Solar Packages
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The easy part was deciding to go solar.
The slightly trickier part is now choosing the right system for your needs. But we’ve got your back on that one.
As your energy mate, our Huglo team have done the hard yards for you and put together a range of inverter alternatives to suit a variety of budgets and requirements. Here, we explain each level, alongside giving you more information about the high-quality inverters we choose to install.
Your solar panels capture sunlight and convert it into direct current electricity (DC). Your solar inverter then converts this DC power to alternating current (AC), the type of electricity we use in our homes.
The inverter is the most important part of your solar system and often overlooked to concentrate on solar panels. It’s the smarts of your solar system and does the heavy work to allow you to use your own generation.
The appliances in your home run on AC, not DC, which is why the solar inverter must change the DC output that is collected by your solar panels. The inverter receives the DC power, converts it to AC power and sends it to your distribution box.
From here is can then be delivered to the home or business to power all of the appliances as needed. From the distribution box, the excess power is then sent back into the grid.
Inverters can be a single point of connection that manages the DC power from all your solar panels, or micro-inverters, which are attached to each individual solar panel. Inverters come in a range of sizes, depending on how many solar panels you install as well as 1-phase or 3-phases.
Like solar panels, the Clean Energy Council has an approved list of inverters that meet the standards required of the National Electricity Market.
Note: This blog covers solar inverters only, we will outline information about hybrid inverters that additionally allow for the connection of storage battery in another blog.
Now you have a good idea how the inverter provides the smarts to your solar system, let’s take a look at the inverter packages Huglo Solar choose to install.
Note: You can find out more about what solar panel packages we offer here.
We have three inverter package levels:
1. Quality
2. Premium
3. Ultimate
The main differences between each package are budget, technology, efficiency, and warranties. The inverter is super important as it provides the smarts to turn your DC power into usable AC power for your home.
No matter which package you choose, you have quality inverters that have been carefully vetted and chosen for their high-quality production standards, their overall performance and their affordability. To put it simply - we don’t deal in the cheap end of the market!
It’s also worth understanding that you can mix and match your solar and inverter packages. For instance, if you’re on a tighter budget, you might want to go for an Ultimate solar package and a Quality inverter package.
The features Huglo Solar believe that are most important are technology, warranty, and local support.
Sungrow is a Chinese company founded in 1997. It has had local support operations since 2012 and is based out of North Sydney. Sungrow inverters are traditional string-based systems and are a great value purchase. Sungrow mentions that they have deployed more than 160GW of inverter capacity worldwide.
Sungrow inverters are quite popular in Australia given their ease of install, warranty period and great value price point. Sungrow inverters sold in Australia come standard with a product warranty period of 10 years.
Why choose a Sungrow inverter?
Sungrow inverters are the perfect option for customers who want a great quality product at the best ‘bang for your buck’ price point. While this is the entry level system for Huglo Solar, you will find that this would the equivalent premium option for many other solar retailers. Huglo Solar has no problem in recommending this product to our customers and we have installed plenty of these inverters.
SolarEdge is an Israeli company founded in 2006. In Australia,the company is based in East Melbourne and they have field technicians acrossthe country.
SolarEdge is known for the innovative concept of a stringinverter matched with individual 'DC optimisers' on each solar panel. These optimisers allow:
Safety features of SolarEdge inverters include an integrated SafeDC and Rapid Shutdown technology. This feature automatically de-energises DC cables’ to a "touch safe" 1V whenever the inverter is switched off.
SolarEdge have one of the best standard inverter warranties in the industry at 12 years, which can be extended to 20 or 25 years. The optimisers are warranted for 25 years.
Why choose a SolarEdge inverter?
We like SolarEdge inverters due to their unique DC optimsation of panels, great warranty and panel optimisation. SolarEdge are also developing ‘plug and play’ features to enable the addition of a battery of EV charger in the future.
Enphase is headquartered in the United States specialises in the development of microinverters for the solar market. As discussed above, microinverters are miniaturised inverters that work on a per-panel level. It's a very different approach to a single string inverter working with multiple solar panels, as is more commonly the case with solar power system installations.
Enphase microinverters are a top-quality product (hence in the Huglo Solar Ultimate Package) and provide a number of advantages over string based inverter systems. This includes more flexible design options for tricky roof footprints, better management of shading issues due to per panel optimisation and monitoring.
Given the microinverters convert DC power to AC at the panel, there are safety benefits given the voltage will be lower on the waiting to your distribution box. Enphase microinverters come with a 10-year warranty, covering defects in workmanship and materials.
Why choose an Enphase microinverter?
The Huglo Solar team really like the Enphase microinverters given their design flexibility, panel optimisation and monitoring, as well as the safety benefits from a lower voltage on your roof. Enphase microinverters do cost more that our other package options, typically 30% more, but the quality of product warrants the higher cost.
Congratulations! You’ve make it to the end our inverter comparison. It's a great effort!
If you're still on the fence about which package to choose, we do have a few general recommendations:
• If you want the best bang for your buck, go for Sungrow.
• If you value the benefits of lower votage , pick the Enphase microinverters.
• If yoour roof has shading or is tricky to add solar panels, we suggest either the SolarEdge or Enphase products.
At the end of the day, every customer has unique electricity needs. That's why we focus on customising our packages to suit your individual circumstances. Please get in touch with us to discuss your solar requirements, as we'd love to help.
