Commercial & Utility Scale Photovoltaic Array Management Gordy - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Commercial & Utility Scale Photovoltaic Array Management

Gordy Presher 585-388-4314 gpresher@solarsentry.com

NEW YORK STATE’S PREMIER CONFERENCE FOR ADVANCED ENERGY

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Solar arrays are underperforming…

especially as they age Independent studies document that… annual array losses average 2.5% 0.5% - Solar cell degradation 2.0% - Fixable defects and failures, e.g. installation quality, product defects, and environmental… lightning, hail, UV exposure, soiling, vermin Masked by solar resource variability (up to +40% in any given month)

Site monitoring misses array failures (even major ones)

2003 Oakland, CA site, with today’s leading monitoring system Site performance dropped 13% in a single month

• Unnoticed from September 2007 until March 2009
• Found only because of engineering interest in the site

Diagnosed by highly skilled personnel

Summary: Site monitoring is ineffective at finding underperformance and even if it’s found, expensive manual diagnostics by skilled personnel are still required.

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Service-based Approach

Embed inexpensive purpose-built electronics in the array As a service, Solar Sentry:

• collects data securely via web
• analyzes data to pinpoint problems
• dispatches lowest-cost personnel

by e-mail

• deploys targeted power

management technology

Advantages

Inexpensive, real-time problem resolution Reduced costly manual diagnostics Maintenance as needed replaces scheduled maintenance Component-level information

Benefits

More energy produced at lower cost/kWh Significantly better bottom line Financial returns assured Customer can collect on 25-year solar panel warranties

Value-oriented Technology

Patents pending in US, EU, Japan & Canada Another patent in process aimed at power optimization IP aimed at simplification and cost- reduction of monitoring, diagnostics and power optimization

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Invest 2% in instrumentation and diagnostic services Harvest more energy Reduce energy cost/kWh (LCOE) Cut your financial risk Significantly improve your bottom-line

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• martTM String Combiners ($0.03/W)

Measure and compare strings of panels Find blown fuses, bad or weak strings Internet communications hub

• Wireless Panel Sentry communications

Requires virtually no additional installation training or effort

Software ($0.07/W) & Services ($0.01/W/yr)

End-to-end secure communications Cloud computing database & analysis Actionable diagnostics Three-level eMail dispatch

• Local caretaker, site maintenance

technician & supervisors

Site reporting and benchmarking Diagnostics-oriented dashboard

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PP Unique capability with Patents Pending in U.S., Japan, Canada and the E.U.

Panel SentriesPP

Provide 5% panel-level diagnostics

• Unique panel-level technology
• Learn more about site performance
• Find bad panels – collect on 25 year

warranties ($0.01/W)

January 1, 2010, 3:30 PM – Solar Panel Power (Watts x 10)

910 926 935 951 946 944 946 937 928 944 944 942 939 931 921 935 930 939 937 918 927 925 925 923 927 935 928 937 942 941 937 931 926 930 912 906 917 931 937 942 937 931 915 933 933 937 930 913 914 930 923 934 913 891 928 915 935 933 914 914 923 917 914 909 933 936 933 940 933 922 920 918 949 927 924 929 936 925 925 909 924 940 929 933 927 927 913 929 940 929 924 921 921 924 930 917 917 901 926 921 907 903 903 910 907 918 918 923 1006 990 1008 1004 1002 990 992 10241027 991 1005 993 1003 1001 984 972 1007 1001 1011 1002 978 976 1027 994 1025 1007 1005 984 892 937 976 950 990 976 988 958 971 966 957 960 958 842 960 968 968 1005 984 1003 997 981 986 993 1017 1005 948 982 968 938 856 904 928 972 962 107 106 106 40 16 103 106 107 106 982 954 938 871 976 980 982 966 938 875 980 984 988 960 942 859 992 936 515 520 516 175 147 489 521 518 515 977 970 970 754 960 984 994 966 768

January 1, 2010, 3:30 PM – Solar Panel String Power (Watts) 845 844 837 840 838 831 829 836 837 838 831 822 903 898 901 866 766 900 845 77 859 852 376 844

Installed May, 2009 50kW of DC power

• 216 panels, in
• 24 strings, with
• 9 panels/string

Fully Instrumented Array

• 2 “eSmartTM String

Combiners”

• 216 “Panel Sentry

Adapters”

• Secure data every 6

minutes over internet

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Monitoring During Installation On-site tech assistance

• Automated vs. manual testing

Remote engineering oversight Higher quality – reduced installation time Problem Discovered Remotely Midway in array… a panel connection unmade Remotely observed A 4% initial-quality problem was resolved Monitoring & Diagnostics Improvements in Commissioning

Automatic measurement vs. manual

• Less labor cost, travel and risk
• Thorough real-time measurements
• Higher initial quality
• Lower commissioning costs
• Everyone wins

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Solar panels are vulnerable to soiling Panels include 50-100 solar cells wired in series Significant covering of single cell affects entire string Problem identified immediately

Rain was in the forecast Three days later Problem resolved

Not necessarily the case for all soiling problems… leaves etc.

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Solar Panel Output Loss: 14% String Output Loss: 2%

• vs. 13% lost… no

knowledge of loss for 18 months (20% of a full year’s harvest)

Available Solutions

Incumbents:

Site Monitoring (up to 5¢/W) Site uptime/inverter focused No array info costs owners $$$

Insurgents:

Instrumented String Combiners (10-30¢/W) More granular problem detection Weak diagnostics and mitigation Partial solution without SCADA system Custom SCADA systems adds significant project cost with lower benefit

Techies:

Panel-level Power Devices (25-60¢/W) Optimize energy production from each panel, especially in shade Residential/small commercial focus New site architectures raise installed cost, operating cost and technical risk

Solar Sentry

Insurgent – Techie (11¢/W)

Fully integrated solution, superior cost/benefit ratio More granular information drives superior analytics Actionable diagnostics and complete system software drive higher site profitability Future Rooftop Market Safety regulations will likely dictate panel-level electronics Opportunity for Techies Enhanced Panel Sentry

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Solar Panel Prices have Fallen Precipitously

• Prices down 60% in three years
• Market growth impressive even in difficult financial times

Performance-based Incentives Gaining Ground

Premium FITs

• Germany 10 years ago, rate payers (small monthly premiums)
• Resulted in fast world market growth dominated by Germany
• Being introduced in N.A. - Ontario, Canada and some states
• Reduced system prices, in both Germany and rest-of-world

sRECs

• Pioneered in NJ
• Solar set-asides in the renewable energy portfolio
• Paid for by shareholders/rate payers (small monthly premiums)

Driving solar performance & more cost-effective technology

• Better monitoring and diagnostics solutions
• More mature service-based offerings will emerge

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So is Solar Sentry – Low-cost technology that delivers big dividends

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3 Seconds over Boston

June, 2006 NGM