Greg...if your asking if you can use a generator for the power source to activate the Grid Tied Inverter...that's a bad idea because where will the excess power go if the loads are less than Solar production? Right back into the generator and that's not OK. A grid tied inverter is not designed to work with a gen-set and will also be a problem and both would void warranty's.
"where will the excess power go if the loads are less than Solar production?" Is that an actual problem? I am under the impression that you can open circuit PV panels. The inverter will only draw the power that it can use. I agree that backfeeding a small generator is not a good idea, especially the new inverter style.
I have this response from others...
The generator is a demand source, i.e., a voltage source, that keeps the AC bus at a constant voltage by delivering whatever current is necessary to do that. A GT inverter, on the other hand, cannot regulate its current output to maintain line voltage - it behaves as a current source. If you have a generator running on an AC bus alongside a GT inverter and the demand from the loads on the bus falls below the output of the GT inverter, the only way that the generator can regulate the line voltage is to sync rather than source current, which most generators cannot do without sustaining damage.
Here is some more...
The GTI will try to drive the generator as a motor. Depending on the design of the generator this might drive the voltage higher or increase the speed of the generator. If you are fortunate this will just cause the generator voltage or frequency to go out of range and shut the GTI down.
In the worst case the reverse current will interact with the speed and voltage regulation of the generator to cause damage.
A normal GTI's anti islanding circuitry will simply never see the generator as a low enough network impedance and will not run in the first place.
shortcircuit
