A Low Cost Bi-Directional Grid Tied Solar PV Microinverter

This paper presents a new microinverter topology focused for the cost driven market in the developing countries. This topology is based on the series loaded resonant converter and synchronous rectifiers to allow the bi-directional power flow between the PV source and grid. The main advantages of this topology are as follows: (1) Low cost; (2) Low component count; (3) Bi-directional power flow capability to support reactive power and (4) High semiconductor integration. The proposed topology has the potential for high efficiency energy conversion with component optimization. A 300 Watt laboratory prototype of the topology has been designed, built and tested. Experimental results show that the proposed topology can realize very simple design and is particularly suitable for high voltage (with MPP voltage range of 50 to 60V) low current PV panels.