The Swedish Electrical Safety Agency has ruled that some SolarEdge optimizers and one string inverter from Growatt do not meet its electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) requirements – halting their sale in the country. The agency had recently inspected inverters and optimizers from eleven different PV power electronics suppliers. The inspections were carried out to check as to whether the equipment meet the country’s electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) requirements
The agency found that three companies were not in compliance with Sweden’s current EMC rules. As a result, the manufacturers were banned from selling the products that were found to be in breach in the country.
The inspection was triggered by several reports received by the electrical safety agency, in which photovoltaic systems were said to have disrupted the radio communications of the police, aircraft, and the military.
The ban applies to Israel-based power electronics supplier SolarEdge for a number of its optimizers. Chinese manufacturer Growatt was also found to have fallen foul of the regulators, for its 8000TL3-S inverter series, which in Sweden are distributed by Sunnytek Solar Sweden AB, and a second company that has not been identified yet.
“There has been multiple news on SolarEdge optimizers that have shown to generate disturbance for an extended period of time,” Amelia Oller Westerberg, a PV market analyst at the consultancy Becquerel Sweden told pv magazine. ” The Swedish Electrical Safety Agency warned the company already in summer 2020 when it was still performing the study that is the basis for the decision.”
SolarEdge expressed surprise at the banning and claims that the complaints filed with the Electrical Safety Agency came from a handful of amateur radio operators.
