar electricity, 23 51, 52 Solar energy... 

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