Using detailed operational data derived from over 10,000 installed power electronics systems and more than 60Gwh of solar plant production, InSolParks CEO, Daniel Hoffmann, presented the long term benefits of solar power electronics technology at the Renewable Energy World Europe/Power-Gen Europe Amsterdam 2015 Conference held in June of this year.
In a world of big data and intelligent everything solar plants are still relatively dumb by most current standards, said Daniel Hoffmann, CEO of InSolPark. Most of the global solar generation capacity has been installed in the past 5 or so years, so the long term effects of solar module degradation, including mismatch, are little understood, added Hoffmann.
Mismatch occurs when solar modules experience different operating conditions from neighboring modules. Subsequently, string performance is largely determined by the lowest producing module, which can amplify the power loss effects across the entire array.
Live system data collected by InSolPark and its technology partners supports this assertion. Data collected from a large sample of solar modules has shown an 11% average standard deviation of power production acrossthe sample space. Additionally, 42% of module uptime hours were spent in mismatch, with a greater than 5% gap to the highest producing module.
There has been a strong movement in the solar industry toward more effective O&M practices. These programs largely involve regular site visits and extensive checklists, but do nothing to actively alleviate the power degradation effects of a passing cloud, inter-row shading, or an undetected broken module, for example.
Solar power electronics are affordably changing the long term health and O&M prospects of solar installations through detailed module level diagnostics, increased plant safety, and most importantly, active management of mismatch throughout the array.This technology serves to enhance any O&M program, and effectively reduces the long term risk for solar plant owners, operators, and O&M providers who may be tied to strict performance guarantees.
