7kW and 7.7kW Inverters for Large Residential PV Projects

SMA America, Inc. has further expanded its line of Sunny Boy TL-US inverters with Secure Power Supply, this time with 7,000- and 7,700-Watt models. The higher power ratings of the new Sunny Boy 7000TL-US and 7700TL-US make them suited for large residential PV projects. Like all of the Sunny Boy TL-US inverters with Secure Power Supply, these new models are able to provide daytime power in the event of a grid outage. The Sunny Boy 7700TL-US is specially configured for homes with 200-A service panels, allowing solar installers to maximize system size and energy production without expensive service panel upgrades.

“With the addition of these new inverters, the Sunny Boy TL-US series with Secure Power Supply now includes seven models, starting at 3,000 Watts,” said Henry Dziuba, president and general manager of SMA America and president of SMA Canada. “This wide range of power classes, including two models specially designed for service-constrained systems, offers installers the right fit for virtually any residential PV application.”

Each model of the Sunny Boy TL-US series is equipped with the popular Secure Power Supply feature, which addresses the needs of grid-tied system owners during power outages. It makes it possible for the inverter to provide up to 1.5kW of daytime standby power when the grid is down for charging laptops, cell phones and more, without the need of additional, costly batteries.

Additional features of the Sunny Boy TL-US series include a transformerless design that ensures high efficiency and reduced weight, and integrated dc AFCI functionality meeting NEC arc-fault protection requirements and certified to the UL 1699B standard. It also provides easy monitoring and control features, including a large graphic display and the optional plug-and-play Webconnect data module for easy system monitoring with direct data transmission to Sunny Portal.

With leading CEC efficiencies, a wide input voltage and extended operating temperature ranges from -40 to 140 degrees F, the Sunny Boy TL-US series offers maximum power production under a variety of conditions. The inverter’s shade-tolerant OptiTrac™ Global Peak MPP tracking algorithm and two MPP trackers provide increased energy production for complex arrays with partial shading or multiple roof orientations.

SMA is developing rapid shutdown capability for the Sunny Boy TL-US series to meet 2014 NEC 690.12 requirements. The Rapid Shutdown Kit will be on display at Solar Power International in Las Vegas, October 20-23 and is planned for release in early 2015.