Section Introduction: PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEMS

The term “photovoltaic system” spans a wide variation. From off-grid to on-grid and from 1 W to 100 MW, the variety of systems and usage is incredible. The implementation of such a system has always included – other than the photovoltaic source – cabling and power electronics to harvest the sun’s energy and redirect it to the where it is needed: the load.

In the last several years, we have seen a rapid evolution and revolution in the way PV systems are implemented. The balance-of-system (BoS) developers – driven by the constant need to increase performance and improve financial gain – have introduced new concepts, methods and components to the PV systems.

This evolution is also gaining from the latest developments in power semiconductors and components such as new control schemes based on digital processing and new switching elements and materials, among which we can count vertical FETs, SiC and GaN. To these we can add the leapfrog advances in energy storage devices, initially driven by commercial mobile devices, and lately by the automobile industry.

The following article describes “independently integrated solar products (I2SP),” which utilizes the advancement made in technology, as described above, to offer smaller, more integrated and more sophisticated photovoltaic off-grid products to the modern environment.

FPV4_N_Intro_PVS_Handelsman.pdf