Sofar Solar is a Chinese solar inverter manufacturer founded in the year 2013: a division of the Sofar Group. The two manufacturing facilities of the company are in Xinyang and Shenzhen in China. Sofar Solar circulates its solar products all around the world. This circulation of solar products is primarily focused on India, Australia, China, and Europe.
A solar inverter is an essential part of a solar power system, whereas a solar battery is an optional piece of equipment. A solar inverter converts the DC electricity generated by the solar panels into AC electricity. This is necessary as appliances use AC electricity to function. A solar battery stores the extra solar energy produced by the solar panels during the day for later use. For example, during the night or a blackout.
Although Sofar Solar had a late start in the world of solar inverters, the company seemed to grow fast. Sofar has advised that their sales grew up to $300 million in the year 2018. Other than solar inverters, Sofar manufactures solar batteries and electric vehicle chargers.
Sofar first made its appearance in the Australian solar market in the year 2018. The products of Sofar were initially rejected by the Clean Energy Council as their solar inverters failed to shut down properly during a failure at the energy grid. Sofar solves all the technical problems it had in its first batch of inverter manufacturing and currently has 41 inverter models approved by the Clean Energy Council.
Why Choose Sofar Solar Inverters?
Efficiency:
The efficiency of the solar inverters is an essential aspect to consider. In general, the standard rates of efficiency are 95 to 98 per cent. The residential G3 range inverters of Sofar have an efficiency rate of at least 97.5 per cent. This efficiency rate extends up to 98.6 per cent for the company’s commercial 60kW solar inverter.
Warranty:
The majority of CEC approved solar inverters in Australia have a warranty of 5 to 10 years. Sofar offers 5.25 years of warranty with its inverters, and this leaves the company at the lower end of the warranty list. However, Sofar Solar offers customers to buy a warranty of 5,10,15 or 20 additional years within 12 months of production. Ask your solar installer for confirmation about the warranty extension before purchasing the inverter if you are interested in buying additional warranty.
The customers must contact the solar installer if they come across any issues regarding the warranty of the inverter. Sofar Solar suggests customers to contact their Sydney office if customers are unable to contact the installer.
The inverters of Sofar have some functionality built-in to their inverters that typical inverters do not have and require a separate device to manage.
These functions are:
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Export Limitation:
The local distribution network in several Australian areas agree to allow the use of solar energy on one condition. The condition is that the solar power system cannot export energy back to the grid. In these cases, many installers will have to install an export limiter with their inverters. But, Sofar has this function installed in their inverters beforehand.
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Monitoring System of Sofar Solar:
The majority of solar inverters are linked with a monitoring system or app via Wi-Fi. Monitoring systems track the performance of the inverters. The residential solar inverters of Sofar come with an LCD display and built-in sound features. These features allow the user to monitor the performance through the inverter.
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I-V Curve Scanning:
This function measures the maximum current, power point voltage, and peak power of the solar panels connected to the solar panels. In other words, this function allows users to identify whether the panel output is reducing more quickly than the normal rate of degradation.
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Data Storage of Sofar Solar:
The inverters of Sofar have a built-in SD card. The SD card records the data of energy production by the system for 25 years. In most solar inverters, this feature is only available on the monitoring system or app and requires an internet connection.
Solar batteries play an important role in a solar power system even if it is an optional piece of equipment. Solar batteries store the extra amount of energy generated by the solar PV panels for future use. This energy storage reduces the amount of energy a household uses from the mains grid and helps us to save money.
The solar batteries offered by Sofar are very easy to install and highly flexible. Sofar battery storages are commonly referred to as AC coupled battery storages. This battery storage is installed to the AC side of the solar panel system and connects directly to the consumer unit of the customer. AC coupled battery storages of Sofar solar are compatible with almost every kind of inverter or micro-inverters available. The Sofar batteries come with a warranty of 10 years and at an affordable price.
Sofar Solar has very limited experience in the Australian solar market. But the inverters and batteries of Sofar have a great reputation in India and China. This means that the company is not small even though it does not have a huge reach in the Australian solar market. Sofar Solar offers their products at a reasonable price in hopes of gaining a fair share in the Australian solar market. Sofar Solar is a considerable option for homeowners who have a tight budget.
Conclusion:
Sofar Solar inverters and batteries seem like a good combo. This is because of the features and technologies that Sofar Solar uses on its inverters and batteries. But there is not enough proof or customer reviews to prove that they are a reliable solar brand. The Sofar Solar products do not have any third party results that proves their claimed quality and performance although the products are CEC approved.
