Хуавеи у штампи " ПВ Магазине Хуавеи Специал 2020”

Чланци се објављују у партнерству са Хуавеи фор тхе ПВ Магазине Специал Публицатионс

The evolution of intelligence solar

Artificial intelligence (AI) is already transforming a range of industries, from the automation of trading decisions in the financial sector to the deployment of smart robots in factories. У једној студији 2017. године Пвц estimated that АИ could contribute up to $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030. Solar has jumped on the AI bandwagon.

У ПВ индустрији, AI is now being used to help push solar toward grid parity на тржиштима широм света. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) asserts that such technologies are already playing a "transformative" role in pushing the global energy transition forward, even while acknowledging that some people may already view terms such as AI, big data, the Internet of things (Иот), cloud computing, and blockchain as банални Буззвордс.

However, these terms are part of the growing digitalization of electricity generation, distribution, and consumption. И на свету највеће соларно тржиште, Кина-where the authorities recently outlined a series of policies to expedite the development of subsidy – free solar projects-these technologies are rapidly driving further reductions in PV plant costs.

Powerful potential

The potential of AI in energy has been known for years, and digitalization of the transmission sector is at an advanced stage, the International Renewable Energy Agency says in its report, Innovation Landscape for a Renewable-Powered Future.

Although sensors have been installed in solar arrays from almost day one, the digitalization of generation and consumption is still at a relatively early stage. The next step, Irena argues, will be to modernize power plants and further automate control of the grid.

Role of AI in power systems is rapidly becoming a" necessity, " Irena asserts, as it can help to more effectively integrate variable renewables into the grid by predicting generation and consumption patterns.

“Reductions in uncertainty in power production forecasts and power demand forecasts enable smarter operations,” Elizabeth agrees Traiger, senior researcher at energy consultancy DNV GL. "Unexpected curtailment can be reduced, and planed maintenance can be scheduled at оптимално Тимес.”

Investors in new solar projects can use sensor data to provide an accurate picture of the generation possibilities at proposed sites, opening up financing потенцијал. Соларни низови provide enormous amounts of data that are already being used у метеоролошким апликацијама.

“AI and machine learning algorithms are being proven in to improve the forecasting accuracy of short-term forecasts, up to 48 hours ahead,” explains Traiger. “By combining the wealth of ground meteorological station data, weather satellite data, and local cloud cover imagery, the irradiance, or available solar resource, can be more accurately estimated. The resulting reduction in uncertainty in solar power production helps to ensure a balanced and reliable electrical grid. Variability can be anticipated and alternate dispatch or adjustments to gen can be made more smoothly.”

Scratching the surface

Solar manufacturers are also starting to deploy AI in their factories to streamline production. JinkoSolar, for example, recently revealed plans to use AI at its 400 MW module factory in Florida, starting with electroluminescence inspections. However, the industry is still just scratching the surface of MA potential to push solar closer toward grid parity.

Слика: Хуавеи 

“The integration of AI will enhance the ability of solar to integrate in the dynamic energy mix,” says Traiger. "АИ Енаблес Аццурате, информисане одлуке у свим тешким областима података. За соларне, this encompasses the entire value chain: feasibility, development, operations, and decommissioning. Making smart decisions ensures the best outcomes by adding reliability and reducing the variability интегрални in renewable resources such as solar.”

That said, the solar industry still has a long way to go in more effectively exploiting data, she adds.

"AI and machine learning is based on data. As we gather more data, from historical sources, past weather and production patterns, different spatial resolutions of new satellites, as well as new data from increased ground sensor installations, the tools will evolve,” Traiger says.

Smarter storage

Као глобални трошкови соларних наставака у случају, програмери increasingly struggle to reduce risks and improve returns on distributed generation PV projects. The ongoing decline in the cost of energy storage provides a ray of hope, but in order to truly leverage the power of storage, project operators need to utilize AI to provide new sources of value. These value streams include lower champand charges and the provision of higher revenue from virtual power plants (VPPs).

Цалифорниа-басед Стораге Специалист Стем, фор екампле, анноунцед планови крајем 2017. за инсталирање АИ-бацкед Стораге Солутионс у Јапану, a global hotbed for VPP deployment. Other recent AI-backed storage pilots noted by IRENA include French utility RTE'S Ringo Project, which aims to ease grid congestion without the need for new power lines, by using AI to facilitate dispatch.

Future potential of AI-driven solar + storage is huge, with IHS Markit recently predicting that more than 500 Mvh of storage capacity will be paired with utility-scale PV projects this year in North America alone, in what the research firm describes as "the first meaningful Tom" to be deployed.

Слика: Хуавеи 

Интелигентни претварач

IHS Markit expects an uptick in the use of AI in the solar sector this year, and it sees inverter playing as a "critical role" in this shift. It also expects 11 милиона PV inverters to be connected to the Internet of energy this year and characterizes the digitalization of the grid as a " mega-trend.”

PV system maintenance, u particular, is becoming more predictive thanks to the growing use of monitoring software, which helps system owners and O & M service providers identify problem before disrupting a solarray's output. Senzori u facilitate predictive maintenance inverterima, and many companies have notice of AY'S потенцијал. Huawei, for example, has been exploring smart PV solutions for the past five years, as part of its efforts to accelerate grid parity with AI. Its инвертер serve as smart sensors, providing the сировине needed to continuously improve its AI algorithms, which are used to optimize O&M practices.

Huawei AI-driven FusionSolar 1500V Smart PV Solution дакле, boasts a number of features aimed at supporting the push toward grid parity. Intelligent trackers and bifacial modules backed by AI algorithms, while its Smart I-V Curve Diagnosis and AI recognition technologies facilitate automated O&M of PV projects.

Many companies have long used automated drones for inspections to identify defects in advance. But inverters show promise to provide faster, better intelligence.

"Алгоритми који могу дати рано упозорење да ће фаилтс суцх ас инвертер фаилурес, or indicate any deviations from normal operating behavior, бити инструментални у maintaining even higher level of reliability for long-term reliance on consistent solar production," каже Траигер.

Tip of the iceberg

But even with solar O&M, there is still a great deal of untapped potential. Data from sensors can help prospective investors with due diligence, while also contributing to certification of equipment, for example.

“AI can, and will, definitely change and improve solar O&M in many ways and we are only now seeing the tip of the iceberg of the applications that will be commonplace,” says Jaime Sureda, Director of Digital Transformation for Spanish O&M specialist Solarig. “Price reductions coming from the use of AI in the sector will definitely foster the use of solar energy all around the world.”

Solarig has serviced roughly 4.5 GW of solar capacity around the world, and is now in the process of digitally overhauling its operations, with important ramifications for its customized O&M management platform. A key aspect of this shift is the optimization of data collection, интеграција, и управљање. It collates data from its monitoring software and uses it to continuously improve its predictive maintenance algorithms. It says such technologies are contributing to significant reductions in global O&M costs, and it says it is using AI to “squeeze” data it collects from a range of sources.

"We are also paying particular attention to the use of cutting-edge technologies in those areas with the highest impact on direct or indirect costs, such as laboratories-intensive activities," Sureda explains, noting that company has long used thermographic camera-equipped drones to spot defects in arrays.

While companies such as Solarig have long used sensors to assess the impact of weather conditions on уговорни Перформанце рекуирементс, Sureda argues that the challenge ahead is to further integrate such information with weather forecast-ing models to predict the output of PV plants.

“AI applied to this analysis is crucial and will definitely help to improve plant operations in the near future by increasing the reliability of electricity generation models,” Sureda says.

The growth of distributed generation PV and technological advancements in AI have fuel the пролиферација of smart devices and demand management services in recent years, contributing to significant changes in the global power sector, ИРЕНА каже. But the organization believes that developers need to launch more pilot projects in the years ahead to fully grasp the potential of digital solutions.

"The disruptive potential is only beginning to be understood," ИРЕНА concludes. “It is far from being fully exploited.”

Grid parity's hackathon

У октобру 2018. године Хуавеи је објавио своју АИ и А Фулл-стацк стратегију, алл-сценарио АИ портфолио решење. The company's full-stack capabilities are based on a cloud-pipe-device strategy which connects enterprise intelligence, equipment, and intelligent terminals with integrated AI. Huawei has not only incorporated AI into its internal production, logistics, and processes, but has also joined with partners to promote the development of intelligent solutions across industries.

У енергетском сектору, Huawei has been working with its industry partners to explore digital practices for smart PV since 2014. Collectively, the companies are promoting artificial intelligence and digital technologies such as cloud computing, big data, Internet of things (Иот), and edge computing to work in synergy for further reduction in PV plant costs across the industry.

PV industry is embracing grid parity globally. Regions particularly rich in solar irradiation resource such as India, Spain, Latin America, and the Middle East, have ushered in the new era. By 2020, most parts of the world will be able to achieve full grid parity. Advancing the global energy transition is crucial to addressing climate change, and bringing LCOE down for grid parity will be the key element and driving force to a clean energy future across all markets. A Huawei is turning to AI to accelerate grid parity.

Слика: Хуавеи

Taking the lead

U inteligentnoj eri, innovation has become the core competency among leading enterprises. Према ИХС Маркиту, Хуавеи има рангирани број један у Глобал ПВ инвертору схипментс фор Фоур Цонсецутиве Иеарс. Its successes to customer-oriented innovations that simplify complex problex through fully digital technologies у својој електроници, чиповима, рачунарству и вештачкој интелигенцији.

“Each inverter of Huawei is a smart sensor. Масивни amount of data collected by increasing numbers of sensors optimizes more machine learning algorithms and effectively and continuously trains AI models, thereby enhancing the AI capability exponentially, " каже Јефф Ианг, виши менаџер производа за Хуавеи. “This helps Huawei optimize and manage power generation and O&M in a refined manner, which radically changes the traditional management mode and brings a revolutionary impact to the new energy industry.”

Huawei's Fusion Solar 1500V Smart PV Solution has five particular characteristics that support the drive toward global grid parity.

Бифациал ПВ модули + смарт Трацкерс + више Мпптс 

Huawei abandons traditional astronomical algorithms and усваја интелигентне трагаче и два-паковане PV modules with AI algorithms to maximize energy yields by integrating tracker control, power supply, and communication. Према Хуавеи-у, тест цондуцтед он а ларге ПВ Плант у северозападној Кини показао је принос енергије већи од 20% када је користио двофакторне модуле+паметне трагаче+вишеструко МППТ решење, у Цомпарисон витх монофациал ПВ модулес+фикед Трацкерс+Централ инвертерс Солутион. AI Auto-learning enables trackers and bifacial modules to be optimized using the tracking algorithm, which може да обезбеди додавање 0.5 до више од 1% у energy gains, according to Huawei.

Informatization of PV devices for building smarter plants

By combining digital components with AI algorithm controls, the solution enables the collection of high-precision digital information to improve energy yields. PV strings can be monitored with the precision of 0.5%. Big data and AI algorithms are oriented to component-level monitoring and refine management to locate old and faulty devices.

AI recognition+Intelligent O&M

Хуавеи farther ажурирани га Smart I-V Цурве Diagnosis. Smart I-V Curve Diagnosis and AI recognition enable the smart diagnosis for multiple components у различитим сценама. Currently, the technology has been applied to more than 3 GW of PV plants worldwide. Примена АИ enables аутоматед O & M of ПВ plants. Према Хуавеи-у, један клик сцаннинг оф итс Смарт и-в Цурве Диагносис 3.0 енсурес скенирање свих линија од 100 мВ ПВ планира за само 15 минута.

Another powerful technology used for O&M discreteness is its analysis. У прошлости, faults were cleared manually, which what time-consuming. Some faults might be completely ignored. “Discreteness With analysis, a PV plant in the Shanxi province of China had accurately 283 faults located in half a day. After more than 20 days, the PV plant cleared almost all faults with the performance ratio (PR) impoved by 2.52%, "каже Јанг," Traditional PV plants, међутим, take about two months or more to clear faults before feeding power to the mains power grid.”

Грид-Тиед стабилити оф ПВ Плантс, заснован на Хуавеијевом алгоритму за контролу АИ, поставио је прецизан математички модел за различите типове Грид-Тиед сценариос и ПВ Плант Десигн, и увезао сродне податке тестирањем вавеформс оф Стеел Миллс и Елецтрифиед раилваис у модел. The mass of data is used to train the optimal grid-tied control algorithm.

Радећи то, Huawei ensures stable grid-tied power generation of inverters even if they have poor power grid waveforms. "The power quality meets or even outperforms standard requirements", додаје Јанг.

Health check reports

Слика: Хуавеи 

Huawei offers PV plant health checking reports with customized indicators for controlling the operating status of PV plants једним кликом manner. By analyzing the environment, energy yield бенчмаркинг, loss caused by повер rationing, and power loss, Хуавеи uses big data and интеллигент analysis methods to perform a one-click health check and generate comprehensive evaluation reports for ПВ plants with O&M suggestions.

Руководиоци операција и услуга могу брзо пронаћи разлоге за ниске енергетске приносе и лаггард ПВ Стрингс, тереби либератинг Персоннел из Тиме-цонсуминг Инспецтион анд дата Аналисис, тхус Редуцинг Лабор цостс. “The magic of this feature lies in the perfect combination of expertise and AI,” Yan says.

How do these five characteristics benefit customers? “Based on comprehensive analysis and calculation, the AI-aided Huawei 1500V Fusion Solar Smart PV Solution can effectively reduce the initial investment by more than $0.05/W and reduce the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) by more than 7% in China,” says Yan. “This is key for speeding up grid parity.”

У КСНУМКС-у, Huawei will use the AI-aided 1500V Fusion Solar Smart PV Solution to continuously reduce LCOE and accelerate the grid parity process.

Претварачи следеће генерације Оптимизе бифациал Боост

Invertor makers are under pressure to upgrade performance to accurately measure and manage the boost from bifacial solar panels. Inverter improvements including greater granularity of maximum power point tracking( MPPT), the marriage of artificial intelligence with more algorithms capable, and string overload safety are ushering in the next generation of инвертер redesigned for bifacial systems, according to the development team at Huawei Technologies ' Smart PV посао.

Комплекс усклађености претварача са двофазним панелима arises from dynamic and uneven light capture level on the rear side of the panel over time. Different sources of reflected light on reflective surfaces with different albedos, or reflected light values, permutate to make bifacial light capture management no less than a symphonic performance for inverters. Huawei Technologies ' FusionSolar Smart PV Solution has refined inverter technology to address these issues, while providing substantial increases in bifacial system yields у процесу.

The moving target of the energy yield gain from the rear of the bifacial модули varies depending on the scenario, but the energy yield can increase anywhere from 5% to 39%, according to Huawei research. Beyond that base gain, the bifacial модули can further increase the energy yield by 2% на 6% based on its performance in response to low light and low power loss under the working temperature, the researchers point out. Thus, the combined " energy yield gains of a bifacial module can range from 7% to 45% when compared to a conventional monofacial poly-si module, циљ индустрије-eagerly pursuing.

Inverter load flexibility critical

Designing inverters for bifacial modules that are capable of managing a large and varying yield gain is a basic first task. Ako inverteri nisu pretvoreni u efficiently match and adapt dynamically to the enhanced DC output from bifacial Panels, then they will suffer from clipping and yield loss. Balancing the need for capability versus size is a delicate design проблем.

Industry research on bifacial systems currently focuses on ray-tracing and view-factor models, based on 3D modeling, to narrow down the best targets for design optimization. While more details can be displayed by algorithms, computing is complex and time-consuming, which does not mesh well with inverter improved performance.

Huawei has simplified and optimized the two models and launched an industry-leading intelligent design tool for bifacial модули systems based on the 2D physical model, according to Shawn Gu, the Chief Scientist for Huawei Smart PV бизнис. Huawei Smart Design is the online design platform for the company's Smart PV solution.

Smart Design is used to assist in plant system design, including component selection and energy yield assessment. The tool can determine the balance point between calculation speed and design details, quickly and accurately calculating the optimal configuration of a bifacial модули система.

Huawei 2D modeling method increases the укупан приход од bifacial PV system by more than 3% com-pared with solutions provided by other standard design methods, каже Гу. This further compounds the bifacial boost.

Resolving overcurrent issues

Secure and reliable protection design is another key attribute of the next-gen bifacial инвертер. "Every two strings of the Huawei FusionSolar Smart PV Solution string инвертер форм one MPPT circuit and have a fuseless security protection solution. Дизајн ensures that no risk ће бити occur at overcurrent condition", каже Гу. At the same time, security risks, frequent fuse replacement, and energy yield loss caused by fuse faults are avoided.

Anticipation of a fault invertor is another key capability for bifacial system design. Since frameless and glass-стаклени модули дизајна suffer from a higher risk of cracking than modules with frames, инспекција модула fault is a top-most priority for O & M. "Комплекс I-V curve of the bifacial module makes the intelligent diagnosis of string faults easy to misjudge", - напомиње Гу. Huawei's latest Smart I-V Curve Diagnosis V3.0 uses a new, intelligent string diagnosis algorithm with a built-in database. This combination enables optimization of the input and output feature curves of various manufacturers’ PV modules, automatically filtering out the data “noise” that causes misjudgment.

Гранулярность MPPT

Another necessary tool for bifacial inverters - то је више пелета и најзначајније јединице MPPT, стручњаци broadly agree. "To prevent current mismatch within a string, there is a crucial need for dedicated strings supported by higher MPP granularity. Ideally this should take place at the individual string level", каже Схасхват Кумариа, директор инжењерства у Сунпреме.

Multiple sources of reflected light on the rear side of a bifacial panel, wide in variance during the day, necessitate far more detailed by sensing the inverter. Mismatch of the bifacial модули high, its I-V curve is more complex that of Mono facial module, and its power-voltage curve will generate multiple peak values over time. This poses higher requirements on the detection precision and of MPPT инвертора.

Thus, using more MPPT units per string, што је почетак Хуавеијевог захтева за редизајн оптималног претварача за двофакторне системе. “Our string inverter has multiple MPPT units, which can precisely track the maximum power point of every one or two PV strings, releasing the maximum output power of each PV module. This greatly reduces PV string mismatch caused by distance and shade between modules, along with other issues,” Gu says.

The degree of granularity improvement required will depend on the bifaciality factor of a given panel. "Since the all output power of the [combined sides of the] PV module is different, the current discrete rate of the module is more than five percent. Тако, the MPPT granularity of inverters needs to be finer," explains Гу. "Based on the Monte Carlo statistički method, the mismatch loss of a bifacial panel yield caused by MPPT invertor with one circuit per two strings is 1.1% lower than the loss caused by common in a bifacial систем модули," he adds. "In practice, the environment is not as ideal as expected in the simulation and therefore an even lower mismatch loss can be achieved by the multi-feature MPPT with two strings in one MPPT.”

Слика: Хуавеи 

AI algorithms crunch big data

Another key tool for advanced inverter serving bifacial systems is the use of AI and algorithms for analizing the bifacial data that more granular inverters are read-ing. "Bifacial strings inherently result у сложенијим кривинама I - v тако да постоји дефинитивна потреба за робуснијим алгоритмима за праћење MPP tailored to accurate MPP identification under steady-state and dynamic [partially cloudi] irradiance conditions," Kumaria points out.

Huawei is prominent among the inverter suppliers pushing the algorithm envelope for bifacial applications, Gu asserts. "Ове године, Оур Фусионсолар Смарт ПВ Солутион Фуртхер је применио АИ технологију на ПВ биљке. We have updated the traditional astronomical algorithm to achieve the integration of tracker control, power supply, and communication, thus maximizing energy yields.”

With bifacial projects, maintenance is a more complicated issue than for mono facial systems, given the relative value of the boost components. "Big data analysis plus AI algorithms are oriented toward more refined component-level monitoring and management", каже Гу. “This can proactively identify a low-performance unit, in a revolutionary switch from passive maintenance to active, predictive maintenance.”

Avoiding infinite calculations је главни допринос АИ, which eliminates much of the cumbersome red method of data analysis.

“From the aspect of hardware, faster scanning of voltage and power must be supported, but frequent scanning of MPP will cause loss power. After introducing AI that includes high-speed memory and a tailored algorithm, the system gains the ‘experience’ to deal with all cases frequently without scanning,” Gu explains.

Such a melding of AI algorithms and can provide a system boost all of its own, a Situation where the whole has more value than the sum of the parts alone.

"intelligent design tool for bifacial systems integrates full-scenario, adaptive, and self-learning intelligent control algorithms to accurately enable to оптимално решење дизајна," Gu explains. "This increases the energy yield by more than three percent compared with solutions provided by other standard design methods.”

Intelligent power Connecting

Information and communications technology giant Huawei is on a mission to build a fully connected world. Operating in more than 170 countries and regions to serve more than three billion people globally, the company is well on its way. У овом ексклузивном интервјуу pv magazine састаје са Тони Ксу, председник смарт ПВ Бусинесс Унит у Хуавеи да Дисцусс тхе Тецхнологицал Бреактхроугхс, trends, and policies that have the company driving solar PV into the era of digitalization.

Слика: Хуавеи 

One year ago, you told pv magazine that your vision for 2018 would be to bring digitalization to every person, family, and organization to build a fully connected, intelligent world. What progress Huawei has made to this end over the last year? 

The vision of Huawei is to bring digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world. Mi set up and repeat this vision during past years and by now including our invertor sector, the entire Huawei company is heading towards this future. The vision includes three levels or stages. All things sensed, all things connected, and all things intelligent. First, we try to modify and make sensible things, which means data and information can be sensed and collected from the environment. Then we use connection means, including wired or wireless, especially 5G technology, to connect all of them into the network, and onto the cloud. U oktobru 2018 Huawei announced the Full Stack All Scenario AI Solution, and we now provide the AI functions and solutions from bottom chip level to industrial level.

Our target with AI is to set up a platform on which our partners can provide specific and customized AI applications for end users. We just provide the basic infrastructure service for AI developers, just like the power grid: electricity You use, but you don't need to know where and how the electricity is generated.

We follow the general Huawei company strategy for our Smart PV Business Unit. Our latest FusionSolar Smart PV Solution is pre-equipped with AI, cloud computing, and big data technologies. These features can help our customers to achieve higher yields with оптимално ЛЦОЕ, locate problem quicker, and achieve better performance. With Huawei's Fusion Solar platform, we already help customers to operate and maintain more than 30 GW of solar PV projects. And we will continue in our devotion to this sector.

There Are regulatory burdens to overcome in certain markets?

We know people are curious about this question of Huawei, especially under the current China-U. S. trade war, in which Huawei was named by the U. S. several times. Honestly speaking, we have not experienced such Kind of obstacles in Europe when our marketing inverter products. We have very good relationships and cooperation with our European customers, and we will continue to serve them and follow our customer centric principle.

The inverter market segment is very dynamic. What are the big trends of the inverter landscape this year?

Because of the spread and popularity of bifacial modules, which we believe is an obvious market trend, it will be important in the future to better connect inverters with high efficiency bifacial modules, tracker support structure, and multi-MPPT. I think this will influence the investment and the future of инвертора greatly. If this is correct, the future prospect of large centralized инвертора is дим.

Ми смо радили и сарађивали са several key партнери, укључујући трацкер support structure услуга module suppliers, and EPCs to observe the actual performance. Of course, we have identified some problems that need to be resolved. We believe there is still a process before this becomes mature, and we are working with our partners to push it.

For four years, Huawei has continuously ranked number one in shipments invertor. What is key to Huawei's success? 

First, it is because of the platform of Huawei Company. The platform attracted talented people, and talented people make the business successful. Second, it is because of the brand of Huawei. For a product that needs 25 years of service life, the manufacturer should survive that long to serve its customers. And the core factor is that we provide good products and solutions.

At Huawei, our smart employees have devoted themselves to this inverter product, bringing their experience and quality control expertise from ICT products with higher requirements. Открили смо да су наши купци, еспециалли из Јапана и Европе, највише цонцернед витх стабилити, which exactly what we good at-based on-based on the system of Huawei.

What will be the main themes for Huawei's marketing of inverters in 2019? And what does Huawei predict for the market in the future? 

У 2019, our market фоцус и даље on products and solutions for lowering LCOE. We face challenges from our competitors and the market. Mi smo koncerned with market trends, but no matter how markets change, we will focus on providing the lowest in the LCOE inverter sector for our customers. We believe this is the key factor that makes Huawei's инвертер незаменљив.

We shipped over 90 GW of FusionSolar globally through December 2018. Our over-seas shipments recorded at 48% of total in 2018, with 52% domestic. With the rapid growth of overseas markets, we estimate the growth could be 100% over this year 2018. У К1, we had a 140% increase у нашим прекоморским продаје. У 2019, overseas shipments may increase to 70% our total business.

In the future, we will try to control the number of customers which we directly do business with to less than 100 and establish a distributor system to handle all other customers. This means a shift from previous direct sales to a distributor system, and we'll cut our costs in sales and marketing.

People in the industry are watching closely as china'S next policy move is expected. How do you think your domestic market ће играти у 2019?

Yes, lots of people including myself are watching and waiting for the policy. News From the released so far, I personally believe it will be a positive policy for china'S PV industry.

First, due to the international rules which you will face outside of China. Second, the new policy will benefit those manufacturers that produce at high quality and eliminate low quality products. A really good policy will drive the industry to grow even stronger. We are working to understand the policy to try and figure out how to match the policy to our product, human resources, marketing, and even structure.

Do you think Хуавеи has met or is going to meet some of детета у уско грло growth?

Presently, solar PV accounts for around two percent of total power generation globally. I think in future with solar storage will very probably be the most promising renewable energy. If I am right, the total installation capacity be tremendous compared to its current size жели. The market is just at its beginning stage. Actually, all the major energy giants including State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC), Huaneng Power, Électricité de France (EDF), and others are just getting started in their transformation from traditional power to renewable energy.

Бецаусе оф Децлининг цостс, Солар ПВ Енерги је сада најјефтинији извор напајања на многим местима. This investment will terminate in traditional energy. The future market of solar PV will be ten or even a hundred times its current size.

Taiwan's rapidly developing PV market

Taiwan became a gigawatt solar market last year and capacity is expected to grow even further in 2019.Цхен јуихсин је потпредседник Цхаилеасе холдинга, власник великог ЕПЦ-а и ПВ Солар Плант-а на Тајвану.

Due to significant declines in pricing for solar PV products including cells, modules, and other parts in 2018, grid parity is becoming more and more widespread. What is Chailease ' s perspective on the future of Taiwan and Southeast Asian PV markets?

Currently, Тајван тихо has a good феед-ин тарифа (FIT). Even though it's not as significant as that of mainland China, the profit margins are given considerable наведени или делимични цостс. We take several factors into consideration when assessing инвестмент у ПВ projects and markets. Taiwan has limited political and financial risks, and solar resources are also pretty good. There are climatic disasters, especially typhoons in the summer, which pose threats for PV projects. But generally speaking, we see a strong prospective PV market for Taiwan [through] 2025.

For Southeast Asia, there are significant differences between each country. Thailand is the best market for our company due to energy costs, sufficient solar resource, and the key: a stable political environment. We have been in the market for a long time, and have strong relationships established with local partners. Malaysia is also a strong market, but energy costs are quite low compared to Thailand due to its richness in oil resources, and it also has a lot of natural disasters.

Vietnam and Cambodia are both potential future markets, but in the current situation, insufficient infrastructure negatively impacts PV investment. We believe that the political and financial risk is pretty high in both the Philippines and Indonesia, so we are very cautious in entering into these markets to do local business. Chailease Energy's market strategy differs у различитим земљама АСЕАН.

With the rapid growth of Taiwan's PV industry, can you tell us about the size and scope of the projects that Chailease is developing in the market? 

Морам да кажем да као у ЕПЦ (инжењеринг, procurement, and construction) provider, Chailease Energy is quite different from other players на тржишту. Our PV business initiated from our small and [medium-sized] enterprises (SMEs) лизинг business which shaped Chailease Group. We don't have iconic projects to show as other EPCs typically do. Each project we have done is quite small, though not at a scale residential, and диспергован географски. Dispersing projects helps reduce risk, particularly with climatic factors such as typhoons на Тајвану.

What is your current installed capacity? And in the future, what is the primary target sector for Chailease solar projects?
At the end of 2018, we had a total of 370 MW of PV capacity installed across more than 1,200 projects. This year, we anticipate completing another to 400 500 projects for an additional 150 to 200 MW of capacity, which will represent a significant increase for us. У будућности ћемо бити consider moving toward working on more utility-scale PV projects. We have a lot of experience in developing PV projects, and we believe we can go bigger and better.

We know Chailease's FinMart project has been focused on providing investors with a long-term stable return on investment. This Kind of project requires a higher degree of quality for all system components. Can you describe Chailease's quality requirements for components and the inverter?

Since we provide investors a guaranteed return of 20 years, we have very strict requirements about the components used for our PV projects. The most important factor for us is to have a high degree of confidence that the manufacturer will survive for the next 20 years, so that it can continuously serve our projects and investors. Beyond that, we have two other quality requirements that we are looking at.

First, considering the harsh environmental conditions of Taiwan, such as high temperatures, and rainstorms lightning, and typhoons, we want to keep maintenance costs low and need the parts to have the lowest failure rate possible. Second, the efficiency rate should be high and stable.

Chailease has built a number of solar projects and skupio extensive experience. How does your company go about choosing inverters?

Usually, we have two or three vendors for each component. For example, we team up with inverter manufacturers like Huawei, Delta, and Schneider. We chose Huawei inverters initially for their fanless дизајн. We had many poultry farm projects, and if the inverter had a cooling fan system, this would often get jammed with chicken and duck feathers and particles. Maintenance would be difficult and costly with навијача, and there was high risk for the inverter to accumulate heat and burn out. We tested Huawei's inverters for quite some time and found that their product is extremely suitable for the conditions of PV projects in Taiwan.

Over the last two years working in cooperation with Huawei, we have found that they'Re a strong, quality vendor. They produce high quality inverters. Beyond that, they have a great service attitude and are quick to respond. We feel their respect, and that they really understand customer needs.

Has vietnam's moment in the sun finally arrived?

Нова соларна инсталација ПВ соаред фор Виетнам у КСНУМКС-у је у релативном смислу, тхе Дид. Национална кумулативна инсталација ПВ цапацити Стоод на само 106 мВ до краја 2018. године, according to statistics from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). To number looks paltry when stacked against regional rivals such as Thailand and the Philippines, but predstavlja huge jump from 8 MV just a year earlier-the approximate level at which the country's total PV installations had languished for much of the past decade.

A recent series of policy announcements and looming revisions to vietnam's feed - in tariff (FIT) program have left many investors надам се that the Southeast Asian country is finally poised to unlock its PV potential in both the utility-scale and commercial rooftop сегмента.

"Under the current FIT, there is tremendous developer activity going on right now. Almost purely in the utility-scale сегмента, " says Josefin гора, Research and Analysis Manager for IHS Markit.

The Vietnamese government is expected to officially publicize its new solar FIT rates before the end of the first half of this year, as current rates are set to expire on June 30, 2019. Proposed FIT rate for ground-mounted projects range from VND 1,525 ($0,065) to VND 2,102

($0.09), depending on the region. Suggested rats for floating PV systems-кључни приоритет владине политике у земљи-scarce Vietnam-have ranged from VND 1,566 to VND 2,159. Solar+storage installations, meanwhile, could receive rates of VND 1,994 in the country's southern provinces or VND 1,196 in the central highlands.

Mountain expects solar developers to install as much as 2 GV of utility - scale PV capacity у Вијетнаму у 2019, primarily у првој половини године.

“The boom doesn't stop here. As there have been extensions to the FIT у неким зонама, we project more than 2 GV of utility-scale PV тако у 2020, " she adds."Тада би нови ПРОПОЗИЦИОНИ фит био ликели то Триггер Анотхер 2 ГВ 2021. године, али са развојем Схифтинг то тхе Нортх.”

Looking ahead, it remains to be seen how long the revised ФИТ regime will remain in place, says планина, noting how other solar ФИТ маркетс throughout the world have come to нагло ends in the past. "The big question is how [state-owned power company] EVN жели да одговори на то amount of capacity and the related costs", објашњава она.

Measured approach

Oliver Mass muškarac, a Vietnam-advokat za Duane Morris LLP, says the proposed revisions to FIT the rates suggest that the Vietnamese government is taking a measured approach to solar development.

"Вијетнам does not want to develop solar power projects at any cost," says Massman, explaining that the government has put стрицт капе on project capacities.

Massmann's 2019 инсталација прогноза considerably more conservative than that IHS Markit, at just 854 МВ. Although 2.24 ГВ of ПВ capacity био под изградњом у јуну 2018. године, он је веровао да многи од програмера ових пројеката ће бити веома драго да их пропустите привредна време операције, да се квалификују на ФИТ rats currently offered.

The newly proposed FIT Savet, he argues, appear designed to strike balance in order to facilitate significant PV build-out, but at prices that state-own utility Vietnam Electricity (EVN) will be able to stomach. However, there are other potential obstacles to future solar development looming on the horizon.

"In general, the network is underdeveloped," says Mass of human, arguing that the national grid may not be able to handle the modest 2020 target of 850 МВ that the government presenteded in its seventh Power Development Plan-to say nothing of its long-term targets of 4 GV by 2025 and 12 GV by 2030. It also remains to be seen what will happen to the 8.1 GW of solar capacity that has already been approved for development through the end of the current decade, accord - ing to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT).

"Coal thermal power projects have covered 70% of the total installed capacity, and that limits the available infrastructure, location, and capacity for further development of solar power projects," Mass man explains. "For example, it very challenging to find locations near the grid for the development of solar power projects.”

Grid limitations

The limitations of the Vietnamese national grid also make it "very challenging" for solar developers to hit their commercial operation рокови, Mass човек додаци. Another issue for utility-scale solar is the Vietnamese government's draft PPA template. While authorities are now working to revise the template to make it more acceptable to domestic and foreign financial institutions, Маса људи says that the draft АЈН is not particularly bankable for a number of reasons. For one, template does not clearly screening risks for the government and the private sector. Тако да је полирање гаранције спољне размене, а то је remains unclear whether the PPA template is a" Таке ор Паи " agreement, according to Massmann. Поред тога, ППА преговори тихо прихвата inordinate amount of time and the process is still not sufficiently транспарентан за стране инвеститоре.

Despite these lingering concerns, the Vietnamese solar market noneteless offers огроман потенцијал. "There are still many broad opportunities for for foreign investors, developers, consultants, and equipment suppliers," says Mass of Man, noting that cumulative PV installations remain negligible, with the Vietnamese market still in its infancy.

One encouraging development is that the government plans to introduce a direct PPA for large-scale renewable projects at some point this year. Ове would allow renewable power generators to sell their electricity directly to corporate consumers. "We believe that foreign expertise in direct power purchase agreement projects is most needed at this point since the pilot direct PPA will be implemented soon," Mass човек каже.

Promising C&I outlook

У Вијетнаму fledgling commercial and industrial (Ц&I) rooftop solar сектор, где Массман троши 19 Мв нове снаге на то да буду уграђени у ову годину, outlook for АЈН considerably more promising.

У марту, the MOIT replaced the old PPA model for rooftop PV and extended the FITs to all C & I projects, effective Април 25, 2019. The new version of the PPA features a number of notable improvements, including the clarity that the FIT will be applicable for 20 years from a project's commercial operation date. The new model also includes a PPA detailed but simple formula to calculate power generation and the price that is to be paid to generators, and separate payment invoice and procedures for companies and households.

"The new model PPA has been simplified for the sale of solar power from the rooftop solar generators to EVN / power purchasers," Mass man explains, noting that it drops the previous net metering structure which mixed the sale and purchase of power between parties. "[This] is expected to address all outstanding issues of rooftop solar power projects.”

RUSSIAN solar specialist Conergy is similarly upbeat about the potential of vietnam's C&I solar space. Генерални директор Александар Ленц каже да земља може да постави више од 1 ГВ of Ц&I rooftop ПВ capacity over the next four to five years. He says that Conergy is therefore "very optimistic" about the country's потенцијал.

Lingering issues

However, Lenz acknowledges that a number of pressing issues still need to be definitivno resolved, such as the 1 MW cap that the government has placed on rooftop PV projects, which reduces the potential benefits that can be achieved through economies of scale. A number of other related laws and regulations also need to be clarified, he argues.

"[Недавни документ соларне политике] defines four business models for solar rooftop investments, but the exact procedures on how to implement these models are not clear. We are assuming that more detailed procedures will follow," Ленц explains. “The policies in general are supportive of rooftop solar development. [But] the laws and regulations need to be improved to provide more details and clear guidance, not only for the developers/investors, but also for the local government authorities who are responsible for executing the policies.”

Long-standing grid constraints are another issue that solar developers стога је потребан конзидер када бира потенцијалне веб странице пројеката, у редоследу везаном за ограничавање ризика повезаних са диспатцхом, according to Lenz. Despite such lingering concerns, the outlook for rooftop ПВ је изузетно позитиван у Вијетнаму. With average annual GDP growth rates of about 5-8% over the past 10 years, the country's electricity demand is expected to outpace the growth of power generating capacity through the middle of the next decade.

A tale of dust and heat

Keeping it cool even in the toughest conditions is a point of concern for many plant owners and EPCs. The trick is striking a balance between ensuring safe and efficient operations plant while keeping the associated costs to a minimum. Reducing the number of moving parts is one way to keep the O&M bill low.

Слика: Хуавеи

Изолована капија биполарног транзистора (ИГБТ) је инверторско срце, а компонента which produces a considerable amount of heat while switching. However, IGBTs, printed circuit boards, and other electrical equipment start operating at lower efficiency levels when they reach a certain temperature. На increase of just 1-2 дегреес above the maximum operating temperature – usually 90-110°C-can цут equipment доживотна у пола.

Инвертер their lower power output through a process called derating to avoid разорне themselves by overheating. Derating, however, has significant effects on a plant's levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). The more efficient на inverter's cooling mechanism, the later derating occurs. A quick look at inverter data sheets показује да већина претварача може да ради на максималној температури околине од 60°Ц, али почети derating at slightly above 40°Ц. Not all suppliers provide data on different outputs under different ambient temperature scenarios, but those who do, admit power losses of between 5% and 10% at to ambient temperature of 50-55°C, when com-pared to 30°

The switch from two to three-level architecture has allowed for more efficient high frequency switching without having to use higher voltage or IGBTs that could resist higher heat levels. In the past, many invertor had less than 96% efficiency, and most losses dissipated into heat inside the inverter cabin. Less heat is dissipated today, with efficiency rat Беионд 98.7%. In making this step, manufacturers offset the effect of more efficient switching by increasing the power density of the инвертер-making cooling an issue yet again.

If a project is located in the scorching heat of a desert, the point at which derating sets in is routinely surpassed. Owners Plant then have to accept repeated low falls in production output, with adverse impacts to their LCOE. Installing a fan to more efficiently draw the heat from the inverter cabinet may seem an attractive solution, but dusty desert conditions and the ingress of small particles interfere with the functionality of the delicate electronics.

Huawei says it has found solutions to both of these desert challenges: using natural convection flows without навијача sufficiently to dissipate heat. Систем would work even with high-power inverters, such as its SUN2000-100KTL-H1 100 кв product. Via natural convection flows of хот аир, топлота расипа у року од недељу дана до through heat пипес onto a heat sink on the outside of the inverter. Huawei places heat generating components and sensitive parts in different compartments in combination with various thermal insulation strategies so that the build-up of hot spots in sensitive areas can be avoided. Smart PV technology giant says that because there are no air bags, the solution is better for dust protection.

Иновативно решење показује promise to utility-scale investors, particularly those with their eyes on the Middle East region. A system that works well under the scorching sun, without the cooling breeze of a fan could have positive impacts on both market expansion and LCOE.

Gaining the most with multi-MPPT инвертори

The role of smart technologies in improving solar project costs and yields in India 

Sunil Jain is the CEO and Executive Director of Hero Future Energies (HFE), an independent power producer that has an installed capacity of 1.2 GW and is striving to 3.5 cross GW by 2022.

Image: Hero Future Energies 

As India's leading independent power producer with an established global presence, what are your plans for continued growing renewable energy over the next three years? 

Hero is presently operating approximately 1,500 MW of wind and solar assets, and has around 1,000 MW under construction, with another 1,000 MW under development. We plan to reach a capacity of 5 GW of solar in the next three to four years. Hero will also go for a lot of innovative projects, like or hybrid tribrid with wind and storage in the coming years.

How would you describe the evolution of India's energy sector thus far?

The Indian energy sector continues to grow at 6-7% annually. It is evolving to include a large mix of renewable energy and стога adopting new technologies to get 30% renewables onto the grid by 2022. I believe then that our energy sector will gradually move to low carbon as renewables will become mainstream in the energy mix.

What role are cutting-edge digital technologies, such as machine-to-machine learn-ing and Internet of Things (Иот), playing у овој еволуцији?
Huge! There are three stages of solar and wind power plants: design, execution, and operation. At the design stage, the use of drones, in conjunction with differential GPS, for land-based topography with artificial intelligence is immensely helpful in plant Layout design, drainage design, earth-work assessment, etc. This is creating much more accuracy and speed.

At the execution stage, piling and ramming using GPS-based machines ensure automated location pile of coordinates. Even drone-based plant monitoring and process data generation through AI and machine learning is possible. At the operation stage, state-of-the-art robotic cleaning systems, mounted with wind sensors, pyranometers, and IoT based data analytics can govern the smart cleaning of modules to ensure higher [power] генерација.

The use of drones скинути са thermal camera and enables GPS perfect monitoring module of behavior, and defects are diagnosed through machine learning and AI based data analytics. Са функцијама за надгледање нивоа линија, it is now possible to communicate string data through Иот, leading to error-free data for accurate assessment. Са неколико МППТ (Макимум Повер Поинт Трацкинг) string inverters using high-end algorithms, it is possible to assess the behavior of each string, including the I - V curve. То може effectively prevent technical issues, improve O & M efficiency, and reduce O & M costs.

Power electronics can be the cause of failures in solar installations. У Индији, what are the specific requirements that inverters must meet?

Reliability and performance of power electronics-based devices are critically dependent on the ambient temperature, humidity, and presence of уређаји, итд Tropical countries like India are characterized by high temperatures and levels of humidity, and also have the presence of lizards, rodents, and snakes. The inverters must be designed to have protection from such extremes.

What you make you choose Huawei as your preferred инвертер партнер?

Huawei is one of the largest R&D-oriented organizations, with their products using state-of-the-art technology. Компанија производи високоучинковите гудачке претвараче, са пуно 99% ефикасности и мулти-МППТ Феатуре, unlike central inverters which carry efficiencies of approximately 98.3% и single MPPT. Multi-MPPT is extremely advantageous for installing PV systems on any country profile, including high пешчане дине или планинске зоне. Због високе технологије Хуавеи, то possible to load search inverters изван 200% DC. There is observable gain of more than 3% vis-à-vis central inverters. With the инвертора being distributed in nature, their mean time to repair is also very low.

Због пада тарифа, да ли помисао на профитну маржу чини mean compromises on the quality of the projects?
The solar PV sector has gone through an immense innovation phase and a great learning curve. Initially, the balance of system design was drawn in equivalence with thermal plants, which run at 100% capacity, 24/7. Designers have gradually unlearned that, and adapted to the behavior of solar PV plants. This has led to innovations and optimizations without compromising quality.

For large-scale PV plants,better data analytics and smart monitoring of the plant are possible, which can ensure better preemptive maintenance and improved gen. Po cijenama have fallen due to the aforementioned points, and the immense price reductions in modules. It is therefore believed that there need be no compromise in the quality.

How can O&M costs be minimized over the life cycle of a project?

Више и више употребе паметних технологија тражи као роботско чишћење, комплети за мерење губитака, дроне-басед тхермограпхи, смарт инференцес кроз машину за учење-инг из СЦАДА Дата Аналитицс, аутоматске машине за сечење траве, и инвертер и трансформаторска дијагностика кроз Мацхине Леарнинг цан Минимизе о&м цостс Витхоут Ани цомпромисе, па чак и са бољом генерацијом.

Six trends of inverters accelerating PV grid parity

The United States, Europe, India, Latin America, the Middle East, and other regions of the world are rapidly ushering in a new era of PV grid parity. China is expected to gradually embrace grid parity у 2020. Као "мозак" ПВ планира, претварачи играју кључну улогу. Сик грипа of inverters жели arguably speed up the progress of grid parity.

String inverters become the mainstream

У међувремену, Воод Мацкензие и други водећи истраживачи тржишта, the global market share of string inverters over central solutions continues to increase, и surpassed that of central inverters for the first time у 2017. Smart string inverters provide high efficiency, high availability, and multiple maximum power point trackers (MPPTs) да донесе веће приходе енергије. Without vulnerable parts or fuses, string inverters can reduce the initial investment and opex while simultaneously increasing PV system reliability. Huawei says that BOS costs can be reduced by 4.5 cents per watt.

1500 V as standard

With lower costs and higher efficiency, the 1500 V system is becoming a mainstream solution for large-scale, ground-mounted PV plants, particularly in emerging markets. According to data from IHS Markit, the shipment of 1500 V solutions for large scale, ground-mounted PV plants in 2018 (excluding China)reached a 62% market share.

The V 1500 inverter solution is used for low global electricity price markets and non-subsidized PV projects, and has been widely adopted in India, the Middle East, and Latin America. Compared with the 1100 V system, the 1500 V system has a higher voltage and string length longer, reducing the equipment, cable, and construction costs. Project's BOS costs can again be reduced by approximately five cents per watts, according to Јефф Ианг, виши менаџер производа за Хуавеи.

"1500 V devices, including inverters, have been delivered on a large scale у 2018. године, као први избор за скале корисности, ground-mounted ПВ plants", каже Јан. "After seven years of the concept period, new product period, and verification period, we are achieving grid parity.”

Бифациал модули + стринг инвертер + Трацкер 

Popularizacija i application of bifacial PV modules in combination with trackers, the upgrade of support-ing invertora becomes inevitable. "Smart string inverters reduce the loss of string mismatch and integrate support control, power supply, and communication management at the same time, which greatly improves the energy yield of the system," каже Јанг. On gives to example, explaining that the measured data of a PV plant у Кингхаиу, Кина показује да је енергетски принос a PV plant користи два ПВ модулес + Трацкерс + Хуавеи smart string inverters solution is increased by more than 20%.

PV+storage systems

Energy storage is of great importance to the global energy transition. Due to cost factors, the industrialization of PV+storage is still in the stage of subsidy-driven development. However, the pace of marketization of PV+storage is убрзање. The application of the PV storage systems will further drive the evolution of the inverters to be the center for energy management PV plants.

Proactive safety protection

Nema doubt that a PV plant's value is strongly influenced by its safety features, particularly when it comes to the rooftop сегменту. Инвертори, with functions such as DC arcing detection and safety shutdown of PV modules, evolve the safety protection of PV plants from passive to active.

Digitalization, intelligence, and AI

In the high-speed development of solar PV globally, the effect of reducing costs using traditional methods has reached its limit. The digital transformation of the PV industry has become a trend. In the future, the PV industry will be digitalized.

With the development of technologies such as big data, cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), and mobile interconnection, the PV industry will achieve management and visualized high O&M efficiency.

The PV system will be inverter-oriented, and its digitalization and intelligence will continue to improve. Поред energy yield and O&M efficiency добици, the ultimate platform for future comprehensive energy services is емергинг.

Smart I-V curve diagnosis

Док ће АИ технологија постепено бити интегрисана у ПВ Солутионс, Huawei is " already driving this intelligence forward with its extensive Smart I-V Curve Diagnosis, which is able to carry out online analysis of entire strings with advanced diagnosis algorithms.

On-site inspection becomes unnecessary, with the ability to perform remote diagnosis у режиму једним кликом. According to the company, a comprehensive diagnosis report for a 100 MW PV plant can be generated in 15 minutes.

These six major trends of inverter technology today are vitally interrelated with the industry's PV core objectives of cost reduction, efficiency improvement, and intelligent upgrades – all of which provide the opportunity to lower the LCOE and accelerate grid parity.

"It's all about банке Ability, and string inverters are here to stay”

Алваро Гарсија Borbolla is the Director of International Business at Prodiel, a global ЕПЦ that has been operating for more than 20 years, with 5 ГВ of solar ПВ capacity installed. Borbolla speaks to pv magazineabout how his company has remained successful in a competitive market, its global expansion, and the growth of string inverters.

Image: Prodiel 

Prodiel has been operating in the PV sector since 1994, in the early stages of development for solar energy. How the company has changed since most then?
Solar technology has advanced significantly, and the capex of the technology has changed a lot since we got started. In terms of scope, a 2 MW project was a big project in 2005. Today, our projects could be 100 MW and up. Most changes for our company from early-on projects have been in the logistics and the engineering.

Prodiel has continued to expand outside of Spain, with subsidiary locations у Чилеу, Колумбији, Перу, Бразилу, Мексику, Панами, Мороццо, Кувајту, Гватемали, и Аргентини. Can you talk more about your expansion in Africa?
We are all over Africa, looking for opportunity. Prodiel is a company focused on large utility - scale projects-we are not doing projects below 15 или 25 МВ. Тренутно гледамо Етиопију са узлазним трендовима. Сенегал is always the hope, but the market hasn't taken off yet. The Middle East is now proving to be a core market for us. With significant tendering in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Kuwait, we are putting a lot of focus on these markets.

Are Latin America and Spain still the most important markets? What is next for continued extension?
У terms of sales, yes. Spain is a market that is booming with large-scale projects, which is very exciting. For the next five years, we foresee five gigawatts being installed each year. Italy is also very promising right now. Latin America, Mexico is significant, and accounted for about 40% наше продаје прошле године. While things have changed, we believe that in the mid-term Mexico will be still be a strong market for us. Over the next two years, we still expect Чиле to grow as well. While the Middle East will not be similar in terms of the sales that will be seeing in LatAm and Europe, we are very focused on the region. Australia will also soon be a new market where we will be actively working with industry partners.

Planning and building a large-scale solar plant is becoming to increasingly challenging business. How your company has continued to succeed through market challenges?
Prodiel has continuously focused on growing and expanding our internal expertise across all departments, from our engineering to tendering. Right now, we are staying on the cutting edge of machine learning and digital technologies. We have remained at the forefront of technologies and markets, and then of course, maintain close partnerships with suppliers.

You Can speak to the level that your network of partners plays to ensure the Bank Ability of a project?
This is definitely one of the main of пројеката Prodiel. From 2008 to 2019, this industry has grown enormously, and our company has grown with the technology. We have long established, strong partnerships with the main equipment suppliers and industry stakeholders. It is crucial to work in collaboration with other partners and vendors to have the best equipment offering for investors. From concept to completion, projects create a long-term collaborative relationship that exists well after the install is complete. We all have to work together as members of a team in order to develop excellent work.

How much does prodiel rely on string inverters for your utility-scale PV plants?
We typically use string inverters for project plants with unique characteristics or challenging install requirements. In previous years, we have installed more than 200 MW of PV projects using string inverters. In our pipeline, we have more than 300 MW of project planned capacity [utilizing] string inverters. We specify Huawei for string инвертер projects.

What advantages has Prodiel found за коришћење Хуавеи string inverters? In which markets are they used?
The main advantage is the production. Their reliability and strong performance in intense and unique environments has been extremely beneficial. We use Хуавеи inverters a lot у областима високе пустиње. Having the ability to easily change the inverter if it is broken increases the reliability of the plant enormously. We have used Хуавеи инвертора in Spain, the Middle East, and now Mexico. I think that the market will strengthen in coming years, and a higher percentage of projects will use string inverters. It's all about банке Ability, and string inverters are here to stay.

Француски solar explorers acquire дугме за инверторов Huawei

After рационализација construction of photovoltaic arrays as far abroad as New Guinea and Solomon Islands, French developers are starting to roll out a new generation of инвертер across their home market.

Image: Vincent Blocuquax

France is gently warming to the utility - scale projects that come to dominate global photovoltaic installation, али according to Guirec Dufour, технички директор произвођача зелене енергије Quadran, француски соларни сектор remains, заузет регулацијом. On kaže da su procesi o obtain building autorizations, restrictions on the use of farmland, and exceptionally demanding national construction codes are typical French previše stimulacije.

"European rules are not even good enough for us", каже Дуфоур. “We have to make up our own that are even more constraining.”

Over the past decade, Dufour has made a career of solving technical holdups on renewable energy construction sites. His efforts have been met with success. When he joined Quadran in 2008, he was one of just four workers. Following a brutal period of market consolidation, the firm has emerged with 250 employees, some operating 250 MW of solar plants, 500 MW of wind farms, and 20 MW of hydroelectric and biogas recovery units. Its achievements have attracted two acquisitions in the past two years, the latest from oil giant Total.

Quadran attributes its growth to the company's agility у Реацхинг Нев Маркетс и увођење нових решења. The company has learned tricks in solving необично challenges that have given it a competitive edge in its core market. Dvije godine, Dufour put this resourcefulness to the test when he set out to design the first 11 MW solar farm in New Caledonia, a French territory located in the South Pacific, 1,200 Km east of Australia and about as far removed as географски possible from Quadran's offices in Béziers, France.

Further and smaller

“The time difference between headquarters and New Caledonia is nine hours,” Dufour says. “If you need to call someone in Europe, it is simply impossible."Proved That проблематика. Ми радимо maintenance tasks on key components such as centralized invertor would typically require specialized technicians and heavy equipment that was unavailable on location and expensive to import.

"ПВ у Нова Каледонија басицалли did not exist two years ago when we started building the plant. You couldn't find trained personnel to maintain centralized инвертора," says Дуфоур, "And if you trained workers yourself, they were likely to go work for the competition in the following 15 days, leaving you constantly training new staff.”

Instead of meeting the human resource challenge head on, Dufour shifted construction of Quadran's New Caledonia solar park to string inverters, which were lighter and easier to install than centralized. He connected all 43,000 solar panels of the project to the grid using Huawei Fusion 300 Solar string inverters, each with a capacity of 33 кв.

"У прошлости, large projects had to adopt central inverters because decentralized inverters were not powerful enough," explains Dufour. “Now, Huawei products can reach power outputs of up to 100 kW, so we can use string inverters on large plants too.”

Слика: Куадран 

Smaller and simpler

In terms of maintenance, decentralized string inverters offer an advantage over central in that they require no specialized engineers or lifting equipment to install. Three workers can transport the hardware on-site by hand, and connect it without risk. If an inverter malfunctions, instead of flying in heavy equipment or representatives from its manufacturer to repair the device, local workers can simply unplug it and install a replacement.

“We just simplified everything in our solar plants using these inverters,” says Dufour, explaining that the entire fleet of Huawei products in New Caledonia have only recorded two faults since their installation. “They are much more reliable and require absolutely no maintenance. If we have a fault, we just swap the component.”

It is still early to quantify these benefits, but he expects that the string inverters in the project are drastically reducing its maintenance costs.

Since its experience у Новој Каледонији, Quadran commissioned Huawei inverters to connect close to another 100 мВ инсталације на удаљеним локацијама и у континенталној Француској. Among the Technology perks, Dufour says that Huawei is the only supplier he knows of that embeds ICT in its инвертер hardware to supervise планира операције. The product offers voltage of 800 VAC, reaches energy conversion efficiencies of 99%, and has helped meet French construction codes for stringing PV modules in parallel.

"Because you only have two strings per entry point, не морате да користите fuses on the ДЦ сиде. To je instalacija više reliable, " says Dufour, adding that higher AC voltages allow for lower losses on the connection to the transformer, avoiding the use of AC combiner boxes, and that the in-built ICT supervises the system with no need for additional monitoring equipment. “We just have an inverter cables and that is it. That means less equipment, and less equipment means fewer faults.”

Simpler and safer

Barbaro, predsednik Neoena, France's leading independent renev-able energy developer, agrees that the otkaz of a PV plant is substantially reduced when using string inverters. To date, his company has brought 2 GW of solar into construction across four continents. For banke Ability purposes, Neoen signs turnkey engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracts with its subcontractors, but it still specifies the subcomponents that it wants installed.

The company placed its first order with Huawei in 2016 after winning a 50 MW photovoltaic project in Zambia as a pioneer of the Scaling Solar program run by the World Bank. Treading new ground, Neoen hanted to anticipate logistic challenges by supplying the landlocked country with small and easy to deploy invertor.

"Paid a visit to Huawei in Shenzhen, China, not really knowing what to expect," says Barbaro. "But we liked what we saw. У условима производње, то је била стварна светска класа. "Initially valued the small scale of the FusionSolar инвертер за пројекат у Замбији, и has since grown fond of its convenience and performance as well.

"Huawei has proven a reliable supplier with a very convincing product", - рекао је он. "So far, we have had no issues with any of the Huawei инвертора that we have installed."Since 2016, Neoen has ordered Fusion Solar inverters for some 300 MW of photovoltaic plants across Armenia, Argentina, and the largest инсталирање у надстрешницу France, which it inaugurated in April 2019.

Safer and cheaper

Слика: Неоен 

Barbaro says that simplicity offers advantages beyond construction sites, as lenders for Neoen's renewable energy projects are cautious about the industrial choices that his company makes. He says that Huawei products have proven bankable, reassuring financial присталице, and bringing down the overall cost of projects. - What we value is experience and experience, - рекао је Барбаро. “If you have dozens of gigawatts of installed capacity, you have a lot of experience covering a lot of different situations.”

Neoen is notably building a 200 мВ соларни погон у Аргентини, located 4,000 meters above sea level. Није све инвертора раде на овом нивоу, али Хуавеи products have been deployed successfully under similar conditions у Кини.

"We tend to go with suppliers that can prove their point when they argue that their product offers the right choice for a Situation that we фаце," says Барбаро. “That is something that we have with Huawei.”

In today's competitive маркет, Барбаро says that even curtailing financial provisions for inverters can have a decisive impact on the operation and maintenance budget of a photovoltaic project.

"Solar is now reaching prices испод $ 20 по МВх, and that is really a game changer," he says. "Every step in the project has been a part of that achievement, including the инвертора. They represent 6-7% of a PV installation's capital expenditure and play an even bigger role in its operating costs.”

Gde je capex optimization has dominated LCOE improvements over the past five years, Barbaro argues that " the next frontier is probably opex optimization, i there is lot to gain from inverters in this area.”

"That is how we decided to use Huawei inverters у Француској", каже Барбаро. “Of course, logistics in France is easier than in Armenia, but the product remains relevant.” He explains that Fusion Solar is low-risk, user-friendly, and increasingly geared towards interoperability, concluding that “Huawei wants to make sure that their product is easy to package with substations and hardware coming from other suppliers,” and he concludes: “That is something that we like.”

European distribution insights

В снаге is a supplier and distributor serving EPCs and project developers. Francisco Pérez Spiess, Direktor Technical Solutions and Sales at Ват сила, talks about the European market and the company's decision to exclusively offer for Huawei their inverter product offering.

Which markets have performed most strongly for you over the last year – Germany, the U. K., Italy, the Netherlands, or Spain?

Our home market is Germany, where our headquarters and our two German support offices are located. Consequently, we are much stronger in this market.

In the last quarter of 2018 as well as the first quarter of 2019 we have experienced a sharp increase in terms of sales volume, which some analysts believe is related to legislative changes and expect it to settle in Q2. Legislative changes are, in our view, not the only driving factor. Дакле, можемо perceeive a supply bottleneck у PV modules, which is potentially limiting growth to some extent. On the other side, the increased efforts from our distribution partners, as well as the new products launched by Huawei in the last year, have clearly contributed to an increase in market share, this is why we are currently quite optimistic.

In the Netherlands we have had a very strong increase in volume. Our team in Utrecht is highly successful in correctly understanding the needs of our distribution partners and their customers there, as well as in nearby Belgium. But not only in the commercial and industrial market segments we are performing well – we are also seeing a very healthy business in the residential and utility-scale market in those countries.

While the landscape in each market will vary from country to country, what market segment is most promising for you?
В снази is very active in the residential as well as in the commercial and industrial маркет segments through its partner network, but we also have identified good opportunities in utility-scale plants.

Францисцо Перез Спиесс оф Ватткрафт

Слика: памучна снага 

To said, Germany is our core market legislation and there favors PV plants 750 кВ below, placing the focus on the commercial and industrial segment. Germany also has an active residential market, with a very promising evolution in the sales of PV systems which also include energy storage.

Precisely for this market segment, Huawei successfully launched last year its hybrid inverter family, called Smart Energy Centre, which is a PV inverter, with a battery interface, and the energy management and Wi-Fi communication to a mobile phone app and through the Internet, all in a single, lightweight device. It is a very exciting product, which is being well accepted in all European markets.

Very recently, Huawei also announced the market launch of its new three-phase inverter family ranging from 3 to 20 kW power output, with extended communication capabilities. This family of products is the common link between the residential and the C&I market segments, as it addresses both.

Did you already experience a boost in sales resulting from the presumed "solar renaissance" in Europe?
Wattkraft is constantly increasing its market share through its distribution partners network у Немачкој, Бенелуксе, Италији, Шпанији и Португалу, where we are official partners of Huawei.

We all experienced sharp growth in terms of sales volume, and we believe that this happened not only the market because of evolution itself, but also due to an intense effort of all partners to bring Huawei into the market.

Although we are quite confident about the European market, we always try to keep in mind that in the past the solar industry has experienced high market dynamics, which comes from a strong legislative dependency.

The whole energy sector is quite strongly regulated in Europe, and the solar industry is being guided by political decision makers into the directions they consider more beneficial.

As political changes sometimes take place in a very narrow time period, the solar industry has registered some sharp movements in the past and also will eventually in the future, although we believe that frequency will decrease over time.

As a distributor you work with EPCs and project developers. Can you tell us what is of special interest to these customer groups, with регардс to инвертора, in the European маркетс, that you serve?

EPCs and project developers have slightly different needs in the markets we serve – most of them ultimately derive from aspects related to legislative or technical requirements, financial questions, expectations on the return of investment, and of course risk management.

In relation to inverter, there are many points in common. For example [there is] a clear trend towards string inverters, a high interest in cloud monitoring solutions with cloud-based servers even better if these are physically located in countries with strict data protection laws, as for instance Germany.

Digital communication features are very important nowadays, and for large EPCs the communications infrastructure is always cost an important factor, not only in terms of investment, but also in O & M. у овом пољу Huawei can offer either standard communication solutions, or more advanced communications directly over AC cables. This allows cost savings and higher reliability, making sure that data collection and plant control can be kept fluent. За напредније кориснике Хуавеи, дакле, нуди додатни I-V цурве analysis and diagnostic service that allows for identifying several potental problem sources on the modules. This is a very powerful tool for optimizing preventive and corrective O&M costs, not just during operations over the years, but also at the initial stage commissioning to identify mistakes which you would never be able to find or even realize without such a functionality.

Wattkraft specifies Huawei inverters exclusively. Why did you settle on this brand?
Opposite to other players in the market, в сила decided to focus on one brand. What we expected to achieve a higher degree of specialization, improved added value for our customers, and a tighter commercial and technical relationship to the manufacturer.

Above all else, there is a very simple reason for us to focus on Huawei: Based on the low failure rate, the high yields, and the technical and financial background of the company, it is by far the best inverter you can get in the market.

A new kingdom 

Саудијска Арабија је turning toward solar technology with its first utility-scale project. Sakake PV installation is a testament to changing times in the global energy supply. Пројекат репер 300 Мв currently ундер цонструцтион, и да ће incorporate Хуавеи proven string inverter технологија.

Саудијска Арабија је први Утилити - scale solar photovoltaic project, known as sakake, construction began in November 2018, and it heralds a new era energy in the kingdom.

The wheels began moving in 2016 with Саудијска Арабија визија 2030 strategy, a plan to pivot the kingdom away from its long-term reliance on oil. Саудијски принц и заменик премијера Мохаммед бин Салман (МБС) - је цредитед витх Цреатинг тхе Висион, which evolved into something much more comprehensive since those early days.

However, the country what up against memories of how an earlier plan from 2010 had failed to materialize-so why would this be any different?

The biggest reason was that this was the first time that the kingdom's renewable energy strategy had been directed by the government.

Described as the "risk-taker", MBS set forth a strategy aimed at increasing its renewable energy capacity three-fold with initial target of 9.5 GW by 2023 (known as the National Renewable Energy Program). Another difference was that incremental targets were released under the National Transformation Program (NTP) of 3.45 by GW 2020, an investment that would require between $30 billion and $50 billion.

Progress continued just two months later with the creation of the Renew - able Energy Project Development Office (REPDO), a team falling under the energy ministry's umbrella tasked with overall responsibility for the execution and delivery of the program. The division included members from every major energy entity in the country: Saudi Aramco, Saudi Electricity Company, Electricity and Cogeneration Regulatory Authority, and King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renew - able Energy. REPDO oversaw the tender process and immediately began work with the sakake power plant as its first undertaking.

Компаније су започеле припреме за пројекат соларне енергије Сакака 300мв Афтер Тхе Рекуест фор пропосалс, који је најављен у априлу 2017.године. У складу са тиме понуда were најављен six months later, еигхт consortia had submitted понуда.

Али у јануару 2018. године ужи bidders included only two companies: ACWA Power and Marubeni. REPDO said at the time that each bid had been “subjected to a detailed evaluation of material compliance to RFP requirements, including the 30% local content component for round 1 NREP projects,” and that the companies were invited to participate in future projects. This was the first time in the region's solar tendering process that the lowest price consortium was not selected, and it piqued the interest of those that were previously wary of stepping into Саудијска Arabia's renewable energy сектор.

That was the point when the сакаке solar power plant had begun moving rapidly. Следећи месец, ACWA Power-led consortium with Al Gihaz Holding, који је награђен the 300 МВ project and a financial close, који Мет у новембру тоталинг $ 320 милиона a project company је основана, Sakaka Solar Energy Company (SSEC), with ACWA holding a 70% stake and Al Gihaz the remainder. Through the project company, the 25 year build-own-operate power purchase agreement was signed with Saudia Power as the Procurement имплементатор.

Domestic content

The first round of projects, which includes sakake, mora da ima local content of at least 30%, which is not difficult for developing the chosen consortium, as both akva and Al Gihaz are Саудијска firms. Поред тога, chosen O & M provider, NOMAC, дакле, од краљевине (и раније with worked ACWA on the Ноор solar projects у Морокко).

Then АКВА decided to try something new in the region: string inverters. Historically, utility-scale plants on flat country have primarily specified central inverters. However, string inverters provide a different set of benefits.

String solutions provide more flexibility than central. And unlike one central unit, repairing or replacing a rogue string inverter is far less complicated and has much lower impact on the entire system.

ACWA chose to use Huawei as the sole supplier of inverters, using its FusionSolar 1500V Smart PV Solution which includes the SUN2000-90KTL string инвертер и FusionSolar Smart PV Management System. This set solution will increase the energy yield by up to 2% while the same the capital expenditure required for central inverter systems. Хуавеи је рекао да је уређена вредност associated with operations translates to a lower levelized cost of electricity. Падди Падманатан, извршни директор АЦВА-е, рекао је да су string inverters stable, with a shorter delivery time that could shave 10% off the general total construction costs.

Sakake project is expected to be complete in October, providing enough electricity to power 45,000 homes in the Ал Јауф регион, while offsetting 430,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. And according to Padmanathan, the project could provide a blueprint for more string inverters being adopted throughout the region.

Shedding light on PV development in MENA

Саудијска енергетски гигант знао оријентир Sakaka project provides увид into the region's growing ПВ маркет. 

Paddy Padmanathan is the President and CEO of Power akva, an international developer, owner, and operator of power generation and water desalination plants carrying a portfolio valued in excess of $ 30 billion . The company has more than 29 GW of energy capacity installed across the Middle East and North Africa, South Africa, and Southeast Asia, and nearly 1 GW of solar PV projects installed in the MENA region.

What obstacles you have faced in the MENA region?

Paddy Padmanathan, President and CEO of Power akva International.

Слика: АЦВА Повер

There is still a great deal of disbelief with people still questioning the technology. People are slow in coming forward and launching projects because they'Re nervous. There's still a misunderstanding to calculating the costs and in many instances, people aren't calculating the amount of money they'Re spending on current generation right now with fossil fuel plants. If they saw those numbers, they'D realize that it's so different than what renewable energy can provide.

That said, what we are seeing are more entrants jumping into the market as it grows. There's been about 20% more newcomers over the past five years – the companies have tripled. Every tender brings new people. If you look back at Dubai Мохаммед бин Расхид Ал Мактоум Солар парк'с друга фаза, there were 14 bidders. No one else has achieved that yet, but if you look, you'll notice three or four of the same companies in recent тендера, but the rest are all new. Some come, try, and leave. Then they return. It's a very dynamic sector right now.

What benefits have come to the region thanks to China's Belt and Road Initiation?

China is reliable and a source capable of construction capacity. They'Re also a source of competitive technology, with companies such as Huawei and Jolywood – who are capable, reliable, and cost competitive. And China can provide access to finance with a great deal of debt financing at the durations we need in a cost competitive way.

The notion that China is дампинг cheap money is untrue. They evaluate in the same way as others, but the big difference is that China has the bandwidth to provide instant large sums. With a tipical non-Chinese or regional lender, there be will struggle to lend $ 50 milion In a $ 1 billion project where you need $ 800 million in debt, international banks be hard-pressed to be able to provide $ 40-50 million apiece жели. The regional banks that have more capacity, perhaps they can provide $150 милиона. However, the Chinese can coolly write a checking for $ 100 miliona.

Speaking of costs, what Kind of returns on investment are you typically seeing with АКВА?
Electricity tends to be calculated in local currency. Na mestima kao Egipt, ova stvar. Once we take the currency risk away, these are all single-digit investments. However, once you have the currency risk, that puts you into the double-digit домен.

Returns on investment in MENA are comparable to elsewhere in the world. These are utility-scale projects and they're essential. Utilities will think hard before stopping a payment or else the lights will go off, so the risk profile is very different.

Zašto ACWA choose to incorporate string inverters on the landmark Sakaka project u Саудијској Арабији региону Ал-Иавф?
String inverters are stable and have a slightly higher yield when compared to a central inverter solution. Друге предности укључују lower O&M costs, including a shorter delivery time which allows us to build the plant slightly faster. On na 18 meseci, for instance, this could mean 10% shaving off of costs.

Do you believe upcoming projects in the region will use this type of technology?

I don't see why not. We will continue to use string inverters for sure, and i'M sure others will do the same.

What are your priority regions over the near-term?

We will continue to focus in markets where we already are, which are 12 countries. This year, we'Re starting to look into Ethiopia as well as Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, and Botswana. We'D like to do more in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam. We expect to see a revenue growth of 20% year-over-year, but our target right now within the next five years is to double the number of countries we operate in and double the amount of assets we have contracted.

Фулл Стеам Ахеад фор ИоТ у ПВ

Thanks to an energy system that increasingly converges between sectors, the deployment of smart management systems is creating a whole range of new business cases. In most parts of the world, this is the stuff of future with experimental trials, yet it is becoming more commonplace.

Never before has the energy system been more complicated than it is today. With increasing numbers of distributed generation assets, grid operators are tasked with ensuring the stability of the system and continuing to do so at a competitive cost.

Solar photovoltaics has experienced a major uplift buoyed by global uptake in residential and small C&I assets. Over the past two decades, the European power system has increasingly featured more distributed assets, which have yet to be optimized.

Through ingenuity and the development of synergies between sectors, energy system engineers from around the world have found a way to offset not only the strain that variable renewable energy assets can put onto the grid, but also to use them in building network resiliency at a price point more attractive than conventional methods.

In markets with a high penetration of distributed assets, the question of how best to accommodate the use cases of these assets has come up. Intelligent software solutions be brought to the market by plethora of power electronics companies, utilities, and other new stakeholder у енергетском бизнису. Solutions such as virtual power plants (VPPs), smart grids, and microgrids provide compelling examples of resilient and cost-effective grid infrastructure.

To pull this trick off, inverter manufacturers have started ослањајући се на proprietary Internet of Things (Иот) applications into their equipment. According to IHS Markit nearly 11 милиона соларних претварача ће бити Солд у 2019, представљајући enormous number of data points which could add significant value to infrastructure if used smart. Connect, collect, compute, and create: This is the new model for the energy ecosystem. The days of relying solely on poles and wire are over.

Док је у својој инфанци, на тржишту постоји already made strong use cases for VPPs, microgrids, and smart grids. A high degree of expertise in digitalization of the energy system has become a critical aspect for each inverter manufacturer to survive in the years to come.

Микросете Версус помрачења

One example for such new business cases is Finland. Након низа затамњених догађаја у 2011. и 2012.години, Finnish policymakers reacted by setting a price on power outages. Since 2013, оператори дистрибутивног система (Дсос) су обавезни на compensate customers for grid downtime, staggered into six incremental increases depending on duration. For example, a single event outage of 12-24 hours ће incur a 10% reduction on annual delivery fees. Outages of 120-192 hours provide a 100% попуста, whereas outages of more than 288 hours ће бити резултат 200% надокнаде. With this market mechanism in place, for many DSO, it was simple to determine the cheapest option to address the issue: микросети. Research performed by Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT)фоунд the lowest cost option for 10-40% of medium voltage branch lines to be low-voltage DC microgrid, according to Navigant's Петер Асмус.

Microgrid deployment will allow for interferences or damages to one part of the grid, such as snow on the power lines, without impact to other parts of the grid further down the line. Бојко managed distributed generation средства in each town and village can maintain base load повер, even when power lines in a nearby село have collapsed.

Virtual power plants

Europe's power grid can be further supported in stability through the implementation of VPP. Grid ancillary services can be provided by virtual power plants at a price point more competitive than conventional means.A VPP is a decentralized network of power generating units tasked with balancing the grid, facilitating the integration of large renewable energy capacity into existing energy systems. With a central control system IT that network can monitor and all participating distributed energy resources, VPPs can be operated as traditional power plants with one big advantage flexibility. As the cloud is fed with all information about the interwoven units and the power grid, VPPs can assume a role in frequency regulation, and also adapt to the continuously changing electricity price when selling output on wholesale markets. На неким европским тржиштима, VPPs are already allowed to provide grid ancillary services, and the financial out-look is promising. The German regulatory authority, Федерална мрежна агенција, publishes its monitoring report which lists costs for grid ancillary services у земљи сваке године. У 2017, these costs came in at close to € 2 трилиона. The cost to provide primary, secondary, and tertiary balancing reserve is about € 145 милиона a considerable портия comes from compensation for curtailment at € 609 милиона и re-dispatch claims of € 291 милиона

With virtual power plants, grid operators can tap into distributed solar assets to tackle these costs for a fraction of the price. Нови пакет чисте енергије ЕУ foresees a slow turn toward market - based approaches for curtailment and re-dispatch. The package identifies the vital role of VPP and permits their use in ancillary service markets. As of нов, policymakers have not yet paved way for the technology to address the costly issues of re-диспечерском and curtailment. However, the path could be inevitable.

Rural electrification мини-мрежу

For more than one billion people in the world, electricity remains unattainable or limited. With economic development and modern health services отишао на терен електрификација, this creates severe impacts on the lives of a large proportion of the planet. The UN has put electricity supply far up its agenda in its Sustainable Development Goals. Distributed PV projects working as mini-grids are a cost viable solution to addressing the global electricity challenge. The generation assets are cheap, have low operating expenses, and do not require the expansion of grid infrastructure to remote corners of a country.

Strategic investment growth in off-grid solar, mini-grids, and universal access energy projects are climbing. Извештај аналитичара Воод Мацкензие показује sector commitments climbing, with a 37% increase from 2016 to 2017 and a 22% increase from 2017 to 2018. Last year's investment volume clocked at $511 milion Until February 2019, nearly $ 1.7 billion had been poured into the sector. У 2017, Huawei developed a рурална електрификација project with Cameroon's Water Resources and Energy Ministry. The smart PV solution provider contributed to a scalable solar, energy storage, and diesel generator solution. Након завршетка прве фазе пројекта, Huawei Microgrid Solar Solution now provides 166 remote villages electricity to the benefit of more than 120,000 people.

Huawei 11.2 MW rural electrification microgrid project in Cameroon powers 166 remote villages, providing more than 120,000 people with electricity.

Слика: Хуавеи

Distribution solution

Хуавеи лансирање its next generation smart inverter, tailored to C&I and rooftop installations. На Смартер е Еуропе 2019 у Минхену, Хуавеи је покренуо нову стамбену и комерцијалну итерацију итс Провен Фусионсолар Смарт ПВ Солутион. The three-phase inverter's innovations promise quick installation and a range of artificial intelligence (AI) features for safe operation and easy energy management down to the module level.

The Fusion Solar Smart PV Residential & Commercial Solution is the latest addition to Huawei comprehensive offering for the solar industry, completing this product line expansion by providing to cover the C&I solar segment. As prices for solar continue to fall, companies are increasingly interested in sourcing their own electricity, creating a boom for this segment across the globe.

But C&I solar installations bring plenty of challenges to technology providers, from optimizing energy yields and integrating storage, to ensuring safety and security where rooftop installations are placed close to populated areas and on top of valuable buildings. "Дистрибуирана структура крова је комплекс", објашњава Бин Ксие, директор пословне јединице Хуавеи Смарт ПВ. "And there are still many opportunities for improvement in the commercial PV сегменту.”

Huawei's solution aims to meet the specific demands of this fast-growing segment through a range of innovative features focused on safety, ease of installation, and simple operation and energy management assisted by artificial intelligence. While launched globally at The smarter E, initial focus for the product will be on European markets, with high demand also expected in Australia.

Core of the offering is Huawey's инвертер SUN2000, which for the C&I solution is available in 10 different capacities, recommended for installations between 3 and 20 кВ, with maximum efficiencies in the range of 98.2-98.65%. Све додатне услуге које Huawei FusionSolar Smart PV solution known for are incorporated, тражи као ИП65 заштита за спољну инсталацију, фанлесс хлађење за increased reliability and compatibility with energy storage solutions, and module level optimizers. The solution operates at a volume of 29 decibels, which describes Huawei as ‘library level noise.’

Easy installation

Weighing in as little as 17 kg, Huawei C & i inverter is smaller and lighter than many of its competitors, and there is no need to open the cover during installation. The company says this means it can be installed and set up by just one person, saving on time and costs.

To ease the installation process even further, Huawei has several integrated AI features to its commercial offering. Bring its experience as a leader in the telecommunications industry to its solar solution, Huawei yannetegrates a HiSilicon chipset with multiple channel модулација сигнала transmission and features which will bring it says the time optimizer for pairing down to less than one minute.

Користећи АИ технологију препознавања слике, the solution is able to identify the component location and the optimizer QR code-automatically generating the physical system layout view. This significantly reduces тиме allocation, from more than 20 мин - литици to less than five seconds, according to company representatives. Smart I-V curve analysis је могућност идентификације више система faults at the touch of a button, with no need for additional inspection.

Safety

Fire safety is a key concern in rooftop PV, and in many leading markets Regulation are emerging that require system suppliers to integrate functions such as module - level rapid shutdown to reduce the risk of electrical fires. With its new commercial solution, Huawei has gone far beyond these requirements with an AI innovation that it says can detect increased risks before they escalate, and isolate parts of the system to prevent fires before they occur. "Rapid shutdown technology can reduce the voltage to the safe in the standard initial installation and future maintenance scenario," explains це. "Али фундаментално, it cannot eliminate the risk of fire.”

This is where Huawei arc-fault circuit interrupter (AFCI) долази. Using AI, the solution can detect arcing within the system, and automatically isolate and shutdown the faulty inverter completely until the problem is resolved.

Arcing is one of the most common faults leading to fire у ПВ систему, често узрокован прекидом континуитета проводника и изолацијом система-чест проблем као ПВ Системс Аге. Electrical breakdown of air that produces a prolonged electrical discharge може reach temperatures of more than 3,000 degrees по Целзијусу. This problem occurs primarily on the DC side of a system, as it requires continuous voltage and other conditions not found on the AC side of a system.

To mitigate this risk, more and more systems include inverters with an AFCI capability. But the detection methods deployed vary, and distinguishing actual arcing from other noise in the cable caused by switching circuits in the inverter or even other appliances such as neon lights or vacuum cleaners can be tricky, some leading solutions to suffer from frequent false alarms and stipping, reducing the system efficiency without any real bezbednost koncern.

Хуавеи Фусионсолар Смарт ПВ Ресидентиал & Цоммерциал Солутион емплоис на иновативну, АИ-вођену методу за откривање грешака у луку. According to Huawei, the system can identify a wide range of signs that point to arcing and is also able to ‘learn’ and accumulate characteristic parameters, improving its ability to reliably and accurately detect arcing anywhere in the DC line. The system also features a confirmation mechanism to protect against arc faults, and to effectively eliminate збуњујућих триппинг.

Праћење

Huawei commercial PV solution is packed with features designed to give owners insight and control over their energy consumption, as well as to minimize operations and maintenance requirements, and protect the system itself from damage and degradation.

Дакле, Хуавеи инвертори имају уграђену функцију опоравка ПИД-а, вхицх у тестирању које су спровели истраживачки институти Универзитета Хасселт, ИМО и ИМОМЕЦ, показали су да је модул вхицх суфферед 93% деградатион Афтер 96 ХОУРС у тестној комори од 60°Ц, 60% релативне хумидности, и 1000 Вдц, деградед Јуст 22% Ундер тхе саме цондитионс витх Хуавеи ПИД Рецовери. Уграђени PID recovery feature reduces output loss by up to a staggering 70%.

New arrivals are flirting with batteries

As the market evolves, so are the products. New arrivals for the residential sector are showing a focus on communication standards and storage спремности, two features that are becoming more important for the energy system of the future.

Huawei's suite of residential products has broadened with new arrivals in the first half of 2019. In the scramble to find more rooftop spaces to be retrofitted with solar PV system designers have been met with the challenge of partial shading and otherwise arguably unsuitable rooftops.

Хуавеи Смарт ПВ Оптимизер СУН2000-375В-П2, у комбинацији са новим паметним енергетским центром компаније Сун2000-3-10КТЛ-М1 (3-10 кВ) и Сун-12-20КТЛ-м2 (12-20 кв), Промисе то Аддресс Иссуе. The new residential products allow module level power electronics to be fitted only to the individual solar panels that are subjected to unfavorable or orientation partial shading.

Instead of fitting 20 or more PV optimizers to offset shading challenges, it would now be possible to fit them, for example, only to the four modules that are affected by the nearby tree or chimney. This further reduces the cost of the system, increasing PV's competitive edge in many markets.

The optimizers use DC cabling for communication with the inverter and other associated power electronics, which improves the security of the communication standard wireless solutions against, and eases installation when compared to designated communication cabling solutions.

The new invertor weigh about 17 kg for the 3-10 кв option and for the 25 кг 12-20 кв, инвертер. Thanks to this high energy density, that of outperforming many competitors, Huawei says that its inverter can be installed by one person alone. Setting aside the lower weight of the inverter, the company also touts that its new generation of инвертора also has an improved interface, cabling. The new interface allows installation of cables without the removal of the cover inverter, which is required for most other инвертора. This not only helps to further reduce installation costs, but also improves the продор protection, avoiding инсталације fiddling with the factory condition of the equipment.

Ослањајући се на its expertise in telecommunications technology, Huawei has its fitted new inverters with 4G dongles, ensuring stable Internet connection from the inverter to the energy management system. Ovaj could be particularly helpful in надстрешница installations or projects where the inverter is installed out of reach from a homes ' WiFi connection.

Инвертер је батерија спремна, requiring no additional power electronics or new cabling should the owner decide to retro fit a battery storage system. With feed-у тарифним режимима fading out на многим тржиштима, the question of self-consumption or finding алтернативни токови прихода за prosumers has come into new focus. Most new use cases, such as integrating PV systems into virtual power plants or operating home appliances to improve self-consumption, require the flexibility that is provided by a storage system. While still prohibitively expensive in many markets, battery systems will become of greater interest for many system owners within the lifetime of their installation, making an easy retrofit an important feature in a hard-fought Маркетплаце инвертер.

Huawei goes home

Residential solar: Since entering the solar инвертер простор у 2011, Кина Huawei has enjoyed rapid market share gains у свим утилитаристичким размерама и комерцијалним тржиштима у томе што има competed. Now, as the many mature solar regions begin ramping up residential, Huawei is poised to introduce new technology solutions for this expanding market.

The overarching theme from 2015's COP21 UN Summit in Paris was finding viable ways to limit CO2 emissions to prevent the earth's temperature increasing past critical mass levels by 2050. Heads of state shook hands, signed documents and posed for pictures before the world's media, emerging trijumfal in their belief that their words, promises and pledges could prove pivotal in this fight.

Strong, stable leadership has a huge role to play in keeping climate change at bay. But top-down actions always run the risk of alienating masses of people, and effecting behavior change en masse is not only fraught with contradictions, but is nigh-on impossible to achieve in a функционисање вишестраначке демократије.

The battle against rising CO2 emissions has long been, and remains, economic. During the recession, western nations actually saw their emissions flatline or fall in line with tumbling consumption, while the great worry among environmentalists that is, as nations with huge populations become more developed, their emissions are going to push past the point of no return.

So the question of how best to tackle climate change is not one of идеологија, but simple economics: if clean power sources can become cheaper, then the whole world benefits. And this is what has happened with solar in recent years. At the utility scale at least, solar PV plants have reached grid parity, and in some cases are even cheaper than gas or coal. Maturing solar markets are now bringing their innate ability to drive down costs to bear on the residential space. Where previously home solar that supported by necessary subsidies in order to prove attractive to cash-conscious homeowners, now costs are so low in many leading markets that typical rooftop solar systems make economic sense on their own.

In the U. S., Japan, Australia and most parts of Europe, residential solar installations are poised to be the chief PV drivers for growth over the next few years, and it is this opportunity that has piqued the interest of Huawei. The Chinese firm has already proven a disruptive presence in large scale solar markets, and analysts are confident that their entrance into the residential space will.prove telling in a number of ways – not least in driving costs down further and, in turn, increasing uptake of solar PV

Хуавеи Понуда
Жичани инвертер портфолио offered by Хуавеи is evolving. На недавном сајму ПВ у Токију компанија showcased its new 33 кв 40 кв inverters that boast фоур maximum power point trackers (MPPT), two ДЦ switches and еигхт strings each. These iterations have been designed for the commercial rooftop market and weigh 55кг each, but the firm also unveiled its range of smaller инвертер ranging in size from 4.12 and кв 4.95 кв, 10kg weighing and easily groupable for installation on 50kW small commercial rooftop and free field installations.

With such flexibility in size and scope, talk has obviously turned to Huawei's residential ambitions. “We have enjoyed a lot of success in the commercial rooftop markets of Europe, Japan, the U. S., China and the APAC region,” a Huawei spokesperson told pv magazine. “So as requested by our customers, and driven by the development strategy of Huawei itself, we will expand our product portfolio to residential markets. This will be an important year for us to have a global launch of residential products in Europe, Australia, China and the U. S.”

The new residential inverter from Huawei is a rather sleek, smooth-edged appliance that has evidently been designed with the style-conscious homeowner in mind. It is lightweight, so can be easily installed, and battery comes ready for those homeowners who wish to add storage capacity. As with all Huawei invertor, it will also be compatible with the Fusion Solar APP, meaning homeowners can quickly and simply monitor their solar energy production.

"This new inverter has already won a Red Dot design award, having impressed the judges with its smart home design," said the Huawei spokesperson, who remarked of the importance of developing different applications and products for different scenario and solutions. “How to manage solar PV, storage and self-consumption in the home is a different challenge for us. This is why the new inverter is being presented as part of our new smart home energy management center.

"Secondly, it is challenging to create a partners sales network and pull-push power на стамбеном тржишту. Али Huawei brand is becoming more and more well-known thanks на наше паметне телефоне.” With this in mind, Huawei is aiming to become a leader in the residential solar PV industry in a similar way that companies such as Tesla have used their excellence in other fields to create hype and demand for their home energy solutions, namely the Wall Power battery.

Међутим, Huawei is acutely aware that style requires substance. - Наш бренд пулл повер ће really helpful for entering into residential маркетс, - рекао је spokesperson. “But quick and reliable service is a must in this market. We believe that it is premier quality and efficient services that ultimately win the trust of our clients, which is why we have a dedicated service in our channel portal system to support our customers intelligently and efficiently.”

A numbers game
The growth in the uptake of module level power electronics (MLPE) in recent years has been almost exclusively rooted in rooftop solar sectors. Slight efficiency gains proffered by use of DC optimizers and microinverters make sense at this smaller scale, the additional 2-3% yield a viable trade-off against the costs associated with installing search technology. At utility scale, the cost benefits are not quite there yet, however. Hence, with further opportunities for homeowners and businesses to increase their solar energy yield, one can expect growth in this sector to continue rising sharply and again, Huawei is awake to the possibilities at hand.

"We are making investigations into the [MLPE] markets and assessing the best options,” Huawei spokesperson confirmed to pv magazine. "The new NEC2017 safety code in the U. S. mandat rapid shutdown of modules on rooftops, and this is making the argument for MLPE more compelling than ever. In other markets, we see similar trends of safety requirements and demand of module-level monitoring. The challenge for Huawei is how to create value for our customers with balanced cost and long-term reliability. But we have confidence in our unique ability to overcome those challenges.”

It is expected that Huawei will introduce to the U. S. market DC power optimizers in the second half of this year, with markets further added later in 2017.

A key tenet of this growth will be identifying viable partnership networks that can ably support Huawei's expansion strategy and service standards. Residential solar markets tend to be less easy to regulate than utility су тржишта великих размера која често доминирају кластерима добављача смаллер и ЕПЦС.

“As market opportunities in distributed generation emerge, along with the launch of our residential products, Huawei will continue to explore more partnerships and rapidly expand the number of trusted partners to reach more cities and towns and to be closer to our customers to offer them the best products and services,” concluded the Huawei spokesperson.

A string of success 

String inverters at scale: Глобална соларна индустрија има језера у past few years how string inverters are increasingly displacing central inverters у мулти-Мв ПВ power plants. pv magazine examines the benefits of this shift, and what the future may hold.

У 2011. години, први мулти-МВ PV power plants equipped with string inverters were commissioned у Немачкој, proving that all grid-code requirements for large scale solar systems could be met with a distributed инвертер топологија. and not only by central inverters.

Стринг инвертер topology for MW-systems initially used for "Специал" распореди

Ever since, three-phase string inverters have seen a growing adoption rate in large scale PV power systems. Initially the key driver for the increased adoption of string inverters in utility-scale systems was the fact that switching to string inverters gave the EPCs a much higher degree of freedom in the plant layout. U vezi sa sluèajevima where the plot of land was not simply flat, where (partial) shading was an issue, where modules with different power ratings had to be integrated in one PV system or simply where the access roads would not support the heavy load trailer trucks required for bringing the central inverters onsite, the switch to string inverters that decisive to make the PV project viable at all. In such incidents the higher investment costs that the use of string inverters still meant 2-3 years ago could then be justified.

In the meantime, price different on a € / kWp база between central inverters with a power rating in the MW-range and three-phase string inverters with a power rating in the 30-60 кВ-range has strongly diminished.

As a consequence, more and more developers and system engineers of solar power plants are deciding in favor of the decentralized inverter layout even in the absence of specific инциденти that would necessitate the use of string inverters for an efficient layout of a multi-MW solar power plant.

Taking only the investment and constructing costs into account, equipping a 20 MW power plant with string inverters is no longer necessarily more expensive than with central inverters. For the string inverter layout the added cost for the transformer cabin and AC combiner boxes have to be taken into account. На другој руци, no DC string monitors are required for the string inverter layout and significant savings може бити реалан на нивоу ДЦ-цаблинг.

Yet the budgeted costs laid down in spreadsheets don't necessarily reflect real life challenges involved in the construction of PV power plants. Стефан Кеберлеин, старији менаџер у немачком ЕПЦ фирм Сун.Фацтори ГмбХ Издвајамо: "usually have very tight schedules for the construction of the PV power plants. Often enough regulatory frameworks impose time that under all circumstances have to be met. Od installation of central inverter requires renting expensive equipment and coordination specialists, this can cause quite a headache and extra costs, if the weather conditions force the rescheduling of the originally planed date инсталација. Going instead with string inverters provides us with the option to react much more flexibly at the construction site to any external factors that force adjustments to the original time schedule.”

String inverters grant flexible service concepts and lower maintenance costs

Today, the most frequently cited reason why operators and owners of PV power plants opt for a string inverter configuration instead of a central inverter solution is the flexibility in the service concept.

With a central inverter architecture the operator is bound to this specific manufacturer for service and spare parts for the entire lifespan of the PV power plant. Furthermore, certain parameters of a central inverter can only be accessed and modified by authorized service technicians. If a problem with a central inverter cannot be solved remotely a qualified service technician of the inverter manufacturer has to travel to the site to perform the repair. In case the cause of the inverter проблем could not be diagnosed remotely, two trips to the power plant are required: the first to identify the cause of the malfunction and the second for the actual repair. Depending on the location of the power plant and the availability of the given spare part, significant additional costs can arise from ubrzanje the required replacement part to the site.

The whole time before the repair of the central inverter can ultimately be performed, the thousands of modules attached to the central inverter are affected by its незадовољавајући, thus leading to substantial energy yield losses.

In contrast, the service concept for string inverter configurations has always been that local electricians simply replace the faulty inverter in the field and send the defective device back to the service center of the manufacturer where the fault analysis (and possibly the repair) is being performed. Local electricians only have to be qualified in (dis-)монтажа и (dis-)повезивање стринг инвертер, which for modern string inverter design is fairly simple. То је све за much lower servicing costs and much faster reaction times. Even if the time for servicing the central inverter and the string inverter were the same, the effective loss in power generation would be 20 to 50 times lower per inverter failure.

With failure rate of Huawei string inverters below 0.5% per year statistically there неће бити више од једног инвертер сервис incident per year per 10 МВ PV power plant unit each equipped with 200 string inverters. The larger the size the solar power plant gets, the more remote typically their location, clearly favoring the decentralized inverter concept in particular for the largest solar power plants. Indeed, the largest PV power plant to date is a 1 GV system in China equipped with Huawei string inverters.

Even more concerning than the servicing costs for central inverters is the complete dependence on the supplier. What happens if a manufacturer discontinues its inverter activities within the next ten or 20 years? If today a power plant operator requires any Kind of support for a Satcon central inverter, for instance, has has be prepared to pay претјерано Сервице феес, since Satcon went out of business a couple of years ago.

In contrast, if a solar power plant is equipped with 400Volt_АЦ string inverters today the original and supplier is no longer active ten years from now, there will always be a choice of 400Volt_АЦ string inverters from alternative suppliers that can be used at that time to replace any faulty devices of the original supplier.

И конзидер алтернативне услуге: Suppose for whatever reason ten years from now multiple solar modules have to be exchanged at the power plant. It is obvious that today's power ratings of the modules will no longer be available. With a central inverter architecture there is no chance to take advantage of the higher power ratings of the modules available by then. With more than 2,000 modules per maximum power point tracker (MPPT),

Huawei has made great progress in the cost optimization of string inverters, resulting in negligible price differences

Хуавеи provides a unique advantage-интелигентна детекција грешака

All of the above cited arguments that have already led to string inverters capturing an ever growing share of the utility-scale solar system market can be summarized with the terms of flexibility and vendor independence. For an asset that has to operate for 20 years or more in order to earn the intended yield investment, flexibility and vendor independence are good arguments by themselves to opt for this architecture. Iet Huawei is now inroducing an argument that is unique to its architecture and cannot be реплициран in a central power inverter plant layout.

Sve Huawei string inverters with power ratings above 36 kW launched since last summer are capable of performing a smart fault detection and diagnosis. How does that compare to the current state of the art?

As of today, the monitoring of a solar power plant is limited to monitoring the output power and comparing it to the power expected yield based on the irradiation level measured in parallel. У централној инверторској топологији, чак и када користите smart DC combiner boxes the inherent measurement uncertainty of around 2% -3% limits the ability to detect all release faults у соларном погону as long as they only affect single strings or modules.

With a conventional string inverter topology, underperforming strings can be identified yet without any further insight into the cause of the лошег.

Compared to the central inverter architecture at least one has the advantage of being better able to localize the affected areas within the solar park.

If the observed energy yield loss is severe enough to trigger a further analysis, in both scenario it is required that a service team is dispatched to the site of the power plant and that it performs time intensive and costly measurements on-site, be it I-V curve measurements, electroluminescence measurements or thermal imaging. Often enough the detailed analysis of the field measurements is then performed back in the office, requiring a second service incident on-site to perform the actual repair. Konsekuently, the time that elapses between detecting an loše in the field and its repair can easily exceed one week.

Given the high costs associated with each diagnostic tests performed on-site operators have significant to set thresholds before an on-site visit of a service technician can be justified. Therefore, a key requirement in economic day-to-day solar power plant operation is limiting false alarms.

Sva ova ispitivanja mogu da budu uz korist Huaveijeve Fusion Solar Smart PV kontrolne sisteme. From the remote monitoring center an operator can initiate with a simple click the I-V curve scan of individual strings. Intelligent diagnosis algorithms не може само да идентификује лењи низ, али може бити, дакле, distinguish between more than 15 different causes for the underformance listed у табели below. По редоследу извршења дијагнозе грешака, Huawei software identifies typical I-V curve signatures associated with the specific faults.

Table 1: list of different fault causes Huawei's Fusion Solar can identify

From an operator's and an owner's perspective, such a remote fault analysis bears a number of important advantages:

1. No service technician has to be dispatched to perform the error localization and error identification on-site.
2. The fault diagnosis can be performed any time, independent of weather conditions.
3. The actual measurement is performed within a few seconds so that the time between error identification and repair can be drastically shortened.
4. No modules have to be disconnected for the failure diagnosis, and so no energy production has to be sacrificed in order to perform the failure diagnosis.
5. The thresholds in the monitoring system that trigger an error analysis can be set much tighter, as no additional costs are associated with the failure diagnosis. Thus, незадовољавајући can be identified at a much earlier stage, further impoving the overall energy yield of the solar power plant.

This feature is a clear differentiator and has the potential to significantly increase the adoption rate of Huawei string inverters in utility-scale solar parks around the world. Looking at today's success of Huawei in a stagnating European solar market, increasing its shipments from 400 МВ у 2014 to some 800 МВ у 2015 and more than 1.5 ГВ у 2016, the intelligent diagnostic failure feature is bound to spur further growth in the next few years.

So far one can distinguish quite different adoption rates of string inverters in the utility-scale market segment globally. It is estimated that у 2016. години roughly 50% нових инсталираних ПВ Повер Плантс у Кини were equipped with string inverters. У Европи, у сваком случају од 15% до 25% Мв-скале ПВ инсталације last year used string inverters while у САД string inverters тихо made up less than 10% of the utility scale маркет.

Huawei's introduction of the intelligent diagnostic failure feature at the level inverter will significantly impact in what future will be expected from operations and maintenance (O&M) of solar parks. На позадини Хуавеи success, жичани инвертер-equipped large-scale solar park could become as common around the world as the already данас у Кини.

Fusion Solar: a top runner in china'S energy evolution

The Top Runner Project: Huawei's smart string string inverters and Fusion Solar solution is proving its worth in china'S Top runner Project, which is slowly but surely ushering in a new, cleaner energy future for the country.

Датонг, у провинцији Сханки, Кина, is an important coal-producing region. Unfortunately, the water and soil in some areas of the city has been irreparably damaged due to coal mining, and the land is no longer suitable for farming. However, what this land does have is huge potential for producing solar energy, with an annual solar irradiance of 5,432.8 million joules per square meter. Within China, this is second only to the Tibetan Plateau, making Datong an excellent location for the construction of PV plants.

In April 2015, the Shanxi government sent an official report to china'S National Energy Administration (NEA), proposing the construction of PV power generation bases at mine subsidence areas in Datong. In June that year, following the proposal's approval by NEA, the first PV Top Runner base of China од чега су се населили у Датонг. A year later, Национална комисија за развој и реформе (NDRC) announced that, starting from June 30, 2016, the feed-у тарифи (FIT) would be lowered. The plant shareholders of the Top Runner project all the accelerated progress project and hoped to complete before the deadline. On June 29, 2016, the first phase that finished on time, with 1 GV capacity being completed, installed, and then connected to the power grid to begin production. The incredible construction speed demonstrated by the Top Runner project shows its leading place within the future of solar energy.

Intelligent and cost efficient power generation were critical factors for the investors that won the bidding in the first phase of the Top Runner project because they directly correlate to the return on investment (ROI) for the shareholders. In the contest of cutting-edge technologies and products in the PV industry, the enterprise that focuses on the technologies that will improve energy efficiency and has strong brand appeal is certain to be the winner.

Севен enterprises укључује CHD, CGN, United New Energy, and CTG New Energy each won the bid за развој 100 Мв ПВ plant of the Top Руннер project. Још пет предузећа, укључујући Jinkopower each won the bid to develop a 50 Мв ПВ plant. Following the innovate application of the Huawei FusionSolar Smart PV solution at mine subsidence areas, десет главних програмера бирају тим са Хуавеи. These developers made use of Huawei's smart string inverters and Fusion Solar solution, and all were successful in creating grid connections without any faults. У Тотал Хуавеи супплиед 500 МВ претварача на врху базе тркача у Датонг, accounting for 50% of The Frontrunner project's total capacity.

Смарт стринг инвертер

Само PV modules and products with a efficiency level that at or above the industry benchmark може бити кратка листа за употребу на бази Датонг Топ Руннер. An inverter must have a conversion efficiency of more than 99%, a Chinese efficiency of not less than 98%, and the capability of zero voltage rides through (ZVRT). Considering the challenging mountain terrain and the difficulties with O & M у областима субвенционисања рудника, investors favor string inverters and intelligent O & m systems.

Wang Yanguo, a senior engineer of Shanxi Electric Power Engineering Co., Ltd., conducted a site survey on the geological environment of the mine subsidence areas in Datong. He concluded that the challenging terrain can cause inconsistencies with PV module orientation, decreasing energy yields. Other factors such as continuous and uneven subsidence and too much ash can also increase the chance of a PV module mismatch. Fan Xiushan, general manager of the North China Region of CTG New Energy, a company that has cooperated with Huawei several times, said: "String inverters succeed in reducing the energy yield loss caused by the shade PV modules that can be under when deployed on mountainous terrain, compared with central inverters under the same conditions. This ensures to improvement of more than 81% plant PR and 4.62% energy yields.”

10 програмера који користе паметне претвараче стринга, ЦГН и Унитед ПВ користе само Хуавеи смарт стринг инвертерс; 95% претварача које користе ЦТГ Нев Енерги Аре Хуавеи смарт стринг инвертерс и 80% претварача које користе Јинкоповер Аре Хуавеи смарт стринг инвертерс.

Менг Иаки, потпредседник генералног директора интерне монголске области ЦМН, praises the terrain-based PV array deployment supported by the string inverter solution. Гудачки претварачи су идеални за спољну употребу because the IP65 rating and free cooling design can completely protect string inverters from ash. This eliminates the need for some maintenance tasks such as cleaning up dust.

Цоинциденталли, ЦХЕЦ се тако одлучио за употребу претварача низова који побољшавају ефикасност коришћења Прецисе Макимум Повер Поинт Трацкинг (МППТ) технологије и инкреасе Енерги ииелдс усинг а Солар Трацкер. Li Yanhong, chief design engineer of CHEC, said: “Dust accumulation greatly reduces energy yields. Due to the location within an area previously used for coal mining, the time taken to clean a PV plant is twice that of a normal PV plant. Thanks to Huawei's smart PV O&M platform, which works in unattended mode and requires only a few maintenance personnel, the O&M cost is reduced while the efficiency is greatly increased. This leads to ‘lower investment, return higher’, making this an economic project.”

Intelligent O&M
To withstand tough Terrain and harsh demands, Top Runner project shareholders and EPC units spare no effort to ensure that they have the best device models. This is particularly true when selecting PV modules, inverters, combiner boxes and box-type transformers.

Furthermore, many shareholders have higher requirements regarding intelligent O & M than they

do regarding energy yield increase. A convenient and efficient O & M system can function as the “brain " of a PV plant. Many shareholders are now сарађује са Huawei to construct intelligent O & m networks across regions, countries, and even the world.

Јинкоповер шта је one of the developers involved in the first phase of the Top Runner project. Јинкоповер ундертоок а 50мв пројекат у Донгтиаојиан, Дианван, Зуоиун. Гонг Цхуанхе, председник Института за дизајн Јинкоповер, каже нам да је просечна величина (за пример, 50 МВ) PV plant requires a far more complicated management unit than a small-sized PV plant. The O&M system must be intelligent, efficient, and reliable, and systematic support and centralized management. Када изаберете претрагу у О & М систему, акционари ће бити consider the pros and cons for devices, intelligent inspection, and power Gen efficiency.

Тако је ЦГН изабрао Хуавеи Фусионсолар Смарт ПВ Солутион за свој 100мВ ПВ пројекат у Ксингванг, Датонг, Сханки. Технички инжењер из CGN је рекао: "100 Мв ПВ plant covers to area twice as large as that of a normal ПВ plant, which makes manual резервоара инспекцијски to impossibility. The Fusion Solar Smart PV solution can precisely monitor the running status of each PV string and accurately locate any faults, greatly reducing the time required for checks. Therefore, we decide to team up with Huawei to set up a remote centralized control platform. We will build покрајински monitoring systems to implement hierarchical control and reduce site O&M personnel.”

Дакле, CMN is optimistic about the future of the smart PV strategy. The head of The Frontrunner project team of CMN announced that " when designing the intelligent O & M, ideology for PV plants, high reliability, high intelligence, high automation, high efficiency, simple system, easy maintenance, and internet-based design are all critical. The Huawei Fusion Solar Smart PV solution meets all of our requirements.” CMN has been involved with co-constructing an intelligent global PV plant O&M center together with Huawei. Овај центар ће управљати 46 PV plants that are either own by CMN or that CMN has agreements with. CMN successfully introduced Huawei FusionSolar Smart PV Solution into the First Top Runner base in Datong. Huawei intelligent O & m cloud center makes "centralized resources, којима управљају људи few" a possibility.

Wireless communication technology

Intelligent PV plant requires information communication technology that can keep pace with the fast-developing world around it. The mine subsidence areas sink every 3-5 цм 20 years, which could break the RS485 комуникације cables that are buried ундергроунд. Changing a broken cable in mountainous terrain is difficult, as people have to dig a ditch and then a new route cable.

Главни програмери such as CHEC, CGN, Jinkopower, and CMN share the same view as Wang Yanguo, инжењер у Шанци Electric Power Engineering Co., Ltd.. ко је рекао: "у рударском пројекту ПВ, усмјеравање каблова никада није било нешто планирано. Међутим, Huawei industrial-level power line communication (ПЛЦ) can replace RS485 cables. This reduces the costs involved in purchasing and routing RS485 cables, information reduces loss caused by unstable RS485 signals, and reduces the risk to cables that will inevitably break when the ground sinks.”

A construction company has also praised PLC, saying: “The application of PLC and wireless technologies not only reduces communications cables and engineering expenses, but also makes construction quicker and easier.”

Efficient and reliable service team

Huawei is a fully customer-centric company, and wanted to ensure that the Top Runner project was successfully connected to the power grid before June 30, 2016. To achieve this, Huawei invested in service personnel and assigned an elite service team to provide support site. From the beginning to the end of the Top Runner project, Huawei recruited more than 30 people to deal with solution delivery, ensuring that the Top Runner project was fully supported.

During the delivery process, Huawei overcame the challenging site environment and proactively helped customers with site problem. This approach meant that the Top Runner project was successfully connected to the power grid one week in advance.

Да би помогли купцима да брзо лоцирају Фовлта, Huawei maintained contact with, and trained The O&M personnel, of all customers after grid connection and accelerated the monitoring system commissioning. Customers were very satisfied with the quick fault location for devices and PV modules during troubleshooting. To minimize the risk during device running, Huawei sets up a dedicated spare part and technical support team in Datong for the Top Runner project, ensuring future worry-free operation.

Huawei's efficient and reliable service team has been acknowledged and applauded by all the shareholders and EPC companies of the Top Runner project. All services provided by Huawei have received high praise from CGN, CTG New Energy, CMN, and other customers on the satisfaction survey. Један купац је рекао: "Huawei is highly skilled, provides professional services, and resolves issues у timely manner.”

Smart PV industry chain

Within the PV Top Runner project, Huawei FusionSolar Smart PV Solution won acclaim from customers for technological advancement, solution rationality, and low electricity prices. То је оно што је направио possible thanks to the core benefits of efficient power generation, intelligent O & M, and security and reliability.

In the future, Huawei will continue to collaborate with numerous EPC companies, device manufacturers, institutes and shareholders to co-construct an open, collaborative, and progressive smart PV industry chain platform. This will cement the place of the leading Top Runner project and promote the development of mature the PV industry chain.

"We look at the whole lifetime costs”

UK market: Anesco has gone through a period of very rapid growth in recent years. Its solar business spans the commercial and utility scale market segments. Anesco CEO Kevin Mouatt spoke to PV magazine about the importance of партнерство са component suppliers, and how it will allow the company to make the next step in the еволуирајући U. K. PV market.

пв магазине: Anesco and Хуавеи have been close партнери на тржишту САД. How would you describe the relationship?

Кевин Муатт: At Anesco, we look for like minded companies to partners with. I think historically if you look at the U. K.'s relationship with supply chain, its only been seen as a supply chain with a master/servant основу. Contracts in the U. K. are very adversarial and what we'Re building with Huawei is for the long term.

What we'Re looking for from Huawei is this flexibility that we'Re getting now. It's all about the working relationship, how we can carry on developing our product, rather that sitting down saying ‘you can take two pence off this, you can take three pence off this.’ It's better for me that I've got a partner I can use for future works, rather than just today.

I think that's a good message for the industry in many parts of the world.

I keep going back to Huawei, because its something I will believe in. Even in the U. K. If you'Re really partners with someone you shouldn't need to have a contract in place.

What we'Re looking for we want is the simplest arrangement, somebody who's going to be there when it's raining as well as in the sunshine. What you normally find is people want to work with you when the sun shines, but the minute the rain comes down, they hide. That is what's really attracted us to Huawei.

Well, talking of rain, after a period in which the utility scale market in the U. K. has been a very good one, Anesco must now look to a post-Renewable Obligation solar market. How are you facing that challenge?

We've had to overcome some fairly challenging times in terms of the product, of what we have to do with each individual component. But not once Huawei has turned around and said “no” to one of our requests. Они ве су радиле with us and they understood what we want to get out of the design of the product and они ве су changes made to that product to suit where we want to go with our business.

Can you give me an example of that?

Баш као у екампле, the U. K. has built [PV низови] тако далеко са 1000В инвертори. 1000V for us is not good enough [going forward], which provides a bit of an insight into some of the changes we'Re going to be making.

Huawei's string inverter for utility scale has made a significant impact on the power plant market in many parts of the world, how did it change the way Anesco does business.

We chose string inverters, not micro or central inverters, the reason for that is it gives better predictability for our investors. When we've gone out to build we've taken into account what our investors look for, what they see as bankable. Invertor žica odela our needs and our investors better.

In what ways – monitoring, speed of installation, service repair? What are the key points?

It allows us to monitor by string rather than the whole park. That allows me then to look at optimizing the performance of panels. In terms of predictability I don't lose the park if there was to be an issue. Тако writing out contracts and guaranteeing performance, its better to have the string than the central inverter. The other side of that is the type of product that we'Re going forward with, we needed someone that could be more flexible with the way the inverter was to work, and we found that with Huawei.

Cost is always an important lever, what about the cost structure of the way you develop projects, what role Huawei has played there?

This is where we go back to партнерство, when we look at cost within Anesco we don't look at the cost today or томорров, I could buy cheaper инвертора currently than I get from Хуавеи, but what we look at is the whole животно cost. When I look at the cost of a product, it's the whole-of-life that I look towards. When I see some of the products and the guarantees that I can get, i've had more застоја with other inverters than i've had with Хуавеи.

Anesco does have some O&M contracts, sometimes for parks that Anesco hasn't developed itself. How do you go about developing у режиму O&M? 

Our proactive maintenance is, we'D rather go out and maintain it than have it break down. So we have a tight rule on that. What we can say from the 21,000 assets that we manage, which is just shy of 700 MW, of the string inverters that we look after, we have the least number of failures with Huawei.

And how does it compare with central do some of those parks have central inverters?

We don't have central inverters generally, it hasn't really been a big thing in the U. K. we'Ve probably had two central inverters, and that really led to us moving to string inverters, because if one goes down you really lose the whole of the solar park.

Monitoring is to spot faults is clearly important. What role does Huawei monitoring solution play у вашем одлучивању?

I take it you mean the Huawei Fusion system. We'Re in close discussions at the moment because we'Re moving to the Fusion system for those reasons, it allows us to optimize the performance much better. It gives us transparency and real time information.

How is your monitoring operating today, before Fusion is applied?

We have a system in place where we can compare to the Huawei Fusion system and see that it is much better. Fusion is more scaleable as well. So going into the future, the next five years the Fusion system will be better than our current one.

We've talked about ground mounted systems, but the commercial rooftop segment in the UK has long been said to have good potential, in particular with other parts of Anesco's business, such as delivering energy efficiency measures to large corporate clients. What activity you are seeing there?

We see that as a growth market. Perhaps it's been ignored because of the rush of everybody wanting to build solar parks before the end of March [the final RO grace period]. So everybody's been saying for the last five years, ‘we can build solar parks, and why should we go for the smaller one rooftop, when its easier to build on the ground.’ I see that as a huge opportunity. Ми смо гледали на asking Хуавеи for rooftop inverters. We are working with a very good rooftop инвертер at the moment, but i'm sure that when Хуавеи come out with its rooftop инвертер in the U. K. it will be just as good if not better.

Could you give a bit of background in volumes you've done with Huawei.

Perhaps 85% of our business is Huawei. Just to let know how seriously we take партнерство, two long term supply chain партнери we've had to move away from, because they didn't demonstrate the views we've just talked about.

Екацтинг Стандарди

Global Compliance and Testing Center: Huawei research campus in Shanghai performs a myriad of tests and performance oblast on the company's highly-сматрао себе надреализма solar PV inverters, setting a high level of quality and world-class standards that have underpinned its impressive global growth in such a short space of time.

Chinese ICT giant Huawei is set to make a spash this spring when it announces its entry into the IEC-standardized inverter markets of Europe and Australia at Intersolar Europe in late May.

The launch will be the opening salvo in its three-stage push into the global market for residential PV inverters. The Shenzhen-based company — a leading international supplier of string inverters for utility-scale solar plants — will follow this announcement with the official unveiling into the North American residential inverter market at Solar Power International in September, followed by an announcement into the Japanese market, likely in early 2018. It see Europe / Australia, North America and Japan as its three core target markets outside of China.

"All markets are very important", - рекао је Стивен Џоу, генерални менаџер Huawei по residential смарт ПВ решења. “We can't say one is more important than the other. Each residential market is different in terms of technology requirements, power ratings and the different solutions.”

У Јапану, for example, Хуавеи је одавно знао да simply retooling its offering for the European market would not suffice, given the country's distinctively different JET certification standard. However, it understands local electrical requirements from its experience selling mobile phones and telecommunications equipment in the country, and it has an established sales and service network on the ground. So its соларни инвертер Huawei Fusion will remain the core of its planed offering in Japan, it will be tooled to Japanese standards in three configurations, including a battery interface and optional optimizers while.

Подржани његов тим цлоуд праћење, сензорима, технологијама комуникације 4Г и чипсета, роот појачан га блока HiSilicon, Хуавеи capable of halving O&M costs for ПВ systems, according to Џоу. He declined to comment on pricing for its residential string inverter packages, beyond saying that they “will not be the cheapest” on the market.

Дакле, the push into the residential инвертер space is supported од Хуавеијевих масовних инвестиција у Р & Д, with $ 10.99 billion of spending у 2016 донео цумулативе Инвестмент то $ 45 billion over the past decade. Р & Д екпендитуре Ласт Иеар Алоне био је једнак роугхли 14, 6% годишњег прихода групе од 75, 1 билиона долара. Џоу каже Хуавеи "цонтинуоусли" works to fine-tune its тецхнологиес from the initial development stage.

Put to the test

The Global Compliance & Testing Center (GCTC) in Shanghai is one of 15 R&D centres that Huawei operates throughout the world, on top of a facility to test inverter topology and algorithms in Sweden, an inverter architecture and design hub in Germany, and a chipset R&D base in California. But the work done at the GCTC-tucked away in a series of basement labs below Huawei sprawling research campus in врхунски Pudong district-is dizzying in its scope.

GCTC-which employs more than 180 people conducts accelerated life tests on Huawei inverters, as well as tests for вибрације, глазура, heat dissipation, salt corrosion, low pressure in high-altitude environments and resilence to impact and temperatures ranging from-55C to 80C.

The facility also assesses the electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) of the company's inverters, including their electromagnetic susceptibility and emissions. Тестови су спроведени у складу са стандардом ИСО / ИЕЦКСНУМКС на горњој полици опреме супплиед би Цомпаниес суцх ас Иокогава Елецтриц и Рохде & Блацк, који је "суппосед То Бе Лике Тхе Мерцедес-Бенз оф Тестинг Екуипмент," Аццординг То Харирам Субраманиан, Хуавеијев ЦТО за продају и маркетинг ПВ решења претварача у Европи.

The GCTC includes упија chambers, which use бизарна хорор-looking triangular foam захватају on the walls to trap sound and eliminate echoes. The tests are key to ensuring that Huawei's Fusion Solar solutions do not emit noise in residential installations.

"The sound is trapped... what they get is only what is coming out of something", каже Ксавиер давал, извршни директор киловаттсола, Лион компанија за процену приноса ПВ тхат провидес Цонсултинг Сервицес За Хуавеи. “So you have a pure analysis of the source, not the ambient result.”

The Shanghai research campus that GCTC is part of tests all of Huawei's products, from solar inverters to mobile phones. The company's commitment to R&D has underpinned its rapid advances in the PV inverter market, and extensive testing of its products continues to create the confidence it needs to expand into new global markets, according to Daval.

"Као компанија, као Хуавеи cannot гуесс if something is going to be good. They have to check it,” he explains, adding that the group's background in communications technology made it a “no brainer” for it to expand into the PV inverter market.

“You can't succeed in the time range that Huawei did without the back-up of a global real structure, logistics, factories and so on. It cannot just be the product — it's the product плус supply chain. Huawei is a very special company — they are Chinese but they are very much an international brand.”