TL;DR
Solar clipping is the production lost when a photovoltaic array's DC output momentarily exceeds its inverter's maximum AC rating, so the inverter flattens the peak and discards the excess. It occurs by design in systems with DC-to-AC ratios above about 1.2, mostly around midday in cool, bright weather, and shows on monitoring graphs as a plateau instead of a curve.
What it means
Solar clipping is the production lost when a photovoltaic array's DC output momentarily exceeds its inverter's maximum AC rating, so the inverter flattens the peak and discards the excess. It occurs by design in systems with DC-to-AC ratios above about 1.2, mostly around midday in cool, bright weather, and shows on monitoring graphs as a plateau instead of a curve. Modest clipping is usually economically rational, since oversizing the array boosts morning and evening output more than the clipped peaks cost.
Where it sits in the glossary
Solar clipping is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
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See also
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