Vendor-Independent Protection Framework Conceived for 800-V DC Systems

A whitepaper co-published by SolarEdge and NVIDIA sets out the functions, evidence, and validation needed for safe, reliable 800-V DC deployment.

Lee Goldberg

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Electronic Design

Nov. 12, 2026

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What you'll learn:

SolarEdge Technologies’ recent whitepaper offers a vendor-agnostic protection and grounding framework for 800-VDC systems.
Based on the NVIDIA 800-V DC architecture work, the paper separates common protection and grounding requirements from the design choices of any one implementation and evaluates grounding options.
It also includes suggested criteria for selecting the grounding impedance, describing a zone-based protection.

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SolarEdge Technologies Inc. published a whitepaper that offers a vendor-agnostic protection and grounding framework for 800-V DC systems, setting out the functions, evidence, and validation needed for safe, reliable 800-V DC deployment. It was co-developed with NVIDIA and released for industry review as part of SolarEdge’s recent announcement that its medium-voltage to 800-V DC conversion stage of its DC powertrain for AI data centers is now operating under load.

The paper, which builds on NVIDIA 800-V DC architecture work, separates common protection and grounding requirements from the design choices of any one implementation and evaluates grounding options and the criteria for selecting the grounding impedance. It also describes a zone-based protection approach: Fault location with continuous operation in the restricted facility zone and immediate interruption at the rack interface where personnel work.

NVIDIA supports an open, multi-vendor 800-V DC ecosystem and encourages multiple conversion topologies, grounding configuration, or protection technology. The SolarEdge architecture presented in the paper is one candidate implementation, offered to advance engineering discussion and validation. High-resistance midpoint grounding, solid-state transformers, and solid-state circuit breakers are candidate approaches rather than universal requirements.

About the Author

Lee Goldberg

Contributing Editor

Lee is the author of the popular PowerBites series.

Lee Goldberg is a self-identified “Recovering Engineer,” Maker/Hacker, Green-Tech Maven, Aviator, Gadfly, and Geek Dad. He spent the first 18 years of his career helping design microprocessors, embedded systems, renewable energy applications, and the occasional interplanetary spacecraft. After trading his ‘scope and soldering iron for a keyboard and a second career as a tech journalist, he’s spent the next two decades at several print and online engineering publications.

Lee’s current focus is power electronics, especially the technologies involved with energy efficiency, energy management, and renewable energy. This dovetails with his coverage of sustainable technologies and various environmental and social issues within the engineering community that he began in 1996. Lee also covers 3D printers, open-source hardware, and other Maker/Hacker technologies.

Lee holds a BSEE in Electrical Engineering from Thomas Edison College, and participated in a colloquium on technology, society, and the environment at Goddard College’s Institute for Social Ecology. His book, “Green Electronics/Green Bottom Line - A Commonsense Guide To Environmentally Responsible Engineering and Management,” was published by Newnes Press.

Lee, his wife Catherine, and his daughter Anwyn currently reside in the outskirts of Princeton N.J., where they masquerade as a typical suburban family.