Does the givenergy hybrid 5kw inverter have a built in solar divert function. I saw a video from EVM on YouTube where he mentioned that this might be a feature that would be added via firmware update, but I cannot find any reference to it in GivEnergy documentation. The system I have quoted includes an Eddi, but now I'm not sure if its needed or not.
No. Not that I’m aware of or have heard of.
GivEnergy don't currently have a Solar Immersion Diverter (which is what an Eddi is) as party of their product stack/ecosystem.
GivEnergy smart plus are coming next and after that, though no word on when so don't hold out for it, is an EV Car Charger.
How would that even work? How would the inverter tell the immersion to switch on and off???
There are a number of 3rd party Solar Immersion Diverters such as Solar iBoost+, Eddi there are some others too starting around £350 and moving up to £500/600.
They work by using the CT Clamp (Current Transformer) that is attached around the meter tails in your meter cabinet or sometimes near to your consumer unit. (A black connector that clips around your large brown wire).
This CT Clamp is used to sense when you are importing or exporting electricity to the grid.
Just like your inverter can decide whether to send the energy from your solar panels to be used in your home, or to your battery or to the grid (worst of the options) it will simply then have another option consisting of house, battery, immersion heater or finally to export to grid.
Where your immersion heater is typically connected to Fused Switch Spur in the cupboard, where your immersion cylinder is located, you will replace the switched spur with a piece of equipment that turns your immersion on or off depending on where the energy is needed and/or whether hot water is required by the cylinder (controlled by the thermostat attached to your cylinder).
The only company that currently, that I am aware of, which a product stack that includes a Solar Immersion Diverter that will communicate directly to its inverter is Solar Edge.
Until such time as GivEnergy have commissioned one you will have to rely on a 3rd party device which simply works from its own CT Clamp to decide whether or not to turn on depending on if you are exporting electricity or not.