Spreading the inverter capacity across the three wires coming into your home means that you don’t have to push the solar energy as hard to get it out to the grid. You’ll be increasing the local grid voltage less than a single-phase install, and you’ll have less throttling or tripping off due to over-voltage issues. That means more solar power production with our high-voltage plagued Australian grid.

 

Voltage rise related solar issues are one of the biggest problems we see with installed solar power systems. I go in to detail on the causes and solutions for voltage rise issues here.

 

So to reiterate for the blog post skimmers:

If you have a three-phase supply, I recommend getting a three-phase solar inverter. Why? Because it drastically reduces the chance of having voltage rise issues.

 

But not everyone agrees with me on this.

 

There is one downside to using a three-phase inverter, other than the extra cost (expect to pay $300 to $500 more compared to a single-phase inverter). Three-phase solar inverters do make it much more expensive to have ‘Apocalypse Proof Battery Backup™’.

 

What are your options if you have a three-phase supply and want solar power?

 

If you have three-phase supply, you can have either:

 

• A single-phase solar inverter
• Microinverters
• A three-phase solar inverter

 

Any of these choices are valid. It will not affect how you are billed for exports or how much solar energy is self consumed.

 

But, I still recommend a three-phase solar inverter.

 

What is a three-phase supply?

 

Most homes in Australia have a single-phase electricity supply. This means that they have one live wire coming in from the grid.

A three-phase home has 3 live wires coming in from the grid.

This means three-phase homes can pull more power from the grid.  Handy for particularly big loads such as a:

• large air conditioner
• pool heater
• spa
• sauna
• electric car charger
• etc.

And of course a three-phase supply means you can send much more solar energy back into the grid compared to single-phase (three to six times as much depending on your local DNSP rules).

 

What is a three-phase solar inverter?

 

A three-phase solar inverter takes DC electricity from solar panels, chops it up and sends it out as AC electricity shared across a three-phase supply. We are a three-phase solar inverter supplier. If you are interested in our products, please contact us now!