Published on AE 868: Commercial Solar Electric Systems (https://www.e-education.psu.edu/ae868)

Home > Lessons > Lesson 4: PV System Components (Power Conditioning Units) > Lesson 4 Activity

Lesson 4 Activity

Lesson 4 Activity
Activity Details
Assignment

Part 1

Refer back to the scenario from the Simulation Exercise [1]. You will have the same client in State College, PA with a 10KW system and 240V service. Given the PV module used (Trina solar TSM-250PC/PA05A), find the ambient temperature values needed for stringing the inverters for the location mentioned above, and then select your inverter as the following:

  1. Use Fronius Configuration Tool [2].
  2. Use ABB [3] (formerly Power-One) to choose an inverter. (Hint: make sure to choose the right country, standards, and click “save” at each section.)
  3. Use SMA inverters [4] (SMA America - access the stringing software) (Hint: watch the short video below for an explanation of the basic functions of Sunny Design Web to get started with the tool).

For each of the three options for Part 1, gather the following information in a Word document. Label this section as "Part 1." You will combine this with Part 2 for a report.

  • Generate a PDF report from each stringing tool.
  • In a Word document, answer the following questions for Part 1:
    • What is the capacity factor, or utilization factor, (Power PV/Power inverter) for each choice?
    • How many inverters did you have to use to string the entire 10KW PV array? Why?
    • What is the best stringing for this system? What is the inverter used?

Part 2

For the same client in State College, PA who wants to install 10 kW using the same PV module from Part 1, you are to come up with the estimated annual energy yield (inverters are considered at this time).

  1. In SAM, choose the right PV module, system configuration (series/parallel), and simulate the effect of choosing different inverters for the same location.
  2. Go to the NREL PVWatt website [5], try to choose the same values for the system size, tilt, and azimuth angles for the same location, and simulate the energy production and compare with SAM.
In the same Word document used for Part 1, gather the following information. Label this section as "Part 2." You will be combining this information with that of Part 1 for your Lesson 4 Activity submission.

  • Prepare a report showing both simulation results for SAM and PVWatt and indicate the difference in annual energy productions. (Hint: we learned about how inverter efficiency and capacity factor affect annual production.)
  • Answer the question: Does inverter selection depend on the PV module used? Explain why.

Deliverable

Prepare a report with Part 1 and Part 2 for submission. The report is to be no more than two double-spaced pages in a 12 point font.

Bonus: Build your own Excel calculator for Inverter stringing given the PV module parameters. (Hint: use NOCT calculated from the Lesson 2 Activity Bonus Question).

Submission Instructions and Grading Please visit the Lesson Activity [6] page for submission instructions and grading information.

Source URL: https://www.e-education.psu.edu/ae868/node/907

Links
[1] https://www.e-education.psu.edu/ae868/node/641
[2] http://www.fronius.com/froniusdownload/tool.html
[3] http://stringtool.power-one.com/
[4] http://www.sunnydesignweb.com/sdweb/#/Home
[5] http://pvwatts.nrel.gov/
[6] https://www.e-education.psu.edu/ae868/891