My target is installing PV that allows me to make back my investment in five or fewer years when I'm paid about $.06/kwh.
I've found that inverter manufacturers seem to have very little interest in driving down costs. They are more interested in maximizing their sales and protecting their customer base.
I've had very good experience installing obsolete Enphase inverters that are being liquidated. The Enphase M215/M250 units are very reliable. Near bullet proof.
The only flaw I've noticed is the horribly and unnecessarily expensive AC cabling which may be 1/4 to 1/3 of the total inverter cost.
The old Enphase units "just work" when supplied a grid signal and DC power from PV panels. A discouraging trend is for manufacturers to make their inverters work only after some communication with a gateway. This is the case with newer Enphase IQ7s and a ABB inverter I've been attempting to test:
https://www.energysage.com/solar-inverters/abb/5/micro-03-i-outd-us-208/
Though the DC input connectors are standard (MC-4), each manufacturer uses non-standard and proprietary AC connectors. Needlessly. Pointlessly other than to prevent mixing of inverters from more than one source.
We need an open source design that minimizes costs.
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