SMA America Introduces Central Inverter Ideal for Utility Scale Projects

SMA America has expanded its U.S. line of commercial and utility products with the Sunny Central 500HE-US. The new 500 kilowatt solar inverter provides installers with a utility scale solution that features the industry’s best efficiency in the medium voltage category.

Leveraging more than 25 years of experience, the SMA Sunny Central 500HE-US is built on proven technology already in use in Europe but is specially configured to meet U.S. requirements such as the UL 1741/IEEE-1547 standard.

The new central inverter couples to an external medium voltage transformer to accommodate long distance power feeds to distribution substations, making it ideal for utility installations. Two units can also be combined in a packaged solution with only one double-winding transformer to provide a true megawatt station.

“By engineering the system to connect to an external transformer, SMA customers will benefit from best-in-class efficiency, resulting in the lowest possible installation costs and improved returns,” said Erik Bakke, senior sales manager for commercial projects at SMA America.

Integrated grid management features such as grid operator-controlled power limitation and control of reactive power will be made available based on utility and project requirements, ensuring the Sunny Central 500HE-US provides unrivaled grid support.

An updated user interface features a large graphic display that provides a view of daily plant production as well as the status of the inverter and utility grid. With a Modbus® Gateway, the high efficiency inverter is compatible with both custom SMA monitoring solutions and third party applications.

The new central inverter also features world-class reliability, in part due to its variable speed, forced-air cooling system and NEMA 3R, outdoor rated shell. The Sunny Central 500HE-US includes a standard five year warranty, with options to extend up to 20 years.