Compare solar inverters in NZ

It converts the DC power your panels make into the 230 V AC power your home and the grid run on. It is also the brains of the system: it hunts for the best operating point on each string, reports production to your app, and manages grid export. The gap between the highest and lowest weighted efficiency across the 23 inverters here is 2.5 percentage points, so reliability and support usually matter more than the last decimal of efficiency.

A string inverter is one wall box running panels wired in series, a hybrid is a string inverter that can also charge and manage a battery, and microinverters put a small inverter behind every panel. Of the 23 inverters here, 7 are string models, 14 are hybrids and 2 are microinverter systems. Shaded or multi-direction roofs lean micro; simple roofs usually get better value from a string or hybrid unit.

That is deliberate. Panels rarely produce their full rated output in real conditions, so installers routinely oversize the array to about 133 percent of the inverter rating, for example 6.6 kW of panels on a 5 kW inverter. You harvest more in the mornings, evenings and winter, and the small amount clipped on perfect middays is a fair trade.

Panels are typically warranted for 25 years or more, while most inverters last 10 to 15 years, so budget for one inverter replacement over the life of the system. Standard warranties here run from 5 to 25 years. Registering the unit online often extends cover for free, so check the warranty extension row before you buy.

Not necessarily. An AC-coupled battery brings its own inverter and can be retrofitted alongside any model on this page, while a hybrid accepts a DC-coupled battery directly without a second box. 14 of the 23 inverters here are hybrids, and going hybrid up front usually costs less than swapping the inverter when the battery arrives.

By default, nothing runs: grid-tied inverters must shut down in an outage so they cannot feed power into lines that workers are repairing. Keeping the lights on needs a battery plus an inverter with backup capability, and sometimes extra hardware like a backup switch box. Check the backup capability row before assuming your solar keeps working.

Fanless models are close to silent, while fan-cooled units make a soft hum on hot, sunny days, which is why installers keep them off bedroom walls. 18 of the 23 inverters here use a fanless design, and published noise figures start at 25 dB. In a garage or on an exterior wall, noise is rarely a concern.

If your home has three-phase power you will usually want a three-phase inverter so generation is balanced across all phases: 7 of the 23 inverters here are three-phase models. A single-phase inverter can still work on one phase of a three-phase home, but check your export limit with your lines company first. The phase row above shows which is which.