On 13 April Victron Energy published details of its new Microgrid solution — a way to build large off-grid power systems by connecting independent inverter/charger groups in parallel without adding a central controller or running data cables between them.
The architecture divides a system into "Power Banks." Each Power Bank is a complete, standalone Victron installation: its own MultiPlus, MultiPlus-II, Quattro, or Quattro-II inverter/chargers, its own battery bank, its own GX monitoring device. Multiple Power Banks then connect to a common AC bus. Load sharing is handled by frequency droop: as total system load increases, bus frequency drops slightly, and each Power Bank independently increases its output in response. No Power Bank needs to know what the others are doing — there is no inter-unit data link.
Scaling works by adding another Power Bank. Victron quotes a maximum system capacity of 400kW. Because each Power Bank is fully independent, taking one offline for service or fault recovery does not interrupt the remaining units; they continue supplying the AC bus.
The capability is delivered via dedicated VE.Bus firmware versions S97 and S98, available for the existing MultiPlus, MultiPlus-II, Quattro, and Quattro-II range. No new hardware is required. Victron identifies target applications as generator rental fleets, construction sites, events, and remote communities or industrial facilities where traditional high-voltage grid infrastructure is not practical.
The frequency-droop approach differs from Victron's existing VE.Bus parallel and three-phase system architecture, which requires communication cabling and a designated master unit. Victron has published an HTML5 and PDF technical manual; deployment is intended to go through a trained Victron distributor.
