Can I connect 5kw of solar panels to a 1kw grid tie inverter?

oeman50 is wrong Solar panels don't LOAD the inverter, they supply it. A bit like your refrigerator uses about 600 watts, but it is connected to a municipal power supply capable of delivering megawatts, but it doesn't get overloaded.

However, there is a possibility of over-driving the inverter. Check the voltage output from the panels at peak illumination. You need to check the specs of the inverter to ensure that the voltage at maximum illumination does not exceed the maximum input voltage of the inverter. Allow at least 10% margin, so that if the panels output 80 volts at peak illumination, the inverter should be good for AT LEAST 88 volts. 20% might be more conservative.

A typical peak illumination might be about 1200 watts per square meter.

No, you can't. By your question, you know the solar panels will put out more than 1 kw during mid day, so you will be overloading the inverter. It probably has some margin, but you risk either tripping whatever protective circuits you have and disconnecting from the grid or, worse, overheating the inverter and having it fail or catch fire. That does happen, especially with the increasing number of solar power installations. It is also not advisable to leave the inverter tied to the grid and having protective circuits trip it off when it overloads, those circuits are not designed for frequent activation.

What I cannot figure out from the information you have given is why someone would put a 1 kw inverter on a system capable of 5 kw. Maybe they assumed you had house loads of 4kw connected all the time? Your inverter may have a load limiter on it to prevent more than 1 kw from going through. That is a control circuit that IS designed for continuous use. But unless you can verify it has that feature from the literature that came with the inverter, I would not assume it is there.

Good answer Paul , I suspected that was the case , keep within voltage parameters of GT inverter and it will not be in trouble.

I'm building the system myself , have found very cheap GT on eBay ($147 , 1kw) and wanted to check one of them first , make sure it worked well , then buy more. [ panels were $ 0.6/W inc.del. and taxes, from China , Alibaba]

Thanks again Paul , great answer

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