impact of photo voltaic system on sound

Sorry, cant comment yet ... but: good topic, I will follow this with much interest since we plan to build a secondary house in our garden in a few years time which is supposed to have a heat pump + the solar panels.

I looked into the idea of having PV installed on our roof a few years ago, and was told that high levels of electrical noise could be a problem with the inverter. Most electrical devices are subject to FCC regulations that limit how much EMI and RFI they are allowed to emit, but PV installations are apparently exempt from this, presumably because it is unacheivable and might stand in the way of their wider adoption in domestic properties. I decided not to bother, although we do have a solar hot water system which works quite well. 

Hi Thomas,

we have some photovoltaic panels on our roof. There is  also noise on the mains. I really can’t say if these two things are related, though.

The inverters needed to convert the DC, as produced by the panels, into AC have been mentioned as possible sources for noise. Simon-in-Suffolk suggested something along these lines, he might notice this thread and explain things further.

I had a PV panel system installed in my previous house. I didn’t notice any detrimental effect on my hifi sound. The inverter was installed in the loft but I’m not sure exactly how it was wired up in terms of existing appliances.

Sounds electrifying...

Surely if your power source is entirely solar powered then there should be a corresponding lack of mains interference unless solar storms are active...

I was thinking about this and was advised to have everthing in the house wired up to the solar system, and keep the naim system on the grid. A balanced power supply could also be thrown in to remove asymmetric mains distortion that causes naim transformer to hum. Lots to think about really.

Thank you for all your comments!

So i think it is better to separate the hifi from the PV. Hope this can be done effectively.

Hi, yes one does need to be careful.. there can be sometimes quite significant amounts of noise created on the mains from the inverter / alternator. These are like massive reversed switch mode powersupplies, and they take the DC from the panels and convert to AC. Traditionally there is a single inverter fed by many panels/tiles.. and one tended to focus on the quality of that inverter.. you payed for what you got. Increasingly these days, each panel or group of panels has its own microinverter.. this is I’m told more efficient when panels are not equally illuminated.. however therefore the noise created  will be dependent on the quality of each panel micronverter. 

Short of getting assurances and statements from the manufacturer of the maximum voltage noise created from the inverter/micro inverter .. perhaps not regular consumer marketing information.. I am not sure what you can do protect yourself. If the manufacturer doesn’t publish this info or give you a gaurentee assurance, I would walk away.

But in short solar panel installation have the propensity to cause significant amounts of RF switching noise on the mains unless vigilant on specification and quality of inverter components used... during daylight of course       But this has nothing to do with asymmetric mains unless your inverter is really shoddy/faulty.

We've had a 4kw PV for about 5 years. We don't make enough to go off grid! We have German SMA panels and SMA duel converters, one for each pitch of the roof to allow for shade as our roof pitches east and west. Obviously we're only producing electricity in daylight hours and we can't hear a descernable difference in sound between day and night time. If you're really worried ask your installer if it's possible for your installation to have the isolating switches (these are required by the electrical regulations in the UK) for the PV system in an easily accessible position, you could then turn off the PV system and the inverter when you're seriously listening should the need arise. I'm using 272, 250DR and PMC speakers with assorted sources. Rich 

We have a dozen panels and a Fronius inverter and I've never felt it made any difference to sound quality from the system (I suppose most listening is done in the evenings when the system is off, but not all). We have a dedicated mains supply for the hifi now but didn't when the panels were first installed - don't know if that would make a difference. 

If you plan a storage battery as part of the system, bear in mind that any issues with the inverter won't be constrained to daylight hours.

We've had panels for about 4 years now. Can't say there is any particular issue over and above normal mains noise. I have a PSAudio PS5 regenerator for source and pre-amp and its monitoring of incoming mains distortion levels doesn't indicate sunny days are any worse than the night time.

The PV system we have uses one large inverter.