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The Global Journal for Solar and PV Manufacturing Professionals
LI-ION ENERGY
STORAGE FOR
DISTRIBUTED ENERGY
SOURCES
SMART POWER MANAGEMENT DURING
islanding condition solar cell
THERAPY: TRANSFORMING SECOND-RATE
goods into first-class products
2013: OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE
new and More
Volume 6 Number 1 | January/February 2013
Global Solar Technology January/February 2013 1 www.globalsolartechnology.com
Contents
Global Solar Technology
is distributed by controlled
circulation to qualied
personnel. For all others,
subscriptions are available at
a cost of 120/US $180/140
for the current volume (6
issues).
No part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system,
transmitted in any form or
by any means electronic,
mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise
without the prior written
consent of the publisher.
No responsibility is
accepted for the accuracy
of information contained
in the text, illustrations or
advertisements. Te opinions
expressed in the articles are
not necessarily those of the
editors or publisher.
Trafalgar Publications Ltd.
Designed and Published
by Trafalgar Publications,
Bournemouth, United
Kingdom
Contents
Volume 6, No. 1
January/February 2013
EDITORIAL
2 Pressing the reset button
Trevor Galbraith
FEATURES
6 Li-ion energy storage for distributed energy
sources
Michael Lippert, Energy and Storage Division, Saf
10 Smart power management during islanding
condition
Giridaran Srinivasan, RESolve Energy Consultants
20 Solar cell therapy: Transforming second-rate
goods into rst-class products
Christine Himpel, Innotech Solar
SPECIAL FEATURES
22 In Haiti, solar is not only about saving money
its about saving lives
28 Event ReportSolar Industry Summit Middle
East
28 Event ReportIntersolar China Conference
COLUMNS
30 2013: Out with the old, in with the new
Jon Custer-Topai
OTHER REGULAR FEATURES
4 Industry news
24 Analyst Buzz
30 New products for manufacturers
32 New products for integrators
25 Solar Developments
36 International diary
Visit www.globalsolartechnology.com for the latest news and more, every day.
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6
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24
On the cover: Tanks to the re protection laboratory of L.S. Fire Testing Institute Srl, one of the few
laboratories in Italy authorized by the Italian Ministry of the Interior to carry out such testing and
classications, TV Rheinland is able to oer compulsory ammability testing for PV modules.
10 Global Solar Technology January/February 2013 www.globalsolartechnology.com
Smart power management during islanding condition
Power cuts are very common in developing
countries like India. It is quite natural that
under such circumstances, a solar roofop
owner will try to consume all the power
generated through solar and reduce his
dependence on diesel as fuel. However, the
problem begins when the grid tie inverter
fails to start without the reference voltage
and frequency parameters that are non-
existent during power cuts. As a result, the
roofop owner cannot use the solar power
generated. Tis is disappointing because
they consider solar as a backup for power
cuts and for payback through sale of
excess power generated. Te only existing
solutions in the market today are o grid
inverters that come with bulky battery
banks, which are very expensive compared
to direct grid connected inverters.
Similarly, hybrid inverters are also expen-
sive compared to grid tie inverters hence
payback or ROI gets prolonged, making it
a nancially less- viable option.
What about installations with existing
grid tie inverters? Most of the roofop
owners are not aware of these islanding
conditions and most of the EPC vendors
just install existing grid inverters without
the alteration proposed below. Recently,
MNRE has launched a pilot project scheme
for large scale grid connected roofop solar
PV projects in six cities in India and SECI
(Solar Energy Corporation of India) has
been allotted as the implementing agency.
Te published RFS (Request for Selection)
document by SECI has also stressed on
synchronization of grid tie inverters with
diesel generator during power cuts: In case
of grid failure, or low or high voltage, solar
PV system shall be out of synchronization
and shall be disconnected from the grid.
Once the DG set comes into service PV
system shall again be synchronized with
DG supply and load requirement would be
met to the extent of availability of power.
Proposal
Te grid inverters are usually connected to
a common distribution bus bar (India
3phase/1phase, 415V/230V). In this
proposal all sources such as grid, diesel
generators, battery backup inverters and
solar grid inverters can be connected along
with the load on a common bus bar. What
usually happens during power failure is,
the grid inverters trips sensing loss of refer-
ence parameters and stops generation, now
the DG sense this situation and switches
ON to support the load automatically with
help of AMF panels. Once the generator
switches on, this creates a reference voltage
and frequency on the common bus bar and
this starts up the solar grid inverters (we
actually deceive the GT inverters here).
Once the inverter is ON, the load will
be supplied by both GT inverter and DG
sets (at low RPM). Is it practically possible
to synchronize a grid tie inverter with a
Smart power management during
islanding condition
In a grid tie solar PV system, no
energy is wasted, i.e. any excess
electricity is given to the electri-
cal grid. Grid tie solar systems are
particularly worthwhile during
periods where there is absence of
load, that is weekends or holidays
when your solar system continues
to give out electrical power. Hence
there is very good potential for
grid tie inverters in India, but is
Indian grid infrastructure, strong
enough for these latest distribu-
tion generation technologies? This
article will speak more about the
issues associated with the above
concern and explain the meth-
ods to overcome these conditions
by integrating/synchronizing the
grid connected inverter with diesel
generator during a power cut/grid
failure.
Giridaran Srinivasan, RESolve Energy Consultants, Chennai, India
Figure 1. Smart power management using PLC.
Global Solar Technology January/February 2013 11 www.globalsolartechnology.com
Smart power management during islanding condition
diesel generator (DG sets) and make it
work? Tat is during a power failure or
when grid power is not available?
Yes, it is possible. Following are the
conditions at which it is possible:
We have a stable/good quality
generator which gives good steady
voltage and frequency.
Te generator should not sag, dip
or create any surge current when
the inverter turns ON during the
above mentioned condition.
Let us now consider that the inverter
has turned ON using the DG sets reference
voltage and frequency from the generator.
Tere are two possible conditions now:
1. Te load is always more than the
PV generator supply
2. Load can be less than PV generator
supply
During condition 1, no issues will
occur, if everything works ne. But during
the condition 2, the power generated from
PV will be greater than the load require-
ments and hence there is a possibility that
this excess power will be fed back to the
DG sets (stator of DG sets). What will
happen under this situation? Tis condi-
tion can damage the vital parts of the
generator so the protection of generators
becomes very critical and make it work
as a motor (reducing its speed). We can
expect an increase in AC line voltage above
critical level. If this happens, the condition
can trip the inverter due to over-voltage/
frequency protection circuits. Now the
roofop owner cannot consume power
from the solar and therefore he is forced to
operate the DG sets.
How to custom design a smart power
management system to use the solar
generator during the condition 2 and also
protect the DG sets? We also foresee very
high requirement for an eective control
system, which can handle all the above
conditions such as DG protection
Using a dump load to remove the
surplus power generated with help
Figure 2. Staten Solar installation150 kWp.
Figure 3. SMA Sunny Island Inverters.
12 Global Solar Technology January/February 2013 www.globalsolartechnology.com
Smart power management during islanding condition
of an eective control system.
Eective control of loads (To
increase or decrease the load as
per requirements using PLC based
controls)
And also include a reverse power
relay to protect the diesel genera-
tors from back feeding/reverse
currents.
A 150 kWp roofop grid connected
system with synchronization of Diesel
generators and solar inverters has been
designed and successfully commissioned
by Staten Solar India Private Limited (a
leading solar EPC company in India)
at Guru Nanak Dev Charitable hospital
building at Punjab. Mr.Rakesh Singh,
Co-founder and Director of Staten Solar
says that Te system will operate without
any problem if the load is at least two times
greater than the solar power generated
during the power failure period.
Tis solar installation was commis-
sioned in less than a month and Staten
Solar have used SMA string inverters
which works upon synchronization either
with the grid or DG set (3*750KVA).
Te generated electricity from the plant
during the daytime can be consumed by
the hospital load and there is no need for
battery bank considering the huge loads.
Te grid and DG set are connected through
auto-changeover panels (AMF Panel) and
the diesel generators start automatically
during power cuts (Check SLDFigure 4).
Economic
Tere is less commercial benet in running
a generator just for reference voltage and
current for the entire daytime. But this
can be economical for the above discussed
condition i.e. just during the power cut
period. Te DG sets running at lower e-
ciency (20-30%) or less than its rated value
can consume more fuel than during rated
power (i.e. 85-100% eciency), so oper-
ating it during the entire day just for refer-
ence parameters or in parts where there is
no grid power (remote locations or forest
regions) is not economical.
In such remote regions where there
is no grid connection or very less grid
power, o grid solar PV/wind systems with
battery backup will be the best option, and
even along with DG sets when the loads
are huge. In regions of frequent power cuts,
there is also an option of using a smaller
DG set, to synchronize with the solar GT
inverters just for the emergency load rather
than the required full load size. But the
disadvantage here is during power failure
in the evenings or during the night, the
load will be much higher than the gener-
ator system. So care must be taken care
during system sizing, and we must make
sure that the size of the generator is su-
cient enough to supply required amount of
energy during emergency or power cuts.
Developed counties like Germany and
the USA have good potential for backup
power models such as SMA island inverters.
Tese Island inverters can be connected to
the common busbar during power outage
with help of backup batteries. Tese backup
batteries will be charged during excess
power generation from solar system. Tis
will also generate the necessary reference
voltage and frequency for the GT inverters
during power cuts. Unfortunately, this is
an additional expense and a huge invest-
ment on batteries. Tis additional cost on
batteries and their maintenance, and also
considering higher interest rates from local
banks makes it unviable for developing
countries like India and directly aects
the payback. So existing /medium sized
diesel generators will be the best option for
roofop owners and also more economical
when compared to these island inverters.
Conclusion
While considering a GT inverter the load
pattern (early morning and evening peaks),
grid availability (GT inverters can be tricky
at times of frequent power failures), grid
quality, feed in tari (if available) have
all to be reckoned and coordinated with.
However, the challenge lies in designing
an ecient power management control
system for smart and economical power
consumption.
SECI document: http://mnre.gov.in/le-manager/adver-
tisement/adv_rfs_roofop_pv_seci_jan2013.pdf
Figure 3 credit: SMA

Punjab hospital buildingSLD (Staten Solar India).

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