SUNSHINE - SUN Swiss Hybrid INvertEr

The introduction of an innovative, cost-effective and energy-efficient inverter concept, the Adjustable Hybrid Switch Inverter (AHS), is set to  change the photovoltaic industry.

Technologies

• SiC
• Inverter
• PV

Background

The solar market grows at a staggering CAGR of about 18%, reaching up to 50% growth in Switzerland in recent years. Whereas much has been done for the improvement of the efficiency of the solar panels, the conversion efficiency of the inverter has not significantly improved. SiC based inverters offers superior energy conversion efficiency in comparison to its Si counterpart, while unfortunately, it offers also incompatible high costs for PV applications.

In the Adjustable Hybrid Switch (AHS) topology, a SiC MOSFET is connected in parallel to a Si IGBT for the inverter switch, and the devices are sequentially switched based on current demand. That offers a great trade-off between lower costs and higher energy efficiency.

Goals

The vision of SUNSHINE is to demonstrate a new inverter topology for photovoltaic applications, the so called Adjustable Hybrid Switch inverter (AHS). In this project, we aim to demonstrate that this topology is able to both reduce costs of SiC inverters while offering comparable efficiency.

The performance will then be benchmark against the results in full Si and full SiC inverters investigated in the Task G of PECTA. As such, SUNSHINE intends to disrupt PV technology, by introducing a cost effective inverter with superior energy conversion.