The basic idea of isolating the panels with power-point-tracking for each one simply makes sense. That’s just one of the many reasons that a microinverter system should outperform the same panels on a single string inverter. But you can argue the other way too, especially on the price point.

I’m an empiricist – numbers trump any argument. And now, at long last, the numbers are in. Enphase has collected real-world results from hundreds of systems across the US, and found that they average 8% better than what the industry-standard PVWatts would predict. Given that string inverters traditionally under-perform PVWatts, this is a significant advantage.

Study Shows Enphase Installations Outperforming PVWatts Estimates by 8%