Independent European Research Organization Determines: SolarEdge’s Multi-Layered Safety Features Help Exceed Industry Standards

November 14, 2023 – SolarEdge Technologies, a global leader in smart energy, today announces that its Sense Connect technology and SafeDCTM advanced safety feature have successfully passed validation tests performed by the scientists at TNO¹, an unaffiliated European research organization and the largest of its kind in the Netherlands.

Introduced to the market in 2022, SolarEdge Sense Connect is an industry-first technology that detects temperature increase at the connector level in order to prevent potential electric arcs from occurring. Abnormal connector overheating may happen due to faulty installations or damaged connectors. SolarEdge Sense Connect is designed to stop power flow as a safety measure, before an arc can occur. The SolarEdge Sense Connect technology joins an expanded range of safety features, among them SolarEdge SafeDCTM technology designed to automatically reduces the DC voltage to touch-safe levels (1 Volt DC per power optimizer) during potential grid failures or inverter shut down, enabling quick intervention in case of emergency, and also helping to protect installers and Operation and Maintenance providers during operations.

The validation test was performed in TNO’s “Solar Laboratory” in Petten, Netherlands. The research organization was commissioned to test the SolarEdge Sense Connect technology integrated within the S-Series range of smart Power Optimizers. Sense Connect perfectly detected overheated connectors and shut down the power flow to the inverter, preventing the occurrence of an arc flash. The SafeDCTM feature also mitigates the risk of parallel arcs.

The UL1699B compliant AFCI was also validated in order to demonstrate the performance of SolarEdge’s multi-layered approach to safety.

N.J.J. (Nico) Dekker, Medior Scientist Specialist at TNO, commented: “At TNO's state-of-the-art facilities, we performed numerous tests at multiple power levels, simulating different conditions of real-life scenarios, to assure the validity of each safety feature. SolarEdge’s safety mechanisms successfully passed all the tests performed by TNO.”

Want to see what the TNO tests looked like? Watch this video

¹Commissioned by SolarEdge, TNO tested the AFCI, Sense Connect and SafeDC of S440 optimizers and SE3680H inverter for operation (1PH Residential system without battery).