Oct 23 2013
AEG Power Solutions (AEG PS), a global provider of power electronics for renewable energies, and its subsidiary skytron energy, a global leader in monitoring and control solutions for utility-scale renewable energy power plants, today announced the successful deployment of a 5.8 MWp commercial PV installation for PPA Partners in Yuma, Arizona.
Inverters and monitoring from AEG Power Solutions and skytron energie (Photo: Business Wire)
The complex, highly customized PV installation covers four individual sites, each divided into multiple sub-sites, and a mix of rooftop, ground, and carport installations.
AEG PS supplied solar inverters from its broad range of modular and central inverter products to optimally cover the different sites. The solution included Protect PV.500 inverters, which feature power stacks with advanced measuring and control technology to enable DC input voltages of up to 1000 VDC. It also included MPV.Systems, whose transformer-less modular design allows up to five inverter modules to be turned on as needed to match the solar power available, and therefore to run at optimal efficiency. This optimization, with advanced inverter design and no transformer losses, yields efficiencies of up to 98%.
skytron energy provided a complete monitoring, control and supervision package which includes the PVGuard control room platform. The PVGuard software integrates all sites into one intuitive visualization platform. The installed instrumentation and control system incorporates intelligent string combiner boxes, data loggers, weather and irradiation sensors, and a central power plant controller. All functions of a complex power generation plant are covered: real-time condition monitoring and data acquisition, long-term data storage, and grid stability management. The skycontrol power plant controller ensures automatic control of grid injection and provides newly developed remote interfaces for manual setpoint inputs. These enable the end user to remotely control active and reactive power, ramp rates, and power curtailment.
PPA Partners is a national renewable energy project development company with over 50 MW of projects currently under development. “Delivering this highly complex installation from the design to the final grid connection has been a fantastic collaborative effort,” says Bruce Mercy, CEO of PPA Partners.
“The joint AEG Power Solutions and skytron energy team supported us in planning the architecture of the entire PV power plant, in choosing the best components and in designing an optimum plant operation,” continues Mercy. “The comprehensive service and support from a very competent team has been a great experience.”
“AEG PS and skytron energy are joining forces to meet the demand of their growing North American customer base. North American customers are served by local experts in the companies’ joint sales and service center in Plano, Texas, which is focusing on commissioning, operations, maintenance, service, and sales support,” comments Enrique de La Cruz, President Americas of AEG Power Solutions. “Our combined expertise allows us to propose complete solutions and services for resilient, efficient solar installations but also for complex micro-grids.”
Visit AEG PS (booth 2814) and skytron energy (booth 3727) at Solar Power International in Chicago from 21 to 24 October, 2013 and find out more about the latest developments in smart micro grid power solutions.