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The choice of inverter depends on the country of the installation (see table 1):
• In countries where functional grounding is not required: inverters with or without transfor-
mers can be used.
• In countries where functional grounding is required, or when a system is installed within 500
meters from the coastline, or when the module is integrated into the roof (i.e. BIPV): inverters
with galvanically isolated transformers must be used.
Irrespective of the installation country, please follow the instructions for the use of inverters
with transformators as provided in the following section „Functional grounding.“ Also, refer to
the specification and instructions as provided by the inverter manufacturer.
Install a functional grounding to the DC side of the solar array, when:
• you install in a country where functional grounding is required according to table 1.
• you install within 500 m from the coastline.
INVERTER
FUNCTIONAL GROUNDING
INSTALLATION AND OPERATION MANUAL FOR CIGS SOLAR MODULES Q-CELLS SE - EUROPE
5.5 GROUNDING
INSTALLATION SITE
GROUNDING RECOMMENDATION Q.SMART, Q.SMART UF, Q.SMART UF L
COUNTRIES WITHOUT GROUN-
DING REQUIREMENTS
(Belarus, Belgium, Denmark,
Croatia, Czech Republic, Germa-
ny, Estonia, Finland, France,
Great Britain, Hungary, Iceland,
Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg,
Moldova, The Netherlands, Nor-
way, Austria, Poland, Romania,
Sweden, Slovakia, Slovenia,
Switzerland, Ukraine)
• No grounding required. Inverters with or without transformators can be used.
• Exception „BIPV installations“: The grounding recommendations for „Countries
with Grounding Requirements“ apply.
• Exception „installation within 500 m of coastline“: The grounding recommen-
dations for „Countries with Grounding Requirements“ apply.
COUNTRIES WITH GROUNDING
REQUIREMENTS
(Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece,
Italy, Kazakhstan, Malta, Mace-
donia, Monaco, Montenegro,
Portugal, Russia, San Marino,
Serbia, Spain, Turkey, Vatican
City, overseas countries and
territories as well as outermost
regions of the EU)
• Functional grounding over a resistor (min. 35k
Ω
) to limit ground fault current to
30 mA (e.g.: Fronius IG Plus with resistive grounding kit, Danfoss Unilynx with
grounding kit).
• Disconnection of the PV system from the inverter when ground fault currents
exceed 50 mA for a length of time of 0.4 sec. (e.g.: Bender RCMA420, DOLD IP
5883).
• Use of inverter with flying inductor topologies without negative potentials at the
generator poles (e.g.: Sunways AT).
• Use of inverter with quiet-rail topologies whereby the string potential is ensured
not to be negative (e.g.: Voltwerk VS with 6 modules per string).
• Framed Q.SMART modules
only
: Functional grounding with grounding kit of in-
verter manufacturer possible (hard grounding)
SPECIAL CASE:
THE PV SYSTEM IS FENCED OFF
(electrical operating room)
• Countries where functional grounding is not required: inverters with or without
transformers can be used.
• Countries where functional grounding is required: Functional grounding is requi-
red. The grounding requirements of the row “Countries with grounding require-
ments” apply. In this special case, hard grounding is permitted for all module
types.
TABLE 1 :
Grounding and inverter recommendations based on country of installation and Q.SMART series module type
