Solar energy
Power the future with smart, reliable solar energy systems using industry-leading power, real-time control, sensing and communications solutions
Solar energy is at the forefront of designing a more sustainable world. With our industry-leading digital power conversion, current and voltage sensing products and connectivity and communications solutions, you are able to accelerate your development of power-efficient, reliable solar energy systems and easily integrate them with grid-connected resources like energy storage systems and electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
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Why choose TI for your solar energy design?
Achieve highest power density & efficiency
Deliver end-to-end power conversion with advanced real-time control, integrated GaN technology and isolated ICs.
Design for high reliability & performance
Maintain system stability and simplicity with high-precision current and voltage sensing.
Enable fast, flexible communication
Easily connect via the most common grid and user standards and protocols.
Engineering a smarter, more reliable solar application
- Improve power density with our portfolio of GaN FETs, GaN- and SiC-supported gate drivers and bias supplies, and advanced real-time control MCUs.
- Scalable power conversion stage components addressing the power levels from the smallest micro-inverters to hundred-kW central inverters.
- Reference designs with hardware and software for common power topologies.
Reference design
400-W GaN-based MPPT Charge Controller and Power Optimizer Reference Design
This reference design is a Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) solar charge controller for 12-V and 24-V batteries that can be used as a power optimizer in the future.
Reference design
1.6kW, bidirectional microinverter based on GaN reference design
This reference design shows a four-input bidirectional 1.6kW GaN-based microinverter with energy storage capability.
Reference design
7.2-kW, GaN-Based Single-Phase String Inverter with Battery Energy Storage System Reference Design
This reference design is a single phase string Inverter with two string inputs, each able to handle 10PV panels in series and one energy storage system port that can handle batteries stacks from 80V to 500V.
Featured products for high-voltage power conversion
- Fast and accurate current sensors to meet control loop, arc detection and insulation monitoring current sensing.
- Space-saving and cost-efficient solutions for isolated and non-isolated current and voltage measurement.
- Easy-to-deploy devices with examples from reference designs, application notes and software.
Reference design
Analog Front End for Arc Detection in Photovoltaic Applications Reference Design
This reference design implements a four-channel analog front end for DC arc detection in photovoltaic systems, supports DC voltages up tp 1000 V and currents up to 10 A.
Reference design
AFE for Insulation Monitoring in High-Voltage EV Charging and Solar Energy Reference Design
This reference design features an electric bridge DC insulation monitoring method which allows an accurate symmetrical and asymmetrical insulation leakage detection mechanism and an isolation resistance detection mechanism.
White paper
Improve High-Voltage System Efficiency With Zero-Drift Hall-Effect Current Sense (Rev. A)
This white paper explains how to meet the growing need for isolated current sensing while overcoming the technical and cost barriers typically associated with it.
- Industrial-grade microcontrollers, processors and connectivity devices designed to meet 25-year lifetime requirements.
- Support for standard grid and home automation protocols, such as Wi-Sun and Matter, to ease grid integration and connect to EV chargers and storage.
- Scalable solutions across processing, communication and security requirements.
Reference design
Solar Power Line Communication Reference Design
This reference design shows how to implement a Power Line Communication (PLC) for HV DC and AC lines from multiple solar panels to a data agregator connected or embedded to the string inverter input.
Resource
SimpleLink™ CC3301 Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth® Low Energy BoosterPack™ Plug-in Module
The SimpleLink™ CC3301 Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth® Low Energy devices enable affordable, reliable and secure connectivity in embedded applications with a processor host running Linux® or an MCU host running RTOS.
- Industrial-grade connectivity devices designed to meet 25 years lifetime requirements.
- Support for TI wireless solar management system (WSMS), Wi-SUN, Zigbee, PLC and Wi-Fi.
- WSMS enables key features such as fast join times and rapid shut down for solar micro inverters, trackers and other solar solutions.
To get started with WSMS follow the steps below:
Application brief
Wireless Technologies for Solar Micro Inverters and Trackers (Rev. A)
This technical article describes key requirements for wireless communication protocols targeting both centralized and decentralized renewable energy generation infrastructure.
Resource
Webinar: Wireless Technologies for Solar Microinverters and Trackers
In this webinar, you will learn how TI's newest SDK is addressing network formation time and helping manufacturers during fabrication, installation and maintenance processes.
Featured products for Wired and wireless connectivity
18 Apr 2023 | COMPANY BLOG
Analog and embedded processing products are enabling electrification through smarter, reliable and more accessible solar, energy storage and electric-vehicle charging systems.
Technical resources
White paper
Four key design considerations when adding energy storage to solar power grids
This paper addresses these design challenges when adding energy storage to solar power grids: Bidirectional power conversion, Higher voltage batteries, sleek storgae system design and current and voltage sensing.
Technical article
5 converter topologies for integrating solar energy and energy storage systems
Read about the benefits and challenges of different converter topologies and the advantages three-level topologies bring, allowing for smaller passive components and low EMI.
Application note
Interfacing the C2000 with an AFE03x: B-FSK Example (Rev. D)
This application report provides information on how to interface a C2000 device with an AFE031, and send and receive data over a wired coupled interface using frequency shift keying.