Research Solar Power Plant

Description

A station for testing the integration of photovoltaic installations with Smart Grids. A solar power plant with a power of 33 kWp equipped in 132 photovoltaic panels installed on a fixed load-bearing structure at an 38° angle. The panels are joined into six DC circuits and connected to three dedicated voltage inverters with a built-in algorithm for Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT).

The station supports testing of the integration of solar power plants with public power grids, and with selected configurations of autonomous power systems which can consist of various electric power devices (load units, energy storage, FACTS devices etc.)

The testing station is equipped with two weather stations with remote parameter reading: average solar radiation intensity, air temperature and humidity, panel temperature, and atmospheric pressure.

Intended use of the laboratory

• Research into and testing the interaction of a solar power plant with otherelectric power devices, including energy storage units and an electric vehicle charging station
• Research into and testing inverters dedicated to photovoltaicsystems
• Prognoses of electric power generation from photovoltaicsystems
• The analysis of the impact of weather conditions and the shadowing of the photovoltaic panels on the performance of solar power plants.
• Diagnostics of photovoltaic panels and tests of changes totheir parameters during operation

Technical parameters

PV system:

• Power rating of a single panel 250 Wp
  Number of panels: 132
  Power plant rating: 33 kWp

Inverters:

• Power rating: 5000, 8000 and 20 000 kVA
• Maximum efficiency 98.3%
• Maximum voltage (DC) 1000 V
• Optimising the operation of PV panels with a partial shadowing effect (global MPPT)
• Automatic synchronisation with the grid
• Generation of reactive power

Measurement records

• Real-time measurement record in the SCADA system (1-minute resolution)
• Electric current, voltage and power at DC and AC side.
• Frequency at AC side
• Power factor at AC side
• Generated energy (15-minutes resolution)

Additional possibilities

• Testing micro PV systems with a maximum power rating of  5 kWp – additional space for placing additional panels and connecting them to the power grid
• Testing the integration of photovoltaic systemswith power storage devices or electric motor vehicle charging stations.

Accompanying services

• Design of, and expert opinions on, photovoltaic systems
• Design of, and expert opinions on, lightning protection and overvoltage protection of photovoltaic systems
• Selection and diagnostics of electronic power converters for photovoltaic systems.
• Selection of energy storage devices intended for integration with photovoltaic systems
• Project profitability analysis in the field of photovoltaic systems