EQ Int'l Magazine Oct 2013 Edition by EQ Int'l Solar Media Group

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INTERNATIONAL

October - 2013 Interview with D.V. Manjunatha Founder And Managing Director - EMMVEE Interview with Ajay Kawadikar Vice President and Country Head Solar ISI - ABB LTD. Time For Strong Performance Monitoring And Reporting Standards ShopďŹ&#x201A;oor Automation for Predictability Challenges For Component Selection & Manufacturing Processof Si Crystalline Photovoltaic Modules In India

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EDITORIAL India Announces JNNSM Phase 2 Batch 1 with 50% Domestic Content Requirement The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the implementation of a scheme for setting up of 750 MW of Grid-connected Solar PV Power Projects under Batch-1 of Phase-11 (2013-17) of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) with Viability Gap Funding (VGF) support from the National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF). The total VGF requirement for implementation of the scheme is estimated as Rs. 1,875 crore at the rate of Rs.2.5 crore/ MW The actual requirement will, however, depend on the bid prices. This VGF support is estimated to leverage private investment to the tune of Rs. 5000 crore in setting up of the projects.The VGF scheme will facilitate setting up of the 750 MW grid connected solar power projects, in mainly the private sector on Build, Own and Operate (BOO) basis at various locations, which will help supplement grid power generation in the country. These projects will also lead to an associated development of their surrounding areas with positive impact on the socio-economic conditions of the local population. The scheme will be implemented through the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI, a Section 25 company set up by the Ministry) in close association with NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited (NVVN). The power generated shall be purchased by SECI at a fixed levelised tariff of Rs.5.45 per kWh for 25 years and sold to willing State Utilities/ Discoms at a fixed tariff of Rs.5.50 per unit for 25 years.The selection of projects would be done through a process of open competitive bidding for their VGF requirement in order to enable them to supply the solar power to SECI at the fixed tariff of Rs.5.45 per kWh for 25 years. The RFS Document will be available to download from www.seci.gov.in and www.mnre.gov.in from October 15, 2013 to November 21, 2011 and the Last Date & Time of Submission of Response to RFS will be Nov 29, 2013 1500 Hrs.

Policy & Regulatory News GERC on Aug 8, 2013 sent shockwaves for the RPO/REC Market by waiving off the shortfall in RPO Compliance for FY13. GERC had allowed GUVNL to carry forward its RPO targets of FY 11-12 and had mandated to meet RPO targets of FY 13 cumulatively. GUVNL submitted reasons for non-compliances such as Wind Developers were not willing to sign PPA’s at preferential tariff as for them REC Mechanism looked lucrative. Punjab pushes PSPCL to comply with its stipulated RPO Targets for FT12, FY13 & FY14 cumulatively. PERC allowed PSPCL to carry forward 114.80 non solar MUs and 25.8 solar MUs to FY 14 which is cumulative shortfall for FY12 and FY13. Delhi’s DERC has allowed the utilities to incorporate the cost of RPO for FY 13-14 in their tariff. Madhya Pradesh MPERC new directive has ordered all DISCOMS of the state to comply with the RPO. Further Maharashtra’s MERC decision that the obligated entities will no longer have the cushion of RPO waiver or interchangeability of solar and non-solar RPO asserting that all the obligated entities in the state will have to meet RPO targets before march FY14. Another important decision on the petition submitted by Reliance Infrastructure Ltd requesting interchangeability of solar & non-solar RPO and procuring solar power available to meet the non-solar RPO targets, the commission stated that such a case is possible only when solar power reaches grid parity.

Anand Gupta Editor & CEO

INTERNATIONAL

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SOLAR PV MANUFACTURING

CONTENTS INTERVIEW

VOLUME 3 Issue # 10

Dr. Torsten Brammer Led’s Simulate The Sun. The Sinus-220 Solar Simulator From Wavelabs

ANAND GUPTA

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D.V. Manjunatha, Moumita Debnath, S. K. Shil, Raymond An, Srimathy. N, Sriparn Saurabh, KREMPEL GmbH, Marcus Klein , Dr. Torsten Brammer , Ajay Kawadikar, Markus Amendt , Narang N. Kishor , Felix G. Hensel ,Gustav Hensel, R. Rajesh, B. T. Ajwani , R.V.Girish , Jyoti Dar, Dwipen Boruah , Vikas Almadi , Nakul Thombre, Ratika singh Rawat, Priyanka Rana, Umashankar S, Venu Madhav D, Sankalp Ved , Ketan Chheda

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Waaree Energies Ltd. is one of India’s most diversiﬁed & fastest growing solar energy solutions company, a part of the consortium of Waaree Group established in 1989, India’s premier multi-diverse technology group having its forte in multifarious verticals such as Solar Energy, Industrial Valves, Petroleum Equipment’s & Process Control Instrumentation. Our business verticals include EPC of MW scale Solar Power Plants, Off grid / KW Rooftop Solar Solutions, Solar Thermal systems , Solar Water Pumps and Solar Modules manufacturing with an avant-garde 110 MW automated production facility expanding to 250 MW in July 2013 at Surat(SEZ), for various on-grid and off-grid applications and being exported to more than 68 countries globally.

SOLAR INVERTERS R. Rajesh

48 Vice President and Country Head Solar ISI - ABB LTD.

50 Array Junction Boxes  Must Be Total Insulated!

SOLAR ENERGY

INTERVIEW Ajay Kawadikar

44 Renewable Energy “Leading the way to an Energy Efficient, Smart & Green India”

SOLAR ENERGY

Narang N. Kishor

SOLAR ENERGY

RENEWABLE ENERGY

CONTENTS

Nakul Thombre

Venu Madhav D

Ketan Chheda

60 A New Cascaded 21 Level Inverter with reduced number of switches and DC sources for Grid ....

62 Shopfloor Automation for Predictability

64 Time For Strong Performance Monitoring And Reporting Standards

Eq Business & Financial News 6-25

SOLAR PV MANUFACTURING 26 Challenges For Component Selection & Manufacturing Processof Si Crystalline Photovoltaic Modules In India 30 New From KREMPEL: PV Backsheets For Thin Film Solar Modules 34 EddyCus TF Series – NonContact Sheet Resistance Measurement Solutions 38 TS240C (Semi Automatic Tabber and Stringer) Enhance your Manual PV Module Manufacturing

INTERVIEW 40 NEPC India Limited

SOLAR ENERGY 47 skytron® energy launches redesigned smart combiner box for economic operation in PV power plants 52 High Concentrated Photo Voltaics (Hcpv) Technology For Solar Grid Connected & Offgrid Power Generation 55 Kuvam Bihar Initiative 56 Grid Connected PV System Design 58 DEHN Short Circuit Interruption Technology for PV Installations.

POST SHOW REPORT 65 Policy Makers And Industry Captains Give 7th Rei 2013 Expo Thumbs Up/ Relying On Renewable Energy For A Better Future/Race For Clean Energy : Destination India

QUARTER RESULTS 66 SunEdison - Significant Progress Due To Aggressive

PRODUCT REPORT 68-71

& EQBusiness Financial Hero Group Diversifies into Renewable Energy Sectorwith ‘Hero Future Energies’ •

To develop 1 GW+ of Renewable Energy capacity by year 2016-17

•

Aspires to be a dominant player in the Wind and Solar sector& a global player in the long-term

New Delhi, 6thSeptember 2013: The US$ 5.6 billion Hero Group, one of India’s largest business houses, today forayed into renewable energy sector with the launch of its new business unit – ‘Hero Future Energies’. Hero Future Energies, an Independent Power Producer (IPP), plans to develop1 GigaWatt+ of renewable energy by the year 2016-17. The Companywill operate across various verticals of renewable energy viz. wind, solar and hydro; of these, wind and solar are the initial focus areas. Announcing this here today, Mr. Rahul Munjal, Managing Director, Hero Future Energies said, “In the wake of significant power shortages currently being witnessed in our country, we are making a strategic move into the renewable energy sector. Aligned to the Hero Group’s core philosophy

households.This year the Company plans to develop 100 MW of Wind & Solar and 1 MW of Roof-top Solar. “With Hero Future Energies, our endeavor is to contribute towards reducing carbon footprint, preserving natural resources and creating consciousness towards ‘Green Discipline’”, addedMr. Munjal. of excellence, quality and innovativeness, we aspire to become a global power producer in the long-run. Focused on domestic as well as international markets, our vision is to revolutionize the way energy is delivered, through a cleaner and more affordable alternative to utility energy.” Registered in October 2012, the Company has already commissioned a successful wind pilot project of 37.5 MW in Rajasthan in a short span of four months. Implemented in collaboration with the Government of Rajasthan, the project will offset72,000Tonnes of Carbon Emissions annually. The pilot project is estimated to provide clean energy to 70,000 domestic

Hero Future Energies currently has a strong project pipeline which includes 400MW of Wind Projects and50 MW Solar Projects across Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The Company has recently been awarded 10 MW Solar Power Project in Karnataka under the State’sSolar Power Program. The Companyis also executing 1000 kWp Solar Roof-top Projects for consumers across categories in India. Hero Future Energies, a fully-owned Hero Group Company, will be governed by a strong Management team, Mr. Rahul Munjal, Managing Director and Mr. Sunil Jain, Chief Executive Officer& Executive Director.

Mahindra EPC bags 40 MWp of solar EPC projects in Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh & Tamil Nadu Offers complete portfolio of products & services, encompassing solar eco-system Mahindra EPC Services Pvt. Ltd., part of the Mahindra Partners Division of the USD 16.2 billion Mahindra Group, has bagged 40 MWp of third party solar EPC projects across Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. “Mahindra EPC has sustained its leadership position in the market this year as well. With proactive policy actions from several state governments, especially in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, we are aiming for 150 MW of executions in FY 14.” said Parag Shah, Managing Partner at Mahindra Partners and Head of Mahindra Cleantech Division, on the sidelines of the 7th Renewable Energy India 2013 Expo in New Delhi. “Along with an impressive order book, innovations continue to be at the heart of Mahindra EPC’s DNA” added Mr Shah. The company has developed its patented in-house plant monitoring system, Mahindra SCADA, the capabilities of which include exhaustive data acquisition and trigger alerts 6

EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

in real time, ensuring a birds eye view of the installation. The customizable and agnostic nature of Mahindra SCADA has been a key industry differentiator for Mahindra EPC in the industry. Adding to the exciting innovations at Mahindra EPC this year is the Solar DGHybrid system. The Solar DG- Hybrid system is a product of Mahindra EPC’s internal R&D labs and smartly alternates between solar energy and diesel generator consumption, reducing carbon footprint with substantial commercial savings. It comes with a near 100% solar penetration, smart grid compatibility and remote data logging besides being completely customizable. “Mahindra EPC’s plants have delivered the highest generation output per MWp across all plants under JNNSM Phase 1 Batch 2, as per data released by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) for April 2013 to July 2013. With 70 MWp installations, Mahindra EPC has once again

proved itself as a reliable and credible player in the industry.” said Basant Jain, CEO, Mahindra EPC. 2013 has seen the incubation and deployment of Mahindra EPC’s foray into the telecom tower solarization segment. A current order book of 1000 telecom towers has been received with leading tier 1 Indian telecom companies, with an installation in the state of Bihar nearing commissioning. This is testimony to the trust instilled in the Mahindra brand and Mahindra EPC’s supreme execution capabilities. In an era of rising fuel prices and depleting resources, Mahindra EPC, has developed solar charging stations for electric vehicles. Implemented across the country, this has facilitated citizens to lead a complete green mobility lifestyle, enabling them to „Rise. “With an array of innovative and cutting edge solutions, Mahindra EPC aspires to be the thought leader in the Green EPC Solutions domain,” said Mr. Jain.

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& EQBusiness Financial Largest Solar Power Project In The World To Be Set Up In Rajasthan 1St Phase To Be Completed In 3 Years - Praful Patel The Government has finalized the setting up of a ‘Ultra- Mega Green Solar Power Project’ in Rajasthan in the SSL (Sambhar Salts Limited; which is a subsidiary of Hindustan Salts Limited - a Central Public Sector Enterprise under the Department of Heavy Industry, Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises) area close to Sambhar Lake, about 75 kms from Jaipur. The total capacity of this project will be 4000 MW and, therefore, this will be the largest solar based power project in the world. ShriPraful Patel, Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, had earlier asked the Department of Heavy

Industry (DHI) to initiate the process of setting up the ‘Sambhar Ultra -Mega Green Solar Power Project’ in the 23,000 acre area of SSL as he had envisioned synergizing the capacities of the CPSEs under DHI to utilize the large area of SSL for producing green energy. Shri Patel says the first phase of the project, which will be of 1000 MW capacity, is likely to be commissioned in three years i.e. by the end of 2016. The first phase of the project is expected to be implemented through a joint venture (JV) company to be formed with equity from BHEL, Solar Energy Corporation of India, Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd., SJVN,

SSL and REIL. Based on the experience gained during implementation of the first phase of project, the remaining capacity would be implemented through a variety of models. When the 4000 MW of project is fully commissioned, it will generate 6000 million units of power per annum. The project will supply power to the distribution companies of various States through the National Grid. Being the first project of this scale anywhere in the world this project is expected to set a trend for large scale solar power development in the world.

Thailand – Emerging Solar PV Opportunities are the Renewable EnergyAdder Program

Thailand is expected to experience significant near-term growth and develop into one of the leading solar PV markets in Southeast Asia. Thailand’s abundant solar resource, PV market maturity and the relative effectiveness of current solar policies provide an attractive growth environment for commercial, utility as well as residential-scale projects. The country currently has just under 500MW of installed solar PV capacity, but provided optimal growth conditions this could increase to between 1,200 and 2,000MW by 2017.

(REAP) and the two newly introduced residential/commercial-scale and community feed-in tariff programs. In the past, REAP provided power producers operating renewable energy projects between 1 and 90MW in capacity with a variety of price premiums including a generation-based technology adder. While currently on hold, this initiative is expected to continue to be a driver for the development of larger projects.

Through its national Alternative Energy Development Plan, Thailand has set one of the more ambitious regional solar PV targets at 3,000MW by 2021. The principal drivers that will allow Thailand to meet this goal

At the other end of the capacity spectrum, residential and commercial-scale solar PV projects have not experienced the same level of development (98.7% of Thailand’s current solar PV capacity is made up of utility-scale

projects >1MW in size). This is expected to change following the Q3 2013 announcement by the Energy Regulatory Commission which introduced two new initiatives for <1MW rooftop projects as well as 1MW communitybased ground-mounted projects (refer to the table below for feed-in tariff specifics). Having experienced substantial interest in previous initiatives which resulted in a large number of inactive and speculative applications, the Commission has set strict time lines for project installation (December 2013 for rooftop projects and December 2014 for ground-mount projects). Given these timelines, Thailand’s solar PV sector is set to undergo significant near-term growth.

Renewsys Signs Mou To Install Solar Power Plant For Captive Consumption RenewSys, the quality manufacturer of EVA Encapsulant and Backsheets based at Bengaluru, India has signed MoU with EMMVEE Solar to install 100 KW solar power plant. Also, its associate company Acuprint Systems hassignedMoU with AutonicEnergy Systems to install 40 KW solar power plant. The100 KW power plant of RenewSys shall be partially roof top and partial ground mountedwhilst 40 KW 8

EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

system Acuprint shall be completely roof top installation.Both the plants are aimed for captive usage. It has also been agreed that both the EPCs companies shall use RenewSys EVA Encapsulant (‘CONSERV’) and Backsheet (‘PRESERV’) to manufacture the solar modules for these installations.In addition to having taken one more step by the Group towards the renewable energy,

through these installations, RenewSys wants to demonstrate and show case the performance, durability and reliability of its EVA Encapsulant and Backsheet in the actual field. Both the systems are expected to be operational within 3 months.

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& EQBusiness Financial Delhi Metro Signs Mou With Solar Energy Corporation Of India To Jointly Take UP Solar Power Projects Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in order to carry out projects for the production of renewable solar power in the Delhi Metro premises. As per the MoU, both the organizations will collaborate for the development of Solar PV (Photovoltaic) Projects (ground mounted, rooftop and other possible modes) at identified DMRC Sites for the production of solar energy. After signing of this MoU, a pilot project, of 500 kWp rooftop grid connected Solar PV Project will be installed at one of the identified rooftops of the Delhi Metro Stations. The two organizations will also explore the possibility of developing of

another site (s) where Solar PV Plant can be set – up. In order to carry out these projects, DMRC and SECI will constitute a Joint Development Team (JDT) which will consist of senior officials from both the organizations.Earlier, M/s GIZ, a federal enterprise of the Government of Germany, actively supported DMRC’s solar initiative under its COMSOLAR programme meant to facilitate International Co-operationfor sustainable development. The production of solar power through this MOU will help DMRC partially fulfill its energy requirements as well as reduce carbon footprints. Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) is a not-for-profit company under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India, with the

objective of developing Solar Technologies and solar power plants in India.Delhi Metro has already taken up a slew of measures oriented towards the conservation of environment and the use of renewable means of energy. In 2011, DMRC was certified by the United Nations (UN) as the first Metro Rail and Rail based system in the world to get carbon Credits for reducing Green House Gas Emissions as it has helped to reduce pollution levels in the city by 6.3 lakh tons every year thus helping in reducing global warming.DMRC’s first CDM project on regenerative braking had also achieved many international firsts apart from earning valuable foreign exchange for the country.

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& EQBusiness Financial Emerging Solar Markets Set for Rapid Installation Expansion Through 2017 The next big opportunity for growth in the global solar business lies in small, emerging markets where photovoltaic (PV) installations are forecast to rise at about triple the global average during the period from 2012 through 2017. Annual installations in these emerging countries are expected to increase to 10.9 gigawatts (GW) in 2017, expanding at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38 percent from 2.2 GW in 2012, according to a new report entitled “Emerging Solar PV Markets Tracker” from IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS), a leading global source of critical information and insight. In contrast, the overall global market will expand at a CAGR of only 13 percent during the same period. The emerging markets will account for 19 percent of global installations in 2017, up from just 7 percent in 2012. The attached figure presents the IHS forecast of solar PV installations in emerging countries. The category of emerging countries covers 40 countries that to date have installed a cumulative total of less than 1 GW worth of PV systems. “Across the world, new markets for solar PV are emerging, propelled by government incentives, including tenders for large-scale contracts, feed-in-tariff (FIT) schemes and self-consumption support,” said Josefin Berg, senior PV analyst at IHS. “Although these markets sometimes have huge hurdles—like limited financing, regulatory uncertainty and opaque local regulatory conditions—companies throughout the solar supply chain can benefit from targeting these fast-growing emerging countries.” Thailand and Turkey lead the way Of the emerging countries analyzed, Thailand and Turkey are expected to become the largest markets in the coming years. Both countries have the potential to install a cumulative total of nearly 3 GW of PV systems during the period from 2013 through 2017. The Thai market has already taken off because of its adder scheme, under which the government pays feed-in premiums to solar power producers. In contrast, the Turkish market is still taxiing toward the growth runway. In June the country experienced an avalanche of applications that far exceeded the 600 megawatts (MW) that had been planned 10

EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

by the government. This has delayed the licensing procedure and pushed back installations until late 2014 and 2015. Turkey’s rooftop market, however, is predicted to pick up speed in 2014 to reach 300 MW. By 2017, its annual PV demand will climb to 1 GW. New markets charge up in Europe Among regions, IHS forecasts the biggest chunk of demand through 2017—at more than one-third—to come from new markets in Europe. Europe’s relatively stable financial conditions and proximity to experienced PV companies will support rapid deployment once regulatory support takes shape. Poland, Turkey and Russia are all rolling out support schemes, while Ukraine and Romania already install PV systems at a rapid pace. For their part, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Denmark are set to continue on a path of rooftop installations. In the other regions demand is evenly spread, with a few countries in each region spearheading growth. IHS expects South Africa, Israel and Saudi Arabia to drive PV additions in the Africa-Middle East region, while Chile, Brazil and Mexico will fuel demand in Latin America. In Asia-Pacific, PV demand is dominated by Thailand and South Korea, which are both on the brink of shifting their status from emerging to maturing PV markets. The attached table presents the IHS ranking of the largest emerging PV markets 20132017 in terms of cumulative additions from 2013 through 2017. Tenders open up new opportunities across the globe This year Uruguay, Jamaica, Russia and Namibia are among new markets to pursue PV tenders. Meanwhile, Indonesia and Morocco have announced plans to open PV tenders later this year. “PV developers and suppliers will need to stay on top of these tenders in order not to miss any requests for proposal,” Berg continued. “Still, many tenders remain limited to a few projects, and suppliers will need to be selective over which ones are worth participating in. Large-scale tender schemes, such as South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement (RE IPP) program, offer a more solid development environment to

pursue a large portfolio of projects.” Latin America attracts the largest developer pipelines Of the 30 largest PV developers building up pipelines in emerging PV markets, 21 are concentrating their development efforts on Latin America. IHS reports more than 12 GW of projects in Latin America’s PV pipeline, 90 percent of which are early-stage projects that lack an off-take agreement. “Competition for off-take agreements in markets like Chile is tightening,” Berg said. “Some developers are looking at selling PV-generated electricity on the merchant market. So far, only the International Finance Corp. has offered to sponsor such a project in Chile, in the hands of SunEdison.” Competition for grid access will also be a bottleneck for PV developers. Out of Chile’s 6 GW pipeline, IHS forecasts less than onethird will secure a revenue channel, close financing and finish construction by 2018. Cumulative Solar Photovoltaic Installations in Emerging Countries for 2013 through 2017 Rank

Country

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Thailand Turkey South Korea South Africa Ukraine Chile Netherlands Brazil Israel Switzerland Others

Gigawatts Installed 2.9 2.8 2.6 2.5 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.0 1.8 1.6 13.5

IHS Inc. September 2013

Forecast of Annual PV Installations in Emerging Countries (in Gigawatts)

Source: IHS Inc. September 2013

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& EQBusiness Financial China Sunergy’s High-Efficient Mono Cells Achieves Certified New Conversion Efficiency Record of 20.26% NANJING, China, Sept. 3, 2013 / PRNewswire/ -- China Sunergy Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: CSUN) (“China Sunergy” or “the Company”), a specialized solar cell and module manufacturer, today announced that its new generation of high-efficient mono-crystalline solar cells have reached 20.26% conversion efficiency in the pilot research and development (“R&D”) line, and have received certification recently from the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE (“Fraunhofer ISE”), the largest solar energy research institute in Europe. The new generation of high-efficient mono-crystalline solar cells combines the Company’s Waratah and QSAR cell technology in a new design structure that enables it to achieve high conversion efficiency

using normal wafers. The new conversion efficiency record of 20.26% was confirmed by Fraunhofer ISE as the leading level among all photovoltaic enterprises in China and has surpassed the benchmark of 20% monocrystalline cells conversion efficiency set by the eight development guidelines issued by the State Council for China’s photovoltaic industry in July 2013. The high-efficient mono-crystalline solar cells offer outstanding cost advantage and space reduction, making them ideal for rooftop applications. China Sunergy has installed high-efficient mono-crystalline solar cell production lines with the capacity of 70MW, and a corresponding module production line with the capacity of 15MW in its newly completed R&D center. The

company plans to start commercial mass production by the end of this year. Dr. Jianhua Zhao, Chief Technology Officer of China Sunergy, said, “As one of the key members for China’s 863 program in developing and commercializing highefficient and low-cost crystalline silicon solar cells, we are committed to developing cuttingedge and strategic solar technologies. We are proud of our record achievement, and aim to promptly deploy this new breakthrough for large-scale commercial application. Our success validates the hard work and diligence of our dedicated R&D team, and we remain determined to further advance the state of the art and to foster healthy and sustainable development for solar energy.”

ADB to Provide $500 Million for Renewable Energy Transmission System in Northwest India MANILA, PHILIPPINES – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide $500 million to build a power transmission system needed to deliver clean electricity from wind and solar power projects in Rajasthan in Northwest India to the state and national grids.

aim to reach about 8,000 megawatts of

“Boosting renewable energy is important for Rajasthan and India to meet fastgrowing energy needs in a way that is kind to the environment while also improving the country’s energy security by reducing reliance on imported fossil fuels,” said Len George, Energy Specialist in ADB’s South Asia Department. “The proposed transmission investments will also support evacuation of energy produced in large renewable energy parks that bring in economies of scale compared to smaller stand-alone renewable energy projects.”

fossil fuels to meet India’s fast-growing

The Bhadlapark in Western Rajasthan is the first solar park that is under development by the Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation, the state’s renewable energy agency, to house photovoltaic and solar thermal projects and is part of Rajasthan’s

megawatts will be added annually starting

EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

solar and wind generation capacity by 2018, largely from the private sector. Solar energy development is also a key part of the national government’s goal under the Jawaharlal Nehru Solar Mission (JNNSM) to find renewable energy alternatives to energy needs. The JNSMM, set up in 2010, aims to deploy 20,000 megawatts of solar power capacity across India by 2022. A large chunk of that is expected to be located in Rajasthan, which has one of the highest levels of solar irradiation in India and is home to over 80% of the solar power set up under Phase 1 of the JNNSM. Work has already started on 75 megawatts of solar photovoltaic power at the Bhadlapark after competitive bidding in early 2013 under the Rajasthan solar policy and a further 200 2014. The new power transmission system will involve about 1,850 kilometers of transmission lines, mostly in western Rajasthan, three new

400 kilovolt substations and nine new 220 kilovolt grid substations. The funds will also be used to boost the transmission capacity of seven existing substations. Apart from serving the Bhadlapark, the infrastructure supports solar and wind power developments in Western Rajasthan. The funds comprise a $498 million multitranche financing facility including funds from the concessional Clean Technology Fund, and a further $2 million in technical assistance grant that finances infrastructure planning for the Bhadla park, transmission system studies and a community development plan to set up solar power electricity and clean water equipment for small communities. The government of Rajasthan and state transmission utilities will provide counterpart financing of about $300 million. The second loan tranche of around $220 million is expected to be released later in 2014 and the final loan of around $128 million expected to be made in 2015. The investment program is expected to be completed by early 2018.

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& EQBusiness Financial India-Chile to Enhance Cooperation in Renewable Energy India and Chile have agreed to enhance their cooperation in the field of Renewable Energy. This was decided at a meeting held between the Chilean Energy Minister Mr. Jorge Bunster and Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Minister of New and Renewable Energy at Santiago. Dr. Farooq Abdullah is visiting Chile along with a high level delegation to explore greater opportunities for cooperation and collaboration between Indian and Chile. Dr. Abdullah briefed his counterpart on the energy situation in India. Dr. Abdullah stated that India plans to add over 30 GW of renewable energy to its energy mix in the next 5 years alone. He also dwelt on the success of the wind programme as well as the significant cost reductions in solar energy through the JawaharLal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM). MrBunster informed the Indian Minister that Chile is almost entirely dependent on imports for its energy needs and is therefore extremely keen to diversify its energy mix by introducing a large component of renewables. It has considerable potential in wind, hydro, solar and geothermal energy. MrBunster recognized India’s considerable achievements and strengths in renewable energy and noted that India had made large strides in the same. He expressed his government’s desire to set up a 50 MW Solar thermal generating capacity in the north of the country. Dr. Abdullah offered India’s support and expertise to Chile in setting up renewable projects. He offered the services of Indian experts and institutions like Centre for Wind Energy, Solar Energy Centre, Alternate Hydro Energy Centre for resource assessment of renewable energy sources, training of personnel and also preparation of projects for exploiting these technologies in Chile. He also offered training slots in India to Chilean scientists, engineers and technicians through the Indian Technical And Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme. The Indian Minister expressed his country’s desire for a serious and meaningful cooperation with the entire Latin American region, especially Chile, in renewable energy and offered all possible assistance. Earlier in the day, the Minister held a bilateral meeting with the Foreign Minister, Mr Alfredo Moreno Charme. The two ministers discussed a variety of issues of bilateral interest including the proposed visit of the Chilean president to India in October. The Minister also met Mr. Jorge Pizzaro, the President of the Chilean Senate. He also addressed a meeting of the UN ECLAC in Santiago where he offered India’s fullest support to the entire region in development of renewable energy.

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& EQBusiness Financial Global Solar Inverter Shipments Fall For The First Time In Seven Quarters During Q2 Worldwide market shipments of solar photovoltaic (PV) inverters declined by 5 percent year-on-year in the second quarter—the first such decrease since the third quarter of 2011—as demand fell in key European countries.PV inverter shipments in the second quarter of 2013 amounted to 8.3 gigawatts (GW), down 5 percent from 8.7 GW during the same period in 2012, according to a new report entitled “The World Market for PV Inverters - 2013 Edition” from IHS (NYSE: IHS), a leading global source of critical information and insight.

“The pace of contraction for inverter shipments in critical European countries such as Germany and Italy has been faster than expected, with some of these markets seeing their demand decline by more than 70 percent this year,” said Cormac Gilligan, senior PV market analyst at IHS. “Some inverter suppliers have been very reliant on these historically large markets. Because of this, inverter suppliers are seeking new markets and have expanded their presence internationally in high-growth countries, including the United States, China, Japan and India.”

Inverters are devices that perform an essential function in PV installations, converting direct current (DC) electricity

Golden Sun heats up China’s inverter market

from multiple solar panels into alternating current (AC).The main culprit for the decrease in PV inverter shipments worldwide was the sharp slowdown in the European market. Shipments in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region during the first half of 2013 fell more than 40 percent compared to the first half of 2012. The EMEA region accounted for only 6 GW worth of shipments in the first half of 2013, down from 10 GW during the same period in 2012.

Despite the annual decrease, shipments grew on a sequential basis, rising by 24 percent in the second quarter compared to the first quarter. The large growth in quarter-to-quarter shipments was largely accounted for by China, where inverter shipments increased by 174 percent in the second quarter of 2013 to reach almost 2 GW. The surge was powered by a rush to complete projects aided by China’s Golden Sun program.

“Although China’s inverter shipments nearly tripled during the second quarter of 2013, the country’s inverter market is still dominated by domestic suppliers,” Gilligan added. “China remains a challenging market for Western suppliers to penetrate despite its size. Average inverter prices have decreased by 14 percent in the second quarter of 2013 to reach as low as $0.07 per watt, which means that inverter suppliers really need a local presence in order to have competitive pricing in this market.” Inverter revenues on the wane Average global inverter prices continued to decline, dropping by 10 percent in the second quarter of 2013 compared to the first quarter. This decline was the result of inverter shipments shifting to lower-cost markets in Asia and continued price erosion in mature solar markets. Revenue decreased by 18 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2013 to $1.6 billion.InEurope inverter revenue fell by more than 50 percent in the second quarter of 2013, with markets such as Germany and Italy suffering revenue declines of more than 60 percent.

India to help Cuba develop Renewable Energy resources India has offered to help Cuba develop its renewable energy resources. This was conveyed by Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Minister of New and Renewable Energy to Mr. Marino Murillo, Vice president of the Republic of Cuba at Havana. Dr. Farooq Abdullah is visiting Cuba along with a high level delegation of experts to explore greater opportunities for cooperation and collaboration between the two countries. Dr. Abdullah also held detailed discussions with Mr. Alfredo Lopez Valdes, the Cuban Minister of Energy and Mines. Dr. Abdullah briefed his counterpart on the energy situation in India and India’s ambitious plans in renewable energy. He explained that India currently has over 29 GW of grid-connected installed capacity 14

EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

using renewable sources of energy and that it has plans over to add over 30 GW more capacity by 2017. He also dwelt on the success of India’s wind programme as well as the significant cost reductions in solar energy through the JawaharLal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM). Both Mr. Murillo and Mr. Valdez informed the Indian Minister of Cuba’s strong desire to diversify its energy mix by exploiting its renewable energy resources, especially in wind and bagasse-based cogeneration projects. They sought India’s support and

He offered India’s support and expertise in setting up renewable projects as well as in capacity building and project preparation. He also urged the Cuban side to take advantage of the Lines of Credit offered by India in setting up renewable energy projects. Earlier Dr. Abdullah was given a brief on the achievements of Cuba in universalizing health care resulting in significant reductions in infant mortality and increase in life expectancy. He also visited the local polyclinic to understand first-hand the health systems and had detailed discussions there.

expertise in helping Cuba achieve this objective. Dr. Abdullah recalled India’s long standing and traditionally warm relations with Cuba and said that India has always supported the Cuban nation and its people.

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& EQBusiness Financial Imec, RENA and SoLayTec improve ALD passivation in industrial PERC Si solar cells achieving 20.1% efficiency Leuven (Belgium) – September 27, 2013 - At next week’s European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EUPVSEC, Paris), the Belgian nanoelectronics research center imec, RENA, a leading supplier for wet chemical production tools, and SoLayTec, a supplier of Al2O3 deposition tools, present thin (160µm), large area (156x156mm2) industrial PERC-type silicon solar cells achieving a best cell efficiency of 20.1% using atomic layer deposition (ALD) Al2O3 passivation and standard screen printed contacts.  The i-PERC-type silicon solar cells have been manufactured on imec’s silicon solar cell pre-pilot line using RENA’s InPilot tool for rear-side polishing and

20.1% and open circuit voltages up to 655 mV. When applying Cu-plated contacts at the front instead of silver screen printed contacts, a top efficiency of 20.6% was reached.  “Routinely achieving average conversion efficiencies around 20%, imec’s industrial PERC pre-pilot line enables the development and validation of novel solar cell processes and concepts, and serves as an excellent platform for system suppliers to benchmark their new tools,” states Dr. Joachim John, Photovoltaic R&D projects responsible at imec. “This supports the acceleration of process implementation in next generation high-throughput solar cell manufacturing.”  Roger Gortzen, Manager marketing and sales and co-founder of

facilities proves that our novel ALD Al2O3 passivation process, aiming at lower cost of ownership (< 2€ct/layer) without effecting the cell efficiency, is ready to be implemented in an industrial environment.”   Franck Delahaye, Product manager solar at RENA: “Collaborating at imec with partners across the value chain enables us to benchmark our tools on the highest performance levels. This way, we can verify the impact of our single tools on the overall cell performance and make sure to offer solutions with a strong positive leverage on the costs per watt. Further, this deepens our understanding of the respective interaction between the process steps and strengthens our ability to support and lead overall process integration

emitter removal, and SoLayTec’s spatial ALD tool for Al2O3 deposition. These cells reached a best cell conversion efficiency of

SoLayTec: “Achieving a factor 3 less TMA precursor usage without effecting the cell efficiency on imec’s silicon PV processing

at our customer’s facilities.”

Komax Solar Receives Large Equipment Order Komax Solar just received a large order from a major Asian manufacturer. The contract includes all main products of Komax Solar such as stringers, EL testers and laminators, and marks the start of a long-term strategic partnership. Main reasons to choose Komax Solar were the technological leadership of the Komax equipment, the professional sales and service network, the continuous high

investments in product developments and the trustworthiness as a reliable strategic partner. Recently the Komax Group announced to start a process to sell its business unit Komax Solar. However, this new order emphasizes that business continues as usual, and the

is further strengthened. Komax Solar continues with unchanged high pace to invest in technology, products and processes. The Komax Group can further guarantee, that the machines sold and installed by Komax Solar will receive professional support such as service and spare parts also in the long term.

leading market position of Komax Solar

EIB Support For Renewable Energy And Energy Efficiency Projects In India The European Investment Bank (EIB) has signed a EUR 40 million long-term loan to SREI Infrastructure Finance Limited (SREI), with the main purpose of financing investments that will help to mitigate climate change in India. The loan will be supported by the Italian Export Credit Agency SACE S.p.A. This tripartite cooperation will not only help project financing in India but also support Italian industry by promoting exports. Both the EU and Indian economies will eventually benefit from this arrangement. This is the first instalment of a EUR 80 million loan. The loan is for projects in the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors carried 16

EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

out mostly by private sector companies. It will target electricity and heat generation schemes, notably wind power, photovoltaic energy, hydropower and high-efficiency cogeneration. The investments will help to meet India’s rapidly growing demand for electricity by using environmentally sustainable resources. They will also generate economic benefits for the region by developing domestic energy resources, improving energy efficiency and reducing airborne pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

due diligence to ensure that all projects are economically and financially viable, technically appropriate and in compliance with the Bank’s environmental and social requirements and its Guide to Procurement. This loan is being provided under the EUR 4.5 billion Energy Sustainability and Security of Supply Facility (ESF).Since the start of its lending activities in Asia the European Investment Bank has provided more than EUR 4.9 billion for long-term investment projects, including EUR 2.2 billion in the energy sector.

SREI will on-lend the funds to final beneficiaries and identify and pre-select the projects. The EIB will then perform

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More than just an inverter With Conext Core XC you get the core of a high-quality balance-of-system solution and the support of a trusted supplier. Our large-scale solar solutions include:

Reliability baked in Designed for long-term performance and tested in harsh environments, Conext Core XC offers increased uptime and a great total cost of ownership. Flexibility to fit your needs Conext Core XC inverters are compliant with most local standards and evolutive to meet future standards. On top of all that, Schneider Electric™ has a local presence in over 100 countries and a global service network, meaning we offer professional support for solar investments practically anywhere in the world.

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& EQBusiness Financial Nepc Installs 20 Kwp Off-Grid Solar Power System In St. Ignatius College Of Education In Tirunelveli SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS Sl.No.

Components

Capacity

PV Module

Solar Module 24V, 250 Wp (Poly Crystalline)80 No.’s

Power Conditioning Unit

Solar PCU (25 KVA) Inbuilt MPPT Solar Charge Controller

3. Due to the power shortages and escalating electricity bills, St. Ignatius College of Education decided to install a Solar Power System in the College. NEPC INDIA LTD agreed to install a Solar Power System to provide power to the building to take care of the power requirement of the College. NEPC INDIA LTD prepared the Detailed Project Proposal. The Solar Power System installed in the building shall deliver far reaching benefits to the Institution in terms of relief from power cuts, savings in power bills and contribution to environmental sustainability, thereby maintaining the College’s image as an exemplary institution.

Battery Bank

Solar Battery (C10 Rating- Exide) Green Power: Reduces the College’s carbon foot-print and projects its image as an exemplary and responsible institution.

BENEFITS OF THE SYSTEM No Power Cuts : The College Building shall have power for lights, fans and computers, even when there is a power cut. Non Polluting: The alternative to providing power during power cuts would have been a Diesel Generator which is polluting and expensive to maintain.

The Solar Future: Solar Energy is going to play a larger role in the nation’s energy mix. The recently announced Tamil Nadu Solar Energy Policy mandates 6% of energy consumption to be sourced from Solar for most institutions by 2014. St. Ignatius College of Education would lead the way.

Scalable: The System is scalable for future growth, as it includes the highest rated inverter (25 KVA) to support the entire building load and further expansion is possible in panels / battery.

Solar To Add More Megawatts Than Wind In 2013, For First Time Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicts that 33.8GW of new onshore wind farms, plus 1.7GW of offshore wind, will be added globally in 2013. This compares with its median forecast of 36.7GW of new photovoltaic, or PV, capacity.This year is set to be the first in which PV has added more megawatts than wind. In 2012, wind – onshore and offshore – added 46.6GW, while PV added 30.5GW, record figures in both cases. But in 2013, a slowdown in the world’s two largest wind markets, China and the US, is opening the way for the rapidly growing PV market to overtake wind.“The dramatic cost reductions in PV, combined with new incentive regimes in Japan and China, are making possible further, strong growth in volumes,” said Jenny Chase, head of solar analysis at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “Europe is a declining market, because many countries there are rapidly moving away from 18

EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

incentives, but it will continue to see new PV capacity added.”

2012, will grow to 16% by 2030.

Justin Wu, head of wind analysis at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said: “We forecast that wind installations will shrink by nearly 25% in 2013, to their lowest level since 2008, reflecting slowdowns in the US and China caused by policy uncertainty. However, falling technology costs, new markets and the growth of the offshore industry will ensure wind remains a leading renewable energy technology.”Despite the change in rankings for 2013, the maturing sectors of onshore wind and PV will contribute almost equally to the world’s new electricity capacity

Furthermore, after years of oversupply and consolidation, technology suppliers in both sectors may see a move back to profit in 2013. Michael Liebreich, chief executive of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, commented: “Cost cuts and a refocusing on profitable markets and business segments have bolstered the financial performance of wind turbine makers and the surviving solar manufacturers. Stock market investors have been noticing this change, and clean energy shares have rebounded by 66% since their lows of July 2012.”Further details on demand and supply in renewable energy’s

additions between now and 2030, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. It forecasts that wind (on and offshore) will expand from 5% of the world’s total installed power generation capacity in 2012, to 17% in 2030. PV, from a lower base of 2% in

two largest sectors can be found in the thirdquarter 2013 Wind and PV Market Outlooks, published this month for clients of Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s Insight Service. A Solar Thermal Electricity Generation Market Outlook will be published in October.

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IT TAKES MORE THAN ONE INVERTER TO POWER INDIA.

BROADEST RANGE OF INVERTERS To meet the energy needs of a growing nation, solar power will need to be tapped at every scale. And no manufacturer is better prepared for that than Power-One. From 250W single-panel MICRO inverters to commercial-grade string to utility-scale 1400kW central inverters, we offer one of the broadest and most innovative lines of inverters anywhere. And with the highest yields and most responsive service in the industry, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no surprise we have been trusted with over 11GW of installations worldwide. So whether your job is big or small, we are here to help you do it right. For technical information email sales.india@power-one.com or call +91-22-66632222

& EQBusiness Financial Producing Solar Energy While Saving Diesel Nepc Installs 25 Kwp Grid Tied Solar Power System For Mahidhara Chemicals (P) Ltd In Vizag Challenge: Delivering Power while Saving Diesel

Diesel Savings: The aggregate Diesel savings will be 15,000 Litres per year.

Highlights: •

Significant Savings in Power bills and relief from power cuts.

•

Significant amount of diesel consumption and Carbon-dioxide emissions effect.

Solar Energy is without doubt going to be the main component of the energy mix for the future and that future is no more a far away future. The Solar revolution has already begun worldwide and India does not want to be left behind. Solar energy major NEPC India Limited has completed a big Solar Installation at M/s Mahidhara Chemicals (P) Ltd in Vizag. The 25 KW NEPC Roof Mount Aluminiumrust free Solar unit uses high-efficiency poly crystalline modules (250 Wp) , High efficiency In built MPPT Solar Charge Controller and Solar Grid-tied Inverter that preserve the structural strength of the roof while protecting the solar set up against strong winds.

Carbon-dioxide off-set: Equivalent to offsetting 23.35 Tonnes of Carbon dioxide in a year.

Company’s image as an Green Energy Initiator. Block diagram of the Solar On-Grid System: Solar Power generated on site offsets Diesel and Grid Consumption TECHNICAL & FINANCIAL DETAILS OF THE INSTALLATION •

High Efficiency Poly Crystalline Photovoltaic Modules (20 No.’s) with a warranty of 25 years.

•

Solar PCU : High efficiency Inbuilt MPPT Solar Charge Controller and Solar Grid-tied Inverter

•

Efficient use of roof top spacemaintaining the roof aesthetics while leaving enough space to walk around to clean the panels and reach every single panel without difficulty.

•

Highly resistive Roof- Top Structure keeping the load on the Roof-Top minimal.

Background: •

•

Due to the power shortages,escalating electricity bills and diesel cost, M/s Mahidhara Chemicals (P) Ltd decided to install a Solar Power System in their Company. NEPC INDIA LTD agreed to install a Solar Power System to provide power to the Company to take care of the power requirement of the Company. NEPC INDIA LTD prepared the Detailed Project Proposal.

•

NEPC INDIA LTD received Order for complete installation and function of 25 KW Solar System in the month of November 2012 and successfully completed the entire installation thereby delivering a fully satisfactory service.

•

The Solar Power System installed in the Company would deliver far reaching benefits to the Company in terms of relief from power cuts, savings in power bills and contribution to environmental sustainability, thereby maintaining the

EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

Some pictures from the Installation: Impact: Saving Roof Space and Diesel and contributing to the Green initiative for a cleaner Earth MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL & ECONOMIC BENEFITS TO THE CUSTOMER INCLUDE: Generation: The Solar Plant will generate 7,50,000 KwH in 20 years.

Land Savings: Land Savings due to utilization of unused roof space & reduction in transmission losses. No Power Cuts : The Company shall have power for lights, fans and computers, even when there is a power cut. Non Polluting: The alternative to providing power during power cuts would have been a Diesel Generator which is polluting and expensive to maintain.

Scalable: The System is scalable for future growth, as it includes the highest rated inverter (20 kw) to support the entire building load and further expansion is possible in panels / battery. Green Power: Reduces the Company’s carbon foot-print and projects its image as an exemplary and responsible organisation. The Solar Future: Solar Energy is going to play a larger role in the nation’s energy mix. The recently announced Tamil Nadu Solar Energy Policy mandates 6% of energy consumption to be sourced from Solar for most institutions by 2014. M/s Mahidhara Chemicals (P) Ltd in Vizag would lead the way.

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& EQBusiness Financial Vikram Solar commissions 5 MW power plant in Tamil Nadu in record time Vikram Solar, a leading global manufacturer of Solar Photovoltaic Modules with a 150MW module manufacturing capacity and EPC contractor, has commissioned a 5MW Solar Photovoltaic power plant at Virudunagar District, Tamil Nadu for JVS Exports under the REC (renewable energy certificate) mechanism on turnkey basis. The entire power plant was constructed within a remarkably short time -frame of 75 days. Mr. Gyanesh Chaudhary,Managing Director, Vikram Solar commented, “This project has painted an authentic picture of Vikram Solar’s capability in executing megawatt-scale solar power projects and at the same time ensuring quality at every step of execution resulting in substantial tax benefits and end-user savings, while considerably lowering carbon footprint.” Vikram Solar began construction of the power plant under a strict deadline on 18th July 2013. The 5MW solar photovoltaic power plant is JVS Export’s first foray into the field of solar energy as an independent power producer (IPP). The project will generate approximately 8.0 million units per annum of electricity that will be sold to the State Utility at APPC (average power purchase cost) price and simultaneously the renewable energy certificate will be generated which will later be sold at the REC power exchange. One REC is obtained for each megawatt hour (MWh) of electricity injected to the grid.

understanding of subject and requirements at the site level.”

“We have tried to set up the plant using the best-in-the-industry technology which includes advanced SCADA system, a latest cost effective earthing system, and other safety features making it safe and effective,” commented Mr. Miguel Angel Hernaez Garcia, COO. The installation and commissioning scope of the grid connect solar power plant envisages: •

Design, engineering and construction of the entire 5 MW solar photovoltaic power plant

•

Pre-commissioning and commissioning of the entire plant and equipments

•

Test run of grid connect solar power plant as well as load trials at site

•

Operation and maintenance of power plant for 12 months

A highly satisfied customer, Mr. M Britto, Managing Director of JVS Export commented: “Vikram Solar has done a great job by completing the project within 100 days which involved meticulous planning,

With a 77 year history of weaving experience, JVS Export is highly regarded in the textile industry as a world-class producer of home textiles. JVS is a leader in southern India with regard to promoting care for the environment. The company already owns and operates several windmills which provide energy to the local electric cooperative with the result that their factories run entirely on sustainable wind energy. The Virudunagar solar plant is the latest example of the company’s commitment towards sustainable environment. Mr. Sunil Rathi, President Sales & Marketing, Vikram Solar, commented: “We have brought our experience in typical and complex installations to design, engineer, procure and construct the Virudanagar solar plant in record time.The short span of construction improves the return on investment for the project developer by reducing the interest on capital during construction phase (IDC).” Vikram Solar has already installed one of the largest solar power plants in India which is a 40 MW solar power plant at a single location Bap in Rajasthan. The company is fully geared to service the rapidly emerging solar market in Tamil Nadu/ South India with a full-fledged sales, design and service centre in Chennai to support its customers in the region.

Schneider Electric Inverters Are A Significant Part In The Solar Power Conversion Chain For Generating Highest Cuf% In India The Schneider Electric Solar Business, a global leader in solutions for the solar power conversion chain, is proud to announce that their Conext Core XC inverters are used in solar power plants which have consistently generated the highest CUF% in India. This is corroborated by the performance data released by India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) for solar photovoltaic (PV) plants in the nation for May and June 2013.

In the month of May, five out of the top 12 power plants in India with the highest CUF% were using Schneider Electric Conext Core XC inverters, while in June it increased to seven out of the top 15 power plants that were using Schneider Electric products. The Conext Core XC Series is new to the Indian solar market, but within a very short span of time after plant commissioning the Conext Core XC inverters are enabling a high ROI to developers and EPCs who

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trusted Schneider Electric’s design and manufacturing capabilities. “We are very satisfied with the performance of our plant and we understand the very critical role played by Schneider Electric’s inverters towards this performance” says GaganVermani, Executive Director & Chief Executive Officer of Sunborne Energy Technologies “and we know that Schneider Electric will continue to provide value to the solar industry with continuous innovation.” EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

& EQBusiness Financial JinkoSolar Closes Follow-on Public Offering of 4,370,000 American Depositary Shares SHANGHAI, Sept. 25, 2013 / PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (“JinkoSolar” or the “Company”) (NYSE: JKS), a global leader in the solar PV industry, today announced the closing of its follow-on public offering of 4,370,000 American depositary shares, or ADSs, each representing four ordinary shares at par value US$0.00002 per share, including 570,000 ADSs sold pursuant to the underwriters’ exercise of in full of their option to purchase additional ADSs. The Company received aggregate net proceeds of approximately $67.8 million, after deducting discounts and commissions but before offering expenses.

Morgan Securities LLC and Jefferies LLC are joint bookrunners for the offering. The offering is being made pursuant to the Company’s “shelf” registration statement on Form F-3/A filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 14, 2013, which became effective on August 15, 2013. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, securities and does not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The Company’s registration statement on Form F-3/A and preliminary prospectus supplement are available from the

SEC website at: http://www.sec.gov. Copies of the final prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus may be obtained by contacting Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Attention: Prospectus Department at Eleven Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10010-3629 or by telephone at (800) 221-1037, from J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Attention: Broadridge Financial Solutions at 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, New York, New York 11717 or by telephone at (866) 803-9204, or from Jefferies LLC at 520 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10022 or by telephone at (877) 547-6340.

Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, J.P.

Bhel Bags Rs 96 Crore Worth Order From Ntpc State-owned BHEL recently said its electronics division here has bagged an order worth Rs 96 crore from NTPC to set up a 15 MW-solar power plant in Uttar Pradesh. The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) order is for design, manufacture, testing, erection and commissioning of the 15 MW grid-Interactive

solar power plant at Singrauli in Uttar Pradesh,the company said in a statement. BHEL will execute the project covering all works from concept to commissioning and will operate and maintain the project for one year, it added. The solar plant will come up near the 2000 MW thermal power plant of NTPC

at Singrauli. On completion,it is expected to supply over 23 million units of solar power every year to the Uttar Pradesh State grid. The company said BHEL-electronics division is also executing two more solar power plants of 10MW each for NTPC at Unchahar in Uttar Pradesh and Talcher in Orissa.

Setting Up Of 750 MW Of Grid Connected Solar PV Power Projects Under Batch-1 Of Phase-II Of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission With Viability Gap Funding Support From National Clean Energy Fund The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the implementation of a scheme for setting up of 750 MW of Grid-connected Solar PV Power Projects under Batch-1 of Phase-11 (2013-17) of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) with Viability Gap Funding (VGF) support from the National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF). The total VGF requirement for implementation of the scheme is estimated as Rs. 1,875 crore at the rate of Rs.2.5 crore/ MW The actual requirement will, however, depend on the bid prices. This VGF support is estimated to leverage private investment to the tune of Rs. 5000 crore in setting up of the projects.The VGF scheme will facilitate setting up of the 750 MW grid connected solar power projects, in mainly 22

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the private sector on Build, Own and Operate (BOO) basis at various locations, which will help supplement grid power generation in the country. These projects will also lead to an associated development of their surrounding areas with positive impact on the socio-economic conditions of the local population. The scheme will be implemented through the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI, a Section 25 company set up by the Ministry) in close association with NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited (NVVN). The power generated shall be purchased by SECI at a fixed levelised tariff of Rs.5.45 per kWh for 25 years and sold to willing State Utilities/ Discoms at a fixed tariff of Rs.5.50 per unit for 25 years.The selection of projects would be done through a process

of open competitive bidding for their VGF requirement in order to enable them to supply the solar power to SECI at the fixed tariff of Rs.5.45 per kWh for 25 years.

Background: The JNNSM was launched by the Government in January 2010. The main objective of this Mission is to create a policy and regulatory environment for large scale diffusion of solar energy technologies across the country as quickly as possible. It has laid down, a long-term goal of adding 20,000 MW of grid-connected solar power by 2022, to be achieved in three phases (Phase-l up to 2012-13, Phase-ll from 2013 to 2017 and Phase-Ill from 2017 to 2022).

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& EQBusiness Financial Renesola Ltd Closes $70 Million Offering ReneSola Ltd recently announced that it has closed its previously announced $70 million securities offering. The net proceeds received by the Company are intended to be used for polysilicon production optimization and as working capital for general corporate purposes.Mr. Xianshou Li, ReneSola’s chief executive officer, commented, “With the global solar market continuing to expand, the proceeds from this offering will provide ReneSola with important working capital as we continue to grow our worldwide business. The proceeds will also be used for the

optimization of ReneSola’spolysilicon plant, which will help us strengthen our supply source and control our raw material cost, thus putting us in a more advantageous position overall as we follow through on our longerterm business development strategy.” The securities were offered by ReneSola pursuant to a shelf registration statement previously filed with and subsequently declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). A final prospectus supplement relating to the offering

was filed with the SEC and is available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

Armstrong Fund Raises $130 Million At Third Closing IFC Catalyst Fund, FMO, and SIFEM, have signed agreements to commit to the Armstrong South East Asia Clean Energy Fund (‘Armstrong Fund’). The third closing brings the fund size to $130 million. The Armstrong Fund is a private equity fund that invests in small-scale renewable energy and resource efficiency projects in Southeast Asia. IFC Catalyst Fund is a fund of funds investment program focused on funds investing in innovative ways to address climate change in emerging markets. The IFC Catalyst Fund is managed by IFC Asset Management Company LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the International Finance Corporation (IFC). IFC is a member of the World Bank Group and the largest multilateral organization focused on private sector development in across emerging markets. In addition to the IFC Catalyst Fund commitment of $20 million, earlier in May this year, IFC approved a commitment in the Armstrong Fund of US$20 million, which was the first investment by IFC in a private equity fund dedicated to clean energy in Southeast Asia.“We are excited to partner with the Armstrong Fund,” said Reyaz Ahmad, the Head of the IFC Catalyst Fund. “The capital, expertise, and innovation they will bring to clean energy in Southeast Asia exemplifies the role private equity can play in helping to address climate change while generating financial returns.”FMO, also known as the Netherlands Development Finance Company, is investing for the first time in the Armstrong Fund. “FMO is proud to

invest in the Armstrong Clean Energy Fund. The fund will invest in small-scale renewable assets in South East Asia which will change the energy matrix into a cleaner and more sustainable one. We are pleased to work with investors who are committed to clean energy and energy and resource efficiency,” said JurgenRigterink, CIO of FMO. Another investor in time for the Armstrong Fund third closing is Obviam, on behalf of the Swiss Investment Fund for Emerging Markets (SIFEM). The independent investment advisor specialises in long-term investments in emerging and frontier markets, on behalf of public, institutional, and private clients, including SIFEM, the Development Finance Institution (DFI) of the Swiss Confederation.“Obviam is looking forward to a long term partnership with Armstrong, who offers a unique blend of in-depth Renewable Energy and South East Asia investment experience. We expect the Fund to a play an important role in fostering the application of Clean and Renewable energies in the region, working towards minimizing fossil fuel based dependence,” said Claude Barras, CEO of Obviam. “The Armstrong team will work with our investee companies to adopt best practices that adhere to IFC’s environmental and social performance standards, in addition to delivering the projected financial returns. As part of our obligations to all investors, we will also be reporting on the underlying environment impact, including clean energy

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generated, and other developmental impact, such as support for local small and medium enterprises,” said Andrew Affleck, managing partner, Armstrong Asset Management. The Armstrong Fund has a unique focus of providing development capital to smallerscale renewable energy and resource efficiency projects in Southeast Asia’s emerging markets. On 16 August, the Armstrong Fund announced its commitment of up to $30 million to finance an initial pipeline of solar photovoltaic (PV) and biogas power projects, developed by Annex Power, in Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia. In May, the Fund announced its first investment in the development and construction of a 30 MW portfolio of solar projects in Thailand, alongside Hong Kong-based energy company, Symbior Energy. Prior to IFC’s commitment in May 2013, earlier commitments at the initial close of the Armstrong Fund in August 2012, totaling US$65 million, had come from two European development finance institutions GEEREF and DEG; and an Asian-based corporation. The 10-year Armstrong Fund expects to make a total of between 10 to 15 investments, each ranging from US$5 million to US$12 million. Projects of a typical size would generate up to 10 MW from renewable energy resources of solar, hydro, wind or biogas.

EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

& EQBusiness Financial SMA Solar Technology Ag Completes Necessary Corporate Downsizing Without Involuntary Layoffs SMA Solar Technology AG (SMA) will be able to carry out its planned downsizing on a voluntary and socially responsible basis. In response to changing conditions in the global photovoltaic market and the associated sharp decline in sales, the company had announced plans to gradually cut 680 full-time positions in Germany by December 31, 2014. “For the first time in many years, the global photovoltaic market measured in euros will decline in 2013. We are expecting a sustained period of consolidation. As global market leader, SMA will be especially affected by this. An adjustment of personnel structures is therefore unavoidable,” explained SMA Chief Executive Officer Pierre-Pascal Urbon.

By the end of 2014, the company plans to cut its full-time positions in Germany by 680 in relation to the cutoff date of March 31, 2013. This corresponds to around 800 employees, as the layoffs will affect both full-time positions and part-time jobs. By the end of 2014, the workforce capacity at locations in Germany will total about 3 000 full-time positions. The SMA Managing Board constructively cooperated with the Works Council to develop a voluntary program that would make the adjustment to the personnel structures as socially responsible as possible. In addition to measures implemented prior to August 1, 2013 and expiring temporary contracts,

more than 400 SMA employees had decided by September 13, 2013 to participate in the voluntary program. Therefore, SMA will achieve the necessary targeted reductions and will be able to avoid involuntary layoffs. ”Although we are saddened to have to part with our employees, the result is a good one for SMA. We have achieved the targeted reductions and have been able to exclude involuntary layoffs. We would like to thank the employees who have made use of the voluntary program and are leaving SMA for their dedication and the good work they have performed,” said Chief Financial and Human Resources Officer Lydia Sommer.

World Record Solar Cell With 44.7% Efficiency The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, Soitec, CEA-Leti and the Helmholtz Center Berlin jointly announced Recently having achieved a new world record for the conversion of sunlight into electricity using a new solar cell structure with four solar subcells. Surpassing competition after only over three years of research, and entering the roadmap at world class level, a new record efficiency of 44.7% was measured at a concentration of 297 suns. This indicates that 44.7% of the solar spectrum’s energy, from ultraviolet through to the infrared, is converted into electrical energy. This is a major step towards reducing further the costs of solar electricity and continues to pave the way to the 50% efficiency roadmap. Back in May 2013, the German-French team of Fraunhofer ISE, Soitec, CEA-Leti and the Helmholtz Center Berlin had already announced a solar cell with 43.6% efficiency. Building on this result, further intensive research work and optimization steps led to the present efficiency of 44.7%.These solar cells are used in concentrator photovoltaics (CPV), a technology which achieves more than twice the efficiency of conventional PV power plants in sun-rich locations. The terrestrial use of so-called III-V multi-

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junction solar cells, which originally came from space technology, has prevailed to realize highest efficiencies for the conversion of sunlight to electricity. In this multi-junction solar cell, several cells made out of different III-V semiconductor materials are stacked on top of each other. The single subcells absorb different wavelength ranges of the solar spectrum. “We are incredibly proud of our team which has been working now for three years on this four-junction solar cell,” says Frank Dimroth, Department Head and Project Leader in charge of this development work at Fraunhofer ISE. “This four-junction solar cell contains our collected expertise in this area over many years. Besides improved materials and optimization of the structure, a new procedure called wafer bonding plays a central role. With this technology, we are able to connect two semiconductor crystals, which otherwise cannot be grown on top of each other with high crystal quality. In this way we can produce the optimal semiconductor combination to create the highest efficiency solar cells.” “This world record increasing our efficiency level by more than 1 point in less

than 4 months demonstrates the extreme potential of our four-junction solar cell design which relies on Soitec bonding techniques and expertise,” says André-Jacques AubertonHervé, Soitec’s Chairman and CEO. “It confirms the acceleration of the roadmap towards higher efficiencies which represents a key contributor to competitiveness of our own CPV systems. We are very proud of this achievement, a demonstration of a very successful collaboration.”“This new record value reinforces the credibility of the direct semiconductor bonding approaches that is developed in the frame of our collaboration with Soitec and Fraunhofer ISE. We are very proud of this new result, confirming the broad path that exists in solar technologies for advanced III-V semiconductor processing,” said Leti CEO Laurent Malier.Concentrator modules are produced by Soitec (started in 2005 under the name Concentrix Solar, a spin-off of Fraunhofer ISE). This particularly efficient technology is employed in solar power plants located in sun-rich regions with a high percentage of direct radiation. Presently Soitec has CPV installations in 18 different countries including Italy, France, South Africa and California.

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& EQBusiness Financial Ibm And Tata Power Delhi Distribution Collaborate To Accelerate Smart Grid Deployment In India IBM recently announced that it has been selected by Tata Power Delhi Distribution to conceptualize, design and deliver an Advanced Smart Grid solution that will collect and analyze real-time information from smart meters and data from the communication and management infrastructure. This will enable Tata Power Delhi Distribution to better manage energy output and further reduce outages.As a joint venture between Tata Power and the Delhi Government, Tata Power Delhi Distribution sought a solution that would enhance the reliability and efficiency of energy distribution across the Northern and North western part of Delhi. Additionally, the solution would also help empower its over 1.3 million electric consumers to manage their own energy usage. “TPDDL is committed to accelerate the smart grid deployment which will give customers more visibility and control in managing their energy usage and transform the electric network into a robust, secure and intelligent system. This is an important milestone for the energy distribution in India as we intensify our efforts to empower consumers and provide them choices of usage of their electrical appliances and manage their load efficiently.” said Praveer Sinha, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Tata Power Delhi Distribution. In India, aggregated technical and commercial losses that occur due to electricity transmission and energy theft

are estimated at about 26.4 per cent on a national average. The Government of India has launched the Restructured-Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Program (R-APDRP) with the aim to reduce these losses in the country and to improve the power distribution sector of state utilities, during 11th Five-Year Plan period, 2007-2012. The Five-Year Plans are centralized and integrated national economic programs. As a part of its smart grid initiative, Tata Power Delhi Distribution will collaborate with IBM to develop an advanced metering infrastructure and demand response pilot program that will automate and regulate supply of electricity to consumers in sync with the fluctuating demand.This project will help add a layer of digital intelligence to the grid and ensure reliability when the demand rises exponentially and the supply falls due to heavy consumption. In addition, this will provide customer service improvements including new digital meters, enhanced selfservice options and access to a customer portal to manage energy use. “In the near future, utilities will look to integrate insights into their traditional grid operation solutions and also into customer, energy management and environmental domains,” said Rahul Sharma, Executive Director and Partner, Global Business Services, IBM India & South Asia. “The advanced meter management solution builds real-time intelligence into the system,

integrating information into business and operations systems quickly and easily.” IBM will support Tata Power Delhi Distribution to create system architecture, ensure adherence to international smart grid standards, optimize business process and incorporate dynamic business analytics function to offer actionable insights. In addition, Tata Power Delhi Distribution will leverage IBM expertise to integrate new advanced metering, meter data management, and demand response systems with existing applications including customer and geographic information systems. An Advanced Infrastructure based demand response is a complex exercise and has not been done in India before, and this engagement is the first step in creating an end-to-end intelligent utility system to manage generation short fall by peak shaving of actual load. Peak shaving is a technique that is used to reduce electrical power consumption during periods of maximum demand on the power utility and enable consumer to redistribute loads to different period of the day, thus saving substantial amounts of money due to peaking charges. When complete, the multi-phased engagement is expected to enhance the relationship between Tata Power Delhi Distribution and it’s consumers thereby enabling more efficient consumption of electricity.

Waaree Energies Bags A Turnkey Order Of A 25 Mw Power Plant From Roha Group In Rajasthan One of India’s leading innovative solar solution companies, Waaree Energies Ltd has successfully acquired a turnkey order of a 25 MW Power Plant from the Roha group which includes the Designing of the plant, its technical and Engineering ground work, Installation process and Commissioning of the project. The Roha group is one of the world’s renowned manufacturing companies for

Synthetic Colours and is also a prominent supplier of Natural Colours, specializing in the Food, Cosmetics & Pharmaceutical industries for the past thirty years. This plant will be set up at the solar park in the state of Rajasthan and is targeted to be commissioned by December 2013. Mr. Hitesh Doshi, CMD, Waaree group commented, “The fact that we are expanding

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our services in one of the biggest states of India is a huge achievement for the entire Waaree group. We are delighted and excited to work on this crucial Roha group project. With our existing expertise in the solar industry, we are geared to use innovative technology and manpower to execute the project on time and deliver the best to our customers.”

EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

S O L A R P V M A N UF A CT URI N G

Challenges For Component Selection & Manufacturing Processof Si Crystalline Photovoltaic Modules In India Moumita Debnath,S. K. Shil, Raymond An, Srimathy. N, Sriparn Saurabh Underwriters Laboratories India Pvt. Ltd.

his paper presents the design challenges of silicon crystalline photovoltaic modules and the relation of reliability withfailure rate observed during the qualification testing of the modules. The manufacturing process of PV module includes several numbers of stages. Each stage has own impact on the performance of the modules in due course oftime. Starting from inspection and grouping of cells to finishing each stage is very important to be carried out properly. As far as the performance of PV modules are considered one cannot ignore the whole process of manufacturing and selection of critical components. In this paper we will be able to list down some major and important stage of PV module manufacturing process and component selection which will help us in making the PV modules more reliable to the whole PV community. The performance of the module is directly related to the quality of the critical components used during manufacturing as well as the process itself.

2. INTRODUCTION The PV module manufacturing process has the below listed stages: 1. Inspection and grouping of cells: Here the cells are received from the cell production area and inspected for visual defects. Then depending on the size, the quality or the range of the cells, the grouping is carried out. Some machine manufacturers recommend 100% hot spot detection at cell stage using thermo graphic or electroluminescence test set up. If cell supplier does not check 100% cells for hotspot then the module supplier can do so. 26Â

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Thus avoiding hot spot failure of finished modules. 2. Tabbing and stringing: In this process,the coated copper ribbons are soldered with the bus bars of the cells and tabbed solar cells are then interconnected in series or series/parallel configuration to deliver the specific voltage and current in the module. 3. Lay up: The string, which is fit for layup is placed between two layer of EVA(Ethylene Vinyl Acetate) followed by the backsheet or substrate, a high transmissive glass is used as superstrate. 4. Lamination: the laid up strings are laminated in an automatic laminating machine with a specified time temperature and pressure cycle. This is actually the curing process for EVA just to ensure the durability of the laminate. 5. Channeling and junction box fixing: The junction box is fixed at the backside of the substrate with the help of sealant. We make sure that the sealant gets enough time for curing in order to provide a proper adhesion and edge sealing. Then the bus bars are connected to the terminal of the junction box. 6. Finishing includes the cleaning and quality checks of the modules. In all these stages we use many components like cells, substrate, EVA, superstrate, frame, junction box, cable connectors etc. All these play a very big role in improving the performance of the PV modules. All these components should have the minimum requirement of electrical,

mechanical as well as physical properties wherever applicable. The raw material selection is a challenging job which needs more attention of ours and needs engineering analytical skills.

3. DESIGN CHALLENGES AND THE RAW MATERIAL SELECTION 3(A) Challenges faced during manufacturing process Laminationâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Lamination is the first and most important process which needs more and more care during processing. Selection of proper laminator can reduce the defects resulting during the production. There are two types of Laminators. One type of laminator uses the oil circulation method and the other uses the air circulation method. The oil or any hydraulically circulated laminators or rotary oil pumps produce fumes in the work area which in turn can produce the small bubbles during the process, which may not be visible by naked eye but once the modules get exposed to high humidity and temperature cycles the bubbles try to come out as vapor creating a bigger size of bubbles and delamination. This issue can be easily resolved by using the electrical heaters and dry screw line vacuum pumps in laminators which significantly give lesser chances of getting the bubbles and delamination. These are cleaner and faster. A. The improper lamination results in delamination. There are few a point for which delamination occurs. B. The proper EVA handling. We should not use expired EVA and the EVA should be kept in an air conditioned room

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maintaining the temperature of 25Deg C. One roll of EVA should be used for the entire lot of production in a day. Repetitive use of EVA from same roll is incorrect. During the lamination the EVA should be crosslink properly till 85%. Most if the times it happens only till 75%. At the higher temperature EVA molecules get cross linked which results in more adhesion and improved strength. C. Select best grade of EVA and higher temperature cycle from a supplier. D. Overheating of laminator beyond the specified temperature. There should be uniform temperature throughout the laminator which is possible on air circulated laminator. E. The poor quality of adhesive or glue and the improper application can also cause delamination. F. The dirty glass including the dust, grease or traces of water results in delamination. Traces of moisture or chemical on solar cell or substrate surface can give poor quality of lamination. G. The South Asian and African countries have negligible or no facility for the production of laminating material.These material have necessarily to be imported, thus there is a considerable time gap between the date of production of laminating material and use for the module manufacture.In addition,during transit these material may get exposed to the hostile environmental conditions of heat and humidity, resulting in-to the significant loss their of shelf life.If extreme care is not followed during transit, subsequent storage and handling at the module manufacturers’ facility, the quality of these material may become doubtful. Such situation may lead to failure of the modules due todelamination of EVA from glass or interlayers of back sheets. Same is applicable forthe RTVglue or Tapes. Cut cells/ full cells –Unlike Europe

Picture.1.Air bubble/delamination during hotspot test as per UL 1703

and US, there is a fair share of market in South Asia and African countries for cut cell

modules to cater to the requirement of small stand-alone PV Systems. These include Solar Lanterns, Small Home Lighting systems and Street Lights.Another characteristic of this market is that it is dependent of Government support and thus it is not regular and predictable.Manufacturers of these small modules have to resort to cutting solar cells to desired sizes.This is generally done by laser scribing and subsequent manual cleaving.The process is prone to loss of open circuit voltage as well as development of microcracks along the line of cleavage.This cutting process if not done extremely carefully, it creates potential hazard of Hot Spot failures along the cut edges.Moreover, such cut cells may not exactly match in power even if these are cut from the same efficiency full size cells.Additionally for such small modules automatic tabber stringers are not available in the market, necessitating manual tabbing. Such manual tabbing may cause damage to the texturized surface of the cell or surface microcracks around the tab resulting in unexpected failures.

series resistance. For the screen printing cells the quality of screen is very important. This results in rough edges or screen clogs which are the reason of cell cracks. Adhesion strength: The adhesion between silver paste and Si solar cell is very important. This improves the lifetime of cells. The soldering method, ribbon type all affects the solderability and adhesion of paste. The failure mode of Ag/Si interface is called as “cratering” defect which results from micro cracks underneath the bus bar after soldering. Another problem faced by the manufacturers is the consequence of highly competitive market of PV Modules.Some of the lower end cells could have been manufactured using not so good silicon material.Use of such cells may show random hot spots in the module for no fault of the module manufacturer.A way to minimize such failures is to pretest the presence of hotspots using lock-in thermal camera or EL camera in the solar cells before use.

Both the factors from material side and processing side can significantly affect the efficiency of the crystalline solar cells. A. Base Si Wafer quality B. Passivation quality and back surface field quality C. Surface texturing quality. D. Anti-reflectance layer quality E. Emitter quality Below are some parameters affecting the cell efficiency: Contact resistance: The quality and performance of metallization paste plays a critical role in improving the efficiency of Si solar cells. The thickness of the paste should be more in order to have less series resistance which results in increase in fill factor. Line conductivity: the finger line resistance is also a key part of series resistance (Rs). The paste should have a higher conductivity in order to create a dense finger line which will provide a better conductivity. Finger Aspect ratio: PV module Manufacturers should ask the finger aspect ratio while buying the cells from the cell manufacturer as the higher finger aspect ratio delivers higher current density due to reduced shading from fingers and lower

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Picture.2.Micrcracks on cells observed by an EL camera in UL

During the manufacturing process the handling of cells and the soldering method should be carried out in a very fine method without giving any external pressure which can lead to micro cracks. That is the reason the micro cracks are very common in cut cells but we also cannot ignore the cracks on full cells too. If not resolved the Micro cracks leads to degradation in due course of time.

3(B) Challenges faced during Components Selection Cell Defects - The possible defects in the solar cell usually refer to the shunts. These shunts are localized at the edges. It can be induced or formed by material defects. These shunts may lead to a deterioration of the efficiency of solar cells by increasing the leakage current and decreasing both the open circuit voltage and the fill factor of the solar cells. By process induced shunts, there exists LINEAR EDGE SHUNT and HOLE EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

SHUNT. This paper reports the observation of these two types of the shunts, during the temperature test

Picture.3. LINEAR EDGE SHUNT -Back view of the solar panel at UL India lab.

Then comes the cross sectional dimension of frame. For a 300W module the frame width has to be 35 to 50mm minimum in order to provide a proper mechanical support during the heavy wind and snow fall condition. Sometimes it may happen that due to over sagging the laminate comes out from the frame separately. Choosing right depth and width of cavity for glass in the aluminium frames is very important to provide proper grip between the laminate and glass.

hardware. The grounding hole should be a separate provision to be used only for grounding purpose and not for any other process.

Picture.8. Field Failure & Bi-Metallic Corrosion Table

Picture.4.HOLE SHUNT-Back view of the solar panel at UL India lab

Cell crack - Improper cell selection from cell line and improper handling of cells during module manufacturing process leads to formation of micro cracks in cells. These cracks are very difficult to be identified by naked eye but can be easily seen through a magnifying glass assembled with more than 1000 lux luminaire.

Picture.6. Failure during MECHANICAL LOAD test as per IEC 61215

Grounding and Bonding—Being electrically neutral, earth is considered to be at zero potential and establishes a convenient reference frame for voltage measurements. Lightning, line surges or unintentional contact with higher voltage lines can cause dangerously high voltages to the electrical distribution system wires. Grounding provides an alternative path around the electrical system and minimizes damage from suchoccurrences.

Picture. 5.Cell Cracks Observed During HOT SPOT Testing as per UL 1703.

Frame— the frame used in PV modules are extruded Al frame. After the extrusion they go for the anodization or the coating method. As a PV module manufacturer we always need to make sure that the holes or any other provisions such as grounding holes and mounting holes drainage holes should be carried out well before the anodization process. Because after anodization if the drilling or any kind of mechanical action can damage the Anodization and reduce the thickness of coating which can lead to corrosion. The coating thickness for Al frame in order to give a proper corrosion resistance should be maintained in a range of minimum 18-20 micron. The use of good quality frame sealant helps in avoiding the moisture ingress in the laminate through edges and indeed decreases the percentage power degradation of module. 28

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Tin plated Steel or Tin plated Copper Grounding hardware is best suited for Coastal environments. Junction box, Cables & Connectors— the selection of junction box, cables and connectors will depend on the maximum system voltage of modules. If the module is 1000V rated the junction box and cables should also be rated for 1000V rating also for cables it must have the 90˚C sunlight resistance in wet or dry conditions. The cables should be UV protected as they will be used outdoor and will be exposed to UV directly. The connectors should be mechanically secured (cannot be opened easily by hand) and should have the same minimum voltage rating as the module system voltage. Poor quality of adhesion and improper selection of glue can cause the detachment of Junction box from the substrate after environmental testing. The internal volume of the junction box is also very important as a very compact junction box may not allow inner air circulation and may allow the diode temperature to go beyond acceptable limit.

Picture.7. Grounding & Bonding method

Electrochemical Potential: Bi-metallic corrosion due to two dissimilar metals. To reduce this we always need to check the below table to choose the proper material

Types of Polymeric material selections — The 90% of the PV module has polymeric material. Starting from the EVA, substrate, Junction Box, cable, connector, gasket, potting material and frame or junction box sealant. While choosing these components one should know the long term and short properties of these materials. We need to consider the

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RTI, HAI, HWI, CTI and flame rating. The flame rating for junction box material should be 5VA which is different than the rating required for potting, sealant and other plastic material. The polymeric substrate should have a minimum RTI rating of 90˚C and rest all other material should have an RTI more than 20˚C than their maximum used temperatures. Superstrate— Almost 99% of non BIPV modules use glass as the superstrate for the PV modules. The thickness of glass and texture of glass play a great role in improving the mechanical strength, the efficiency of module as well as the aesthetic property. The 3.2mm thickness can safely withstand the 2400Pa load sometimes it may withstand 5400pa load but again this will be a risk as it depends on the glass manufacturing process too. So a 4.0 mm thick glass is safe to be used for 5400 Pa load in larger modules. The textured glass compared to the plain glass gives more efficiency. The angles and the contact surface on the textured glass helps in reducing the reflection of sunlight which results in more penetration of sunlight and improved efficiency. Whereas a substantial percentage of sunlight gets reflected in other non-textured glasses.

leads to the highreliability of the PV modules. So reliability is the overall consistency of a measure if it produces similar results under consistent conditions.

•

The second part is a constant failure rate, known as random failures.

•

The third part is an increasing failure rate, known as wear-out failure

It is the function of time and the failure rate and is equated as

A pie chart has been shown below which gives the percentage of test failure in various tests conducted at UL INDIA, Bangalore PV lab in last two years. From the chart one can easily identify that all the tests have some percent of failure rate as per the International standard.

The reliability of a system can be measured by series and parallel set of combinations.

5. CONCLUSION For parallel system the reliability can be calculated asRp = 1- (1-R1) x (1-R2) x ….. (1-Rn)

The bathtub curve is widely used in explaining the failure rate of PV modules. It explains the three parts of failure along with the time span. •

The anti-reflectance coating (ARC) of glass is also a key point in increasing the efficiency of modules. Modules without ARC shows total reflectance in the 6–9% interval whereas modules with ARC shows the lowest reflectance values, about 4% at λ=632.8 nm. So the superstrate with textured glass tops collect the inclined light slightly better with respect to the front covers with flat glass tops, and then are expected also to collect slightly better the diffuse light from the sky hemisphere. However if the module is likely to face severe dust collection and needs very frequent cleaning, ARC glass may be avoided.

The first part is a decreasing failure rate known as early failures.

The various defects and the failures of PV modules shown in this paper indicate that there must be some problem with respect to either handling, material or the process. Sometime all three can be a reason of failure or may be the combination oftwo together. As explained the reliability is directly related to the quality of the individual component and the system manufacturing process and of course time. Beyond that threshold limit of shelf life everything will lose its properties. But in order to get the fullest and highest level of reliable PV module one should improve the process level and as well as the component level selection method. We s h o u l d p u s h ourselves a little more to get the exact label of expectations and future expectations of 30 years module life from the crystalline PV modules as we know that: “ S y s t e m success= Success of Every Individual component”

The washing of glass should also be done in a proper method. After washing the glass there should not be any traces of water during lamination. The glass should be dried properly so that during lamination no bubbles can come out.

4. RELIABILITY AND FAILURE RATE In a manner similar to the body mass index of human being is related to good health and longevity, the proper selection of components and good manufacturing process

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New From KREMPEL: PV Backsheets For Thin Film Solar Modules KREMPEL GmbH

The rules of economics and quality also apply to thin film solar modules. The KREMPEL-GROUP makes its contribution: with two PV backsheet laminates for thin film modules with glass-foil technology, available at market-conform prices in three colours and required formats - all with barrier capability in accordance with ISO 15106-3 and developed on the basis of proven products.

he KREMPEL-GROUP made first inroads into thin film technology in 2012 with AKASOL® HBF (high barrier foil) with a fluoropolymer as outer layer. This year saw the launch of AKALIGHT HBF with a special polyester outer film in line with demanding KREMPEL standards. Both are based on AKASOL® and AKALIGHT backsheets for classic solar modules, which have already proven their quality in worldwide field use.

of advanced materials. With its electrical insulations, solar materials, composites, electronic materials and special laminates, the group enjoys an excellent reputation worldwide and is the market leader in a number of business sectors. Approx. 1000

employees work in the group’s production facilities in Germany, England, Poland, Brazil and China. Distribution companies in Austria, Great Britain, the USA, Thailand and China ensure fast service locally.

The new developments have proven their barrier capability, which is crucial for thin layer modules, in type tests in accordance with ISO 15106-3. KREMPEL supplies both at market-conform prices in the standard colours white and black, as well as red upon request. AKASOL® HBF and AKALIGHT HBF are available optionally in rolls or formats to customer specifications. Further information on the KREMPELGROUP: As a family-owned enterprise, the KREMPEL-GROUP is an independent manufacturer of high-quality semi-finished products and a leading global system supplier 30

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Layer design backsheet laminate for thin film solar modules (1) Protective layer (outer side) (3) Mod. polyester foil (inner layer)

(2) Aluminium foil (barrier)

(4) Primer layer (cell side)

(5) Adhesive

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D.V. Manjunatha

Founder And Managing Director EMMVEE

EQ : Please enlighten us on the history of your Group, Group Strengths, Vision, Strategy for India etcâ&#x20AC;Ś DVM : Emmvee was incorporated in the year 1992 by Manjunatha D V at a nascent stage in solar industry. Emmvee entered into this business keeping in mind the fact that the green power is the future for our country. Emmvee has the best state-of-art manufacturing facilities to manufacture solar photovoltaic modules and solar water heater. Emmvee is first company to introduce automatic string and tabbing in the country and quick to update and adopt the latest equipment fo r m o d e r n

32Â

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manufacturing. Emmvee offers small power pack solutions to the domestic use to produce power for captive consumption. Emmvee also offers high-quality products and solutions to large power consumers to generate green power. Emmvee visions to offer sustainable green energy through its photovoltaic modules and solutions and solar water heating system to the country at a reasonable price with good quality. Emmvee has a clear strategy to expand its market for domestic usage, roof top offgrid and on-grid solutions, EPC and IIP (Industrial Innovation and Partnerships). We intend to achieve this with our business professionalism, transparency and ethics.

EQ : Your Group has made significant footstep by winning several EPC contracts in India. What is the role of your group in India and the roadmap, challenges in executing these projects? What was the differentiating factor which led your co win this project? DVM : Emmvee is offering end to end solutions in solar photovoltaic project development to its customers. With lot of unhealthy competition around, to sustain with quality products and services is a real challenge in today’s scenario. We also being module manufacturers are also able to offer quality product with quality services with competitive edge. That makes Emmvee a differentiator with strong technical and commercial know-how. In the coming days, Emmvee will offer new and efficient business models to its customers.

EQ : How India has to evolve in terms on financing of grid connected solar projects and the lessons India must learn from Germany & Europe and other advanced & matured PV Markets. DVM : Financial institutions in India are not very aggressive in financing/funding solar projects and many of them consider solar project as one of the normal infra project. There is a need to educate and show the live cases in India and other developed PV countries how the financing is done for solar projects.

Most importantly the financing/funding institutions must consider that availability of sun/solar energy is continuous and universally it is believed that there is no life without sun. The power generation from sun energy must be convinced and has to be believed strongly. If this is achieved, then the financing becomes easy in India. In a layman’s language, the income from solar project must be considered as any other regular income from resources like rent of any commercial building or even better as there is no risk factor involved like vacancy, crisis etc.,

EQ : What are the experiences and learning’s from Europe for constructing a solar farm. How do you think India is a different market than Germany and rest of Europe. What are experiences in India? DVM : Europe is a matured market for photovoltaic industry including policy, whereas India is still fine tuning the policies/ some of them are not implemented even if it is available, complicated statuary approvals etc., We need move fast towards and operate like policies in Germany or any European markets.

EQ : Please enlighten us on the projects executed and in pipeline worldwide, and India. DVM : Currently we are executing mega watt projects (Turn-key solutions, EPC, and Project development). We are also going strong in grid-connected roof-top projects and off-grid roof projects.

EQ : Please enlighten us on the experience of working with different technologies (c-si vs. Thin Film, Fixed vs. Tracking, String vs.Central Inverter ec.. etc…) Whats the ideal solution for India and why? DVM : Emmvee works with only C-si and this is best what Emmvee believes. Both string and central inverters are good depending upon the type and size of the system that has to be designed. For Indian market, fixed and C-si systems are the best in the interest for long term.

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EQ : Whats your view on the Indian Policy Framework and one piece of advise you would like to give to the government and regulators DVM : Ensure the speedy implementation of policies across ,strict enforcement of RPO obligation and speedy approvals.

EQ : How has falling modules prices affected the EPC Business in positive and negative manner. As Industry is expecting further drop in module prices…what impact is it likely to have on the solar industry and your business. DVM : The fall in prices are reached maximum now it will stay the same level, compare to earlier year. In the coming years, the chances of impact towards the prices are very less.

EQ : Can you please enlighten us on the way you implement a project and what specific or unique things are followed which makes you different from other EPC Players. What are the unique parameters which differentiates projects executed by your company? DVM : An intensive pre-project study of the requirement of the customer/statutory/ process of getting approvals is essential to implement any project, based on which a customized designing, engineering is planned. We believe execution is comparatively faster when the ground work is clear. A strong in-house team with many years of experience in providing quality rich product and service makes a clear differentiator.

EQ : Kindly describe your Top 5 experiences with Solar PV Industry in India DVM : Entry into PV manufacturing at its very nascent stage As a quality supplier of PV modules To perform well under tough market conditions Foray into EPC and Project development – MW scale in India& Germany Adapting to the changes fast and fine tune the business accordingly.

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EddyCus TF Series – Non-Contact Sheet Resistance Measurement Solutions Marcus Klein - SURAGUS GmbH

SURAGUS offers systems for nondestructive and non-contact quality assurance and process monitoring of low and high conductive thin-films such as transparent conductive oxides, carbon nanotubes, LowE metallization, metal nanowires and graphene films. Applications involve the assessment of sheet resistance, film thickness and other conductivity related parameters. EddyCus® TF inline solutions support high throughput quality assurance of inline glass coating and roll to roll foil coating processes. EddyCus® laboratory systems provide insights to material and process developers that focus on the development of cost effective deposition processes and materials for high uniformity

provides information about capacitive and

for high-resolution conductivity mapping

films. High local resolution mapping systems

resistive properties of the sample. Emerging

(map).

are beneficial to assess film homogeneity

application go beyond the characterization

and to identify local effects and defects

of cracks. Testing tasks are high sensitive

such as cracks, impurities, anisotropy and

sensors are:

oxidation. The applied eddy current testing method is a non-destructive evaluation method, which uses local changes of conductivity for characterization of material properties. It is also widely used for crack detection. The basic principle of eddy current testing technology is the following: acircular coil carrying current is placed in proximity to the testing sample. At first, the alternating current in the coil

n Cont actless sheet resist ance measurement of functional thin-films (e.g. TCOs, CNTs, metallization, SilverNanowires)

with nanometer resolution and sheet

n Layer thickness measurement of thinfilms and coatings

conductive layers and encapsulated layers.

n Mapping of conductive layer systems for defects (cracks, voids, delaminations, etc.)

of following materials:

generates primary magnetic field. Given the fact that there is a conductive sample in this

SURAGUS has dedicated an entire

according to Faraday’s law of induction. Then the eddy currents generate a second magnetic field. This secondary field works oppose towards the primary field and causes impedance change in the primary field. The properties of sample influence the resulting field that can be characterized in various ways by eddy current sensors. The sensor 34

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sheet resistance and thickness measuring device, which determines layer thicknesses

n Determination of surface conductivity of super-alloys

changing field, eddy currents are induced

The EddyCus® TF lab is a non-contact

resistance in real time. A non-contact testing is particularly required for characterizing high sensitive thin-film, for testing concealed The system is suitable for characterization

n Metallic layers (Cu, Al, Ag, etc.) n TCO (ZnO, ITO, SiO2) n Carbon nanotubes (CNT)

equipment series for solving testing in thinfilms. The EddyCus® TF series is a clean, contactless, extremely quick and accurate testing equipment series, especially developed for quality assurance of low and high conductive thin-films on glass, wafer, plastics or foils. The TF Seriesincludes standard and customized solutions for laboratory (lab) and in-line applications (inline) as well as

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TheEddyCus® TF map is a system forerror detection and fast mapping of sheet resistance and homogeneity of different materials.It allows a fast, user-friendly impedance spectroscopy at high spatial resolution. Mapping the resistive and dielectric properties and is used to expose a variety of information about properties, structural effects and defects (cracks, holes, particles) in different material layers. The device uses 4 different frequencies per measurement and there are various sensors with different sensitivities and spatial resolutions for specific materials available. If required, the system comes with adapted parameter n Silver nanowires

automated production lines and can contain

sets for defining the scan area for each test

n Graphene

up to 99 sensors. It is a perfect solution for

material and parameters for the eddy current

monitoring the entire production width. The

sensors. The system is easy to handle and

system operates contact-free and in real time.

supported by user-friendly software for fast

Avacuum solution is optionally available.

real-time evaluation. The user places the

Testing tasks for inline applications involve

sample, loads the measurement recipe, starts

thickness and sheet resistance measurement,

the measurement and receives the high-

however the combination with further

resolved eddy current image.

n Doped layers and materials (wafer) The application is designed for real-time thickness and sheet resistance measurement of low and high conductive thin-films, metal foils and sheets with sample sizes up to 300 x 300 mm ². A measurement of gap 1/5/15/25/40 and 60 mm is available. The available standard sheet resistance ranges are 0.01 to 1,000 Ohm/sq. The system is connected to a measurement PC via Ethernet. Sheet resistance, wall thickness, thin-film and substrate thickness results are shown

measurements is also available upon request. The used hardware platform provides a high degree of variability, which enables the setup to be fully customized to the application. The following technical parameters are applicable forEddyCus® TF inline device:

in real-time, with the possibility to collect,

Contact-free and real-time

save and export data. A user-friendly and

Single-lane or multi-lane

Min. sensor pitch of to 38 mm

easy to handle software provides pre-saved calibration for standard measurements as well as supports quick re-calibration for specific application to extend the field of use. The EddyCus® TF inlinecomprises standardized and customized hardware for integrated quality assurance of thin-films in

n Support high speed monitoring of high throughput productions (1 to 5,000 samples / sec)

Being experts in the field of testing equipment SURAGUS provides professional customer-oriented measuring equipment and excellent services to meet the specific requirement of every customer. “We think from our customer perspective and dedicate our work to support them with efficient cutting-edge testing solutions for quality assurance of the electrical integrity of thin-film for the future. Therefore we are constantly improving our technology to achieve the perfection required”.Dipl.Wi.Ing. Marcus Klein, CEO

n Standard gap sizes in transmission mode from 5 to 60 mm n Vacuum option available

Performance & Setup

EddyCus® TF inline

Sensor to sensor distance (gap)

1/ 5/ 10/ 25/ 50 mm (other on request)

Number of sensor pairs

1 - 99

Substrates

Glass/ PET-foils/Wafer

Conductive layers

Metals/ TCOs/ CNTs/ Nanowires/ Graphene

Sheet resistance range

0.001 – 1,000 Ω/sq

Environment

Ex-vacuo / In-vacuo < 60°C / 140°F (on request < 90°C / 194°F)

Sample rate

1 – 3,000 samples per second (higher on request)

Sheet resistance range

0.001 – 10 Ohm/sq< 2,5 % accuracy 10 – 100 Ohm/sq< 3 % accuracy 100 – 1,000 Ohm/sq< 5 % accuracy

Thickness

nm to mm in accordance with sheet resistance

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Led’s Simulate The Sun. The Sinus-220 Solar Simulator From Wavelabs Dr. Torsten Brammer - CEO, WAVELABS Solar Metrology Systems GmbH

ith the SINUS-220, WAVELABS Solar Metrology Systems GmbH presents one of the best solar simulators available. The device’s LED technology enables nearly flawless solar cell efficiency measurement. The SINUS-220 solar simulator will improve the performance and competitiveness of solar cells and solar module manufacturers. Xenon lamps have until now been the standard light source for measuring the efficiency of solar cells. But they are also well-known in the solar industry for providing only limited precision. They frequently deviate from standards by as much as 25 %. In addition, the output spectrum also varies over time by as much as 5 % due to effects caused by aging and a lack of monitoring options. LEDs, in contrast, provide the ability to combine a number of different colors in order to represent the full spectrum of the sun as accurately as possible. WAVELABS’ SINUS-220 uses 18 different color LEDs, each with a unique spectral output. The result is a practically flawless simulation of sunlight. The SINUS-220 exhibits a maximum deviation of only 2 %.

conventional xenon solar simulators, the SINUS-220 makes it possible to set exposure to the desired time. Anything from just a few milliseconds up to continuous illumination can be set. This is especially important for the measurement of high-efficiency solar cells. Even at lower light intensities, the spectrum remains constant. That makes the SINUS220 exceptionally well-suited for performing special measurements. “Using an electronic load together with 14-bit technology and calibrated, high-end components is simply a matter of course for us,” explained Jörn Suthues, head of product development and a managing partner at WAVELABS. “Any voltage can be specified for as many measurement points as desired — you can even determine the number of current measurements at each measurement point. These and many more features ensure that the I-V curve is measured accurately and with high repeatability.”

Improved process analysis For improved process analysis, the SINUS-220 can optionally provide full integration with infrared and electroluminescence cameras optimized for rapid quality analysis on solar cell production lines. The SINUS-220 also makes it possible to access and analyze the raw measurement data and use it to return classification criteria to the SINUS-220 if required. This allows users to fully leverage key measurement data from their production lines. The clearly organized interface makes it easy to set measurement parameters on the device’s touchscreen. The SINUS-60904 easily exceeds the criteria for the highest specified class of solar simulator, Class A.

The SINUS-220 increases competitiveness

State-of-the-art lens systems WAVELABS uses state-of-the-art lens systems that allow monitoring even while a measurement is in progress. The integrated spectrometer and photodiode sample the light in one millisecond intervals. A highperformance control algorithm provides continual self correction. As a result, the spectrum is not only accurate, but also stable over time. The SINUS-220 can illuminate every spot on a solar cell with the exact same spectrum. This uniformity sets it apart from other LED-based solar simulators. Unlike

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precision, the SINUS-220 is an exceptionally capable device for incoming goods inspections at solar module manufacturers. Incorrect shipments can thus be clearly identified. By classifying incoming solar cells accurately, the SINUS-220 also makes it possible to increase the percentage of solar modules rolling off the line with high performance characteristics.

Dr. Torsten Brammer, also a managing partner at WAVELABS and the head the company’s production operations and sales activities, is confident that the SINUS-220 will considerably enhance the performance and competitiveness of solar cell and module manufacturers: “Our solar simulator was designed from the ground up to integrate perfectly into any conceivable production

line — even for upgrades of existing lines. The SINUS-220’s nearly perfect and fully repeatable simulation of the sun’s spectrum minimizes the danger of classifying solar cells with an incorrect efficiency rating.” Unlike Xenon lamps, the LED-based light source of the SINUS-220 can provide 24 months of reliable operation with minimal maintenance. Thanks to its measurement

“The SINUS-220 aids considerably in lowering operating costs and optimizing product pricing for solar cells. The device helps solar manufacturers expand their margins and increase their competitiveness,” Dr. Brammer is certain. He estimates the amount of additional earnings in euros that can be realized by replacing conventional solar simulators is a six-figure sum. “The bottomline benefits of the SINUS-220 pay off in more ways than one in an industry characterized by intense competition.“

The best Solar solutions - Needs the best mounting Solution The best in Solar Energy Solutions - NEPC , presents cost effective and long lasting aluminium mounting solutions for flat roof tops with the ability to accommodate the needs of any type of solar array installation.

Distinctive features of Aluminium MMS by NEPC - Full aluminium frame for flatroof module structures - No rust, No corrosion. - Very Competitive price and matches the prices compared to regular MS Structure. - Direct mounting of panels on site without any fabrications, it comes pre-assembled. - Only 10 kilos per kW | Quick Installation time of 30 mins per kW. - Quick Guaranteed wind speed load for 150 Km/hr. | Saves transport, civil works, time.

FOR MORE DETAILS No 36, Wallajah Road, Chennai-600 002, Ph: +91- 98417 25555, Web: www.nepcindia.co.in | E-mail: solar@nepcindia.co.in facebook.com/nepcindialtd

twitter.com/nepcindialtd

We also undertake ground and other specified structure required, call now for all types of module mounting structures. To ﬁnd out how the system can be installed : http://nepcindia.com/videos.php

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TS240C (Semi Automatic Tabber And Stringer) Enhance Your Manual PV Module Manufacturing Markus Amendt MBA, Dipl. Ing. (FH) - AW Solution GmbH

W Solution GmbH (AWS) the Photovoltaic Key Technology Equipment provider brings to you a new era in solar module manufacturing.

The TS240C table top, Semi Automated Tabber and Stringer. No longer is it needed to spend hundreds of thousands on an automatic stringer, get the high grade efficiency and excellent esthetics for your PV Modules with the TS240C. Be it a full cell, half cell (1/2), one third (1/3) cell or a BIPV module the TS240C is fully capable in handling anything you can throw at it.

For the last few years in India we have been working with Local Ribbon and Cell manufacturers to make the machine capable of handling raw material Made in India. Including the involvement of the local ribbon supplier into the development cycle of the Semi Automated Tabber Stringer System we are happy to offer the best price performance Semi Automated Tabber Stringer in the marketâ&#x20AC;? says Markus Amendt, Managing Director of AW Solution GmbH.

Problem: To serve the competitive Indian marketplace the companies run mostly Semi Automated production lines for producing standard modules and parallel manual lines for off grid modules. The produced PV 38Â

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Module varies from power ratings from 3 Wp to 300 Wp Panels. For the production of the smaller modules cutted cells must be used to achieve the required open circuit voltage. For example for a 30 Wp Panel, a strings pattern with nine cutted-one third cells will be used, compare to a 10 string pattern with full six inch cells for a standard 230 Wp Panel.Due to the required process flexibility to solder one third, half cells and full cells including the minimal initial investment costs of a manual soldering system a lot of PV manufacturers are having a manual process with hand iron system. With manual soldering process the PV Module Manufacturer must cope with the unknown process reliability. Especially a not controlled soldering process can apply stress to the material which can cause microcracks to form which can cause a module field failure. In addition not just the manual solder process itself is critical also the accurate alignment and distance between cell to cell. Not equal cell distance and twisted cells are not necessary causing a failure of the module but may have an impact on the brand name as the product is not meeting the high quality standards in the market. Automated Tabber Stringer are designed to run 24h/7 and not made of disruptive production cycles as the market may requires. Also the Automated Tabber Stringer are not designed to change often the configuration and specially are not designed to cope with non-standard size cells. In addition the high investment costs are a burden for lot of companies at this dull market situation.

Semi AutomatedTabber Stringer TS240C

The Semi AutomatedTabber Stringer TS240C combines the advantages of an automatic Tabber/ Stringer with the flexibility and investment cost advantage of a manual soldering process. The System can solder up to 240 Cells/ Hour with just one single operator with a constant high quality of the solder joints and string pattern. With high uptime and minimal breakage rate the TS240C is designed to work reliable 24h/7.The semi automatic

tabber and stringer unit is configured to operate where precision is required, and where expensive fully automation is not feasible

Soldering Process: Soldering is accomplished using balanced conduction heating on both sides of the cell, simultaneously. The required heat is introduced into the busbar via a series of soldering pins from the top and a conductive plate below. The soldering area (Upper and Lower) can be precisely targeted by a programmable logic controller to produce an optimal result from preset temperatures and cycle times. The clamping device, a frame like fixture that keeps the ribbons aligned to the cell bus bar by means of spring loaded fingers during soldering. Contact pressure is limited via spring loaded clamps which to prevent

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breakage. The clamps have two functions at the soldering process, they are centering the ribbon with the bus bar at the top of the cell and the clamps are the soldering tips which making the thermal contact for the soldering process. Due to the design of the clamping device it’s possible that cells thin down to 180 µm and even cells which are not perfectly flat can be soldered.

Panels. The motorized string conveyor and infrared sensors is ensuring a constant and repeatable string pattern with max. 12 Cells configuration. In the basic package a vacuum operated string handling unit is included for safe and stress free handling of the produced strings to the layup station.

Process Temperature Control

of paste/flux from each of several syringes simultaneously. After loading of the cell into the flux dispensing station the operator must just push down the lever until signal indicates the end of the successful flux cycle. As this process is independent of the main Tabber Stringer station, batch cell fluxing is possible. All known Flux materials can be used with this system and a changeover to another material is also easy to do. The nozzles are arranged in a special fixture that it can be easy adjusted for different cell sizes and 2/ 3 Bus Bar configuration with minimum change over time. The flux volume can be easily adjusted via a central precise pressure controller.

Before the soldering process the cell is preheated to prevent thermal stress which otherwise can cause micro cracks.

Ribbon- Unwinding/ Stretching: The machine is capable to work with various ribbon’s like the 2.0 mm x 0.13mm (coating thickness 15-26 micron) series. Motors are used to unwind the ribbon spools and a stretching device is a standard feature of each TS240C with stretching length adjustable (0 to 10%). Also the adjustment from 2 Bus Bar to 3 Bus Bar configurations is easy to do.

Advanced Cell Spacing The new version have a automatic string advance cell spacing with Optical Sensor and cell distance adjustment option from 2,5 mm to larger gaps for BIPV

Precision electronic controls are used to ensure accurate heating temperatures during the soldering process. The proportionalintegral-derivative controller (PID controller) is ensuring a constant and even distributed Temperature control of the entire solder cycle. A PET100 Sensor is measuring the cell temperature and is controlling the temperature tolerance of 5K. A process window to reduce cell damage and consistently produce good inter metallic bonds between the ribbon and the solar cells must be identified and maintained. A controlled time and temperature are needed at the solder joint to form an inter metallic layer of 1-2μm. Precise control of time and temperature reduce the possibility of forming micro cracks in the substrate

Fluxing System: The flux dispenser, which is a separate small table top station, dispenses dots of solder paste or flux on the solar cell. It uses compressed air to displace a small volume

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Platform The Tabber& Stringer TS240C is a table top platform which means it can be just installed at the top of a existing work bench with the total length of 4 m with the electrical output feeding conveyor the system can be easily implemented in an existing production floor set up. A 230V power supply and 5 bar air pressure are sufficient to run system.

Applications The TS240C is designed to solder cells up to 240 per hour with the highest quality from the first to the last cell. The different Bus Bar Kits (2 Bus Bar + 3 Bus Bar) and Cell Kits (1/2 Cell, 1/3 Cell) which are easy and fast to change give the system the required flexibility for the production of Standard and Non Standard PV Panels. All Key Processes like soldering Ribbon Unwinding-/ Streching, soldering, cell spacing is done automatically. All this features with the a fraction of the cost of a fully automated system.

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NEPC India Limited EQ : Please enlighten us on the history of your Group, Group Strengths, Vision, Strategy for India etc… History of NEPC: In the 1984’s when the idea of non conventional energy was unheard of in India, NEPC started a silent revolution and pioneering effort in promoting the concept of harnessing wind power and commercializing it. NEPC became the first company in India to manufacture 250kw wind turbines. This not only created a huge opportunity for the untapped private sector market, but also provided a vital infrastructure of power & contributed to the nation’s economy. NEPC has already made a huge contribution by supplying 4000 wind turbines across India. It was the first company to receive ISO 9001 certification for manufacturing wind turbines in India. After the success of wind generated power, NEPC set its sight on harnessing the awesome power of the sun. NEPC INDIA LTD, a pioneer in Wind Energy has diversified into Roof Top Solar Market in India. The company has tied up with leading players of Photo voltaic components and is able to offer standard format of grid and nongrid systems ranging from 1 KW to Multi MW. This strategy made them absolutely independent in terms of power supply and consumption. NEPC’s SOLAR DIVISION offers all types of systems for Flat Roof, Ground Mount and other special applications as per customer requirements. The company also does suitable engineering and provide customers with most economic solutions. In a very short span of 10 months, NEPC Solar has successfully executed more than 1 MW Roof Top Solar Projects. NEPC SOLAR has developed its own Module Mounting Structure which is very much cost effective and quick to install. The product is designed after extensive research and development and capable of withstanding 40

EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

extreme conditions. Today we are proud to safely say that we are the Market Leaders in Aluminum Mounting Solution and have been competing directly with Traditionally used GI structures. Our Products have been well accepted by the Solar Industry and all major EPC players.

to meet all client expectations, and we have been constantly evolving to make ourselves a world class company.

Group Vision:

efficiency standards, right from designing to the final services of our products.

To continuously motivate ourselves and provide world class quality , an uncompromising commitment which provides disciplined business perspective and to continuously derive value for our share holders, customers, vendors & employees.

Group Strength: l Working Together: We bring conviction and commitment to in all aspects of our work which helps us work better as a team. Collaborating in arriving at solutions for every problem and challenge, making us responsible not only to our clients, but also to every team member in our organization l Looking Ahead:We innovate in every sphere of our work, our quest is a continuous process of creating new and innovative ways

l Quality par Excellence: Quality is the by word in everything we do. We set our benchmark to the highest quality and

l Camaraderie:We value and respect each member’s contribution in all our work. We believe in dealing honestly and transparently, to build trust in our relationships. Each and every member, client and associate is important to us to learn from and share.

EQ : Your Group has made significant footstep by winning several contracts in India. What is the role of your group in India and the roadmap, challenges in executing these project. What was the differentiating factor which led your co win this project.

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Various challenges in respect of financials, timely executions, cost and time overrun, statutory clearances were faced by the Company in the successful and timely execution of these contracts. The Company was successful in mitigating all these challenges and emerge Winner. It is a very well known fact that to win contracts in solar industry, one needs to provide the quality -value of Gold in the price of steel, hence at NEPC, we strive to achieve this. The major contributor for us is to provide customers value for money, without compensating in Quality.

EQ : Every Project is unique when it comes to mounting structures in terms of kind of land, different modules, different climatic conditions etc…Could you share your experiences of working in such diverse environment

making it possible to mount 100 KW per day with 8 workmen. The main aim of NEPC is to remove the pre conceived notion that aluminium is less economical than conventional GI structures. We believe that we are achieving this as we have completed a respectable 2 MW structures in aluminium for flat roof top in the past 10 months.

cost is lower than thin film. Output wise also, c-si offers more power output in comparison to thin film for a similar size module. With the overall PV market growing, thin film technology will be applied in more areas, however it becoming a dominant technology in the future is questionable.

EQ : Please enlighten us on the projects executed and in pipeline worldwide, and India.

EQ : What goes behind the Materials technology, Installation Techniques for Mounting Structures across various projects

NEPC India Limited has successfully executed about 2000 KW Aluminium Mounting Structure Projects in a very

NEPC’s Mounting Structures uses exclusive high quality material such as aluminium. NEPC mounting systems stand

Technical Specification Description

2 Module Structure

Configuration

Aerodynamic design, Two Module Structure

Installation type

Flat Roof/Pitched Roof

Mounting structures are the only loose end of the solar project as the solar modules, inverters, cables, junction boxes are not custom-made as per site , and only the technology and quality needs to be chosen, whereas in Mounting structures the entire environment decides the uniqueness of the structure to be designed and also the type of solar module which is to be used for the particular project.

Design Lifetime

20 years

Size

2000 x 1800 MM

Material

Aluminium Alloy-6063 T6

Tilt Angle

0̊-60̊ (Flat Roof) & Customized (Pitched Roof)

Tracker Type

Fixed

Design Wind Load

185 Km/hr

Panel Type

Any type of PV Modules

Module Orientation

Landscape or Portrait

Since there is a current boom in Rooftop solar market with many encouraging solar policies in states like Kerala with the ANERT project and in Andhra Pradesh & Tamilnadu, with net metering for rooftop solar,we, at NEPC have developed the Revolutionary Aluminium Rooftop structures.

Structure

Aluminium

Distance from Ground to Panel

100 MM

NEPC has launched our unique Aluminum Module Mounting Structures in January 2013. Till date, NEPC has supplied 2MW of these Aluminum flat roof structures. The product has been revolutionary in the Indian Solar market as it has enabled Solar companies to have an alternative, as compared to the traditional steel structures, which are much heavier and bulky. The fabrication work required in the traditional steel structures are much higher, whereas NEPC’s Aluminium Mounting Structures have been designed in such a way that they can accommodate any poly/mono crystalline modules and all major C-Si and thin film modules. Being very light weight (approx.10 kgs per KW), NEPC’s structures are easy and more economical for transport. The best part is that it comes pre-assembled as per customer requirements

Distance between Panel Airgap 25 MM Total Weight for 1 KW

10-12 kgs

Maintenance

Free, Panel Cleaning as required

short span of time and about 1 MW Solar Power Projects. Solar Power Projects of 10 MW scale are in pipeline in India. These Projects are in advanced stage and NEPC is aiming for financial closure by October,2013 and implementation of these Projects are scheduled by March,2014.

EQ : What is your opinion on working with c-Si, Thin Film modules? The market share of c-si , which accounts for nearly 92% of the global PV market, has been steadily increasing and their performance is also better.The cost performance, efficiency, stability and reliability of c-si are better than thin-film and even the installation and maintenance

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for maximum durability and consistent safety – with fast and cost-effective installation. The installation of the Mounting Structure is very easy and quick.It takes only less than 15 mins/ KW for installation. Thus, the Structure being light weight is quick and easy to install.The detailed Installation Technique for our Mounting Structure is available in our website- www.nepcindia. com The Technical specification of NEPC’s Aluminium Module Mounting Structure are given below:

EQ : Please tell us about the team strengths and resources developed in order to offer your

EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

EPC Services. The NEPC team of solar energy experts brings local expertise backed by global strength to every solar power plant project. With an experience acquired for constructing solar photovoltaic plants, NEPC’s active engineering & commercial team specialized in Solar PV is responsible for NEPC’s growth as EPC Contractor supplying the Turnkey service to install photovoltaic systems on industrial, commercial, agricultural, and Public rooftops, and on the ground. NEPC has a very strong and loyal customer base in India & abroad. We have ventured with REN Electron, Italy for solar know how and expertise for providing stateof-the-art solutions to Indian Solar Market. Ren Electron has vast experience in erection and maintenance of Solar systems in and around Italy. The Joint aim is to facilitate reaching the target set by the Government of Tamil Nadu to generate 3000 MW of electricity from Solar Energy in the next three years.

EQ : Kindly describe your Top 5 experiences with Solar PV Industry in India. l NEPC INDIA LIMITED has been awarded as the Best Company for Excellence in Solar Energy at the Energize Awards 2012-13, held at Mumbai. NEPC INDIA LIMITED received the Award for Innovation in developing new Solar Technology and providing growth in the use of Solar energy. This Award is a testimony to the crucial role played by NEPC INDIA LIMITED in the promotion and

development of Solar energy in India. l 430 KWp Mounting Structure Design, Erection & Supply to Tihar Jail in Delhi. l 100 KWp Grid tied Roof top Solar Module mounting structure in Goa. l Installation of 25 kwp Grid tied Solar power system for a Leading Chemical Company in Vizag. l Installation of 20 kwp off-grid Solar power system in a leading College in Tirunelveli. l Installation of 11kwp off-grid solar power system in a leading School in Chennai. l Installation of 10kwp off-grid solar power system in a Laboratory in Mogappair.

EQ : What are the future plans in India and other Countries ? After assessing the solar potential in various states in India, the Company has plans to establish MW scale Solar Power Plants in Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan, and Chattisgarh. NEPC’s aims to be the Market Leader in Aluminum Module Mounting Structures in the Indian Solar sector.

EQ : How has the depreciating rupee affected the costs of structures and how is the competition scenario in India from Global Players and in International Markets what scope do you see for an Indian

company like yours. The depreciating rupee has affected the cost of the Structures. The price of aluminum has gone up and this has lead to an increase in the cost of structure as aluminium is the major raw material.But NEPC has not lost its competitiveness in the Indian Solar market due to this situation as the price of zinc has also increased leading to an increase in the price of GI structures. Energy needs in India continue to grow as the population expands and GDP rises. India’s target is to generate 20 GW of solar power by 2022. Global suppliers have a crucial role to play as this new demand dictates the need to minimize costs and maximize returns on investments in solar. As India grows, collaboration with leading suppliers will be the key. India is set to drive its solar sector into the mainstream with the next phase of the JNNSM and with other state solar policies. JNNSM II will scale up the opportunities and establishes an ambitious, yet realistic 10-fold increase in the planned target. Future prospects of our Company-NEPC India Limited is really bright.

EQ : Please describe in detail the project engineering, project management, planning etc… adopted to deliver the best solution NEPC provides all the necessary infrastructure, support and innovative turnkey products for Solar power Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) services, and our experts specialize in delivering tailor made products for all solar projects. We have a high reputation in the market for efficient and cost-effective solar products. NEPC has a highly experienced and dedicated EPC team for end-to-end project execution. Our engineering team and industry partners bring specialized, unique and inexpensive solutions for challenging projects. With our Focus on “OPTIMIZED SOLUTION” we provide innovations in our Engineering and Designs backed by strong and vast experience of Power Projects. NEPC’s in-house team of Design Engineers bring in the capability to Maximize Yields and Minimize Losses. This capability has been achieved with an exposure in handling several successful projects.

EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

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EQ : Which states are most interesting for you and why At the moment, our resources in India allow us to focus on the states of Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan. The encouraging state solar policies have inspired us to develop Solar Projects in these states.

EQ : Could you enlighten the Developers, EPC Companies, Investors & Banks the importance and nitty-gritties of mounting solutions. NEPCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Aluminum Module Mounting Structure has the following unique features : l Easy to transport because of full collapsed design l Light in weight (only 10 kgs per kw, 35 kgs for 5 kw and 70 kgs for 10 kw)

l Quick installation l Suitable for any module both for t h i n - fi l m a n d crystalline of any make. l Universal design This structure is highly useful for Flat Roof which is most common in India. This mounting structure can be installed in less than 30 minutes per KW and weighs around 10 kgs per KW which makes it easy for transportation and easy for site installation.

l Only two screws fixed on the floor

EQ : Kindly enlighten us on the ongoing R&D within the company and the way forward for its technology, products and services.Whats your annual R&D budget

l Designed to withstand upto 185 km wind speed

Being a premier Solar Company, a considerable portion of our revenue (around

l Full aluminum structure l Rust free l Easy to install

3 % ) is spent for Research & Development purpose. NEPC India Limited aims to develop Mounting Structures for Roof Top and Ground Mount Projects in the tune of Rs.2-2.50 per Watt. The Company aims to reduce the cost of structures by 50 % and increase greater standardization of our product. The main aim is to further reduce any minor fabrication and to achieve a neutral structure suitable for all types of modules and diverse environment as soon as possible, thereby reducing lead time for manufacturing of the structure.

REN EWA BL E ENERGY

Renewable Energy

“Leading the way to an Energy Efficient, Smart & Green India” Narang N. Kishor - Mentor& Principal Design Architect, Narnix Technolabs Today Renewable Energy is Driving Innovation in Energy Efficiency and Green Technologies thus paving the path to a carbon neutral society…

s Renewable Energy merely a means to fill up the gap left by conventional energy generationcapacity or resources? Or a clean energyto reduce the carbon emissions… yes of course..But there are some major fringe benefits of following the RE path for fulfilling our rising energy demands.. The initiatives in the RE utilization have driven a whole new wave of Innovation in different fields of technologies. In fact, it has contributed to the evolution of a new Renewable Fuel: “The Fifth Fuel”in a big way.

DID YOU KNOW? l

There is a renewable-energy resource that is perfectly clean, remarkably cheap, surprisingly abundant and immediately available.

It has potential to reduce the carbon emissions that threaten our planet, our dependency on oil imports that threaten our economy, and energy costs that threaten our wallets.

It does not pollute, does not depend on weather, does not inflate prices and does not take a decade to build.

This miracle resource is better known across the world by the distinctively boring name of “Energy Efficiency”. It turns out that it is much less expensive, less destructive and 44

EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

less time-intensive to reduce demandthrough efficiency than toincrease supplythrough new drilling or new power plants. Energy Efficiency is appropriately considered today as the 5th Fuel to serve our increasing energy requirement. Energy efficiency has today become the largest energy source. It is bigger than OIL, and much bigger than WIND, SOLAR, HYDROELECTRIC POWER & BIO-FUELS combined. The utilization of this “5th Fuel”is clean, possible and profitable, generating millions n billions of “NEGAWATTS”tirelessly &endlessly. You would ask, why am I giving credit to the RE for driving Energy Efficiency movement & Innovations in a big way? Well, for one, initially the cost of RE generation was pretty high which led to finding ways to optimize and reduce the consumption without compromising the comforts, needs and even “wants” of the consumers. “Necessity is the mother of Invention” … A case in point is “Solar Energy” - The PV Solar is still in the stage where the Generation Cost per Unit (KWh) is still much higher than the comfort level of the Eco-system, particularly at KW scale, where it can really help in evolution of truly Hybrid & Distributed Micro Grids. If you had Rs.1000 Crores to invest, would you invest it on the supply or the demand side? Keeping in mind that a penny

saved is penny earned, but in power context, it is well know fact that a unit (of electricity i.e. KWh) saved is equivalent to 2.5 to 3 units generated. Energy use is a big challenge for ours, and the next Generations!“The same way of thinking that got us into trouble won’t get us out of it.”

Key Economic & Social Driver l

At the heart of the worldwide rollout of Smart Meters and the construction of a Smart Grid Network Infrastructure, lies the goal of Energy Efficiency from the Generation, Transmission and Distribution to the End Customer.

The Key Economic & Social Driver for “SMART GRID” Initiatives Globally is nothing but “Energy Efficiency”.

Governments worldwide are mandating improved Energy Efficiency, requiring an investment in the new Smart grid and Smart Energy Management Structure.

The goal is to create a smart grid that will change the way power is deployed for sustainable energy around the world.

It will transform the way we use Energy

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Towards a DC Century:

and through smart control and advice.

Did you know?Over 1 trillion KWh of energy are wasted annually through inefficient inverters and AC/DC adaptors. This is set to rise as the number of low power DC devices increase exponentially, e.g. the number of connected devices is expected to rise from 6bn to 50bn by 2020, as we use more computers, mobile devices and gadgets. Furthermore, lighting is going through a revolution, with new availability of efficient DC LED solutions.

Systems can also be designed to ensure - â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;No home is left behindâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, in adopting low cost renewable energy solutions, whether they are houses or flats in urban spaces. We can also develop solutions for hotels, student accommodation and small offices.Need to develop a range of Home Energy solutions that provide smart energy monitoring, easy to install micro-generation and storage, and provide efficient power via smart DC Hubs, DC micro-nets which can re-use household wiring to power home lighting or provide smart DC sockets for appliances.

To power this through AC/DC adaptors is both wasteful and annoying, particularly as adaptors are bulky, mains sockets are in the wrong place or in short supply, and it prevents plugging them in directly to local renewable energy supplies, such as PV, Batteries, CHP and Fuel cells, which are all sources of DC. The current model is unsustainable, and that is why many groups have been working for several years to rethink the axiom of power and electricity consumption to develop Smart DC technology that works at variable voltages over a Smart DC Network, providing efficient power to household lighting, Smart Hubs, Smart DC sockets for computers, and smart power integration. I believe this could help reduce electricity bills by up to a third, and significantly reduce grid peak demand through powering devices efficiently from off-grid or off-peak resources,

Alpha 0O SPPG

Vision is to change the way we produce and consume electricity in homes. Specifically through focusing on the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Long-tailâ&#x20AC;? of energy consumption - using advanced monitoring and control to reduce high load appliance use, and through using smart DC micro-nets to reduce the inefficiencies of trillions of DC/low power lighting and electronic devices being powered from the grid via AC/DC adaptors. In last few decades, there has been a Dramatic Increase in DC Power Use. The use of DC power is often hidden, up to 80% of Electric Load Comes from DCElectronically Powered Devices. Just consider the following: l

Most equipment requires AC power conversion to DC

Distributed generation natively produces

Kappa *O SPPG

DC power. l

Electricity is stored and/or delivered as DC

DC Distribution improves energy efficiency & reliability

DC reduces charging times for hybrid/ electric vehicles

Solid-state IC technology has changed the game. DC Power Distribution Drivers are widely in use today. 5-20% Energy is wasted in unnecessary AC-DC power conversions. l

Improved power electronics allows simple DC -DC conversions to replace more complex AC-DC and DC-AC inversions

The evolution of DC power architectures and power electronic devices simplifies DC power delivery systems.

DC power distribution simplifies the use of micro-grids for distributed energy generation & storage integration, operation, & improved performance.

Smarter buildings for Smart Grid Integration: DC Micro-grids Can Help In Buildings. Micro-grids are for buildings not just â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Smartâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; grids. New DC Power Standards Are also helping in proliferation of DC as Industry standards are key. There are new standards for generating and distributing DC power in buildings.

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Mounting systems for solar installations .PVOUJOH 4ZTUFNT t 5FM t JOGP!NPVOUJOH TZTUFNT DPN t www.mounting-systems.com

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Hybrid AC/DC Buildings Are the 1st Step: We can begin to leverage Hybrid Power for Building Interiors Now!Low Voltage DC Is Key: LVDC technology can help make it happen as it offers:

Flexibility l

Plug & play use of devices, upgradeable

Faster, easier, cheaper for moves, adds & changes

Energy Savings l

Less conversions in DC sources & loads

LED lighting: 5-15% more efficient, driven by DC

Sustainability/Reliability l

Re-use/Re-configurability of buildings &equipment

Improved Reliability of clean energy & DC devices

Smarter buildings for Smart Grid Integration Energy Efficient Designs: Ohm’s Law

makes a difference. Energy Conversions impacts Energy Efficiency of any Product, Appliance or System. With DC, Efficiency

Are Data Centers Next? Yes;as all the Data Centers today are focused on energy efficiency. Consider the following:Data Centers are Huge energy user in buildings; Not just Google or Facebook, 99% are “small” (server rooms, closets, etc…2.5 million total)that contain majority of all servers (57%)@from 2-32 servers per location. These Sites have veryless internal expertise in power/space/heat management. In fact at least 6 billion KW hours could be saved each year with a 10% improvement in data center energy efficiency. DC Accelerates Net Zero Attainment:The right approach can save time and money l

Integrated design and operations planning

Site renewable strategies get optimized using DC

Energy Storage in DC allow Grid independence

System Intelligence control, monitor, verify

“DC power would fundamentally change the way power is distributed in commercial and even residential buildings…”

is >10-15% higher with solar, wind & on-site storage. For example, AC & solar sources can be connected to the same DC Loads. Hence,allowing maximized return on investments in alternative energy.

Some benefits of DC network: l

Avoid energy conversion losses from AC to DC & in both operational & standby modes

All power is real (i.e. not reactive), better power quality

Increased efficiency & ROI on renewable energy & distributed generation

Flexible by Design: Flexibility is significantly enhanced &not compromised with DC Micro-grids. And, Energy Use Analysis Leeds to Enhanced certification opportunities; Improved power and lighting efficiencybecause of fewer power conversions at solar & fixture level. Also: l

New Credit Area for LEED 2012

Designing Spaces to Give Owners Ability to Modify without Significant Reconfiguration or Rewiring

Innovation Credit: “High Efficiency DC Micro-grid”

Expands on Current Credit Areas focused on: l

Buying or Generating Renewable

More intelligent controls for building & innovative new DC appliances

Reduce power electronics & thermal management in appliances

Possibly lower electromagnetic emissions (50hz) (no humming)

Reduce use of unsafe 240V AC to safer lower DC voltages

Advances in IGBT & control systems make HVDC transmission reliable & feasible, hastening smart grid development

New market opportunities for INDIA

Lighting, Sensors, HVAC, Building

EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

Cost – systems, wiring, installation, appliances, energy storage

Technology challenges – what, how, when, why, who?

Safety – earthing, arcing protection, circuit breaking, fusing, DC shock

Standards – electrical, buildings, installation, training, DIY

There is clearly a dichotomy between, on the one hand, the question “Who is going to invest in creating newelectrical appliances compatible with the DC grid concept if the infrastructure does not exist?” and on theother hand, the question “Who is going to create the infrastructure if there is no demand?” Strong, clearlyunderstood, tangible benefits to be gained from the adoption of the new DC power grid technology will beneeded in order for both questions to be answered. Nonetheless, the evolving focus on Energy Efficiency and “smart n Green” Planet shall bring the stakeholders on common platforms to arrive at new solutions and consensus on conflicting aspects of such technological innovations. In fact, in US a few Standards have already been released on generating and distributing DC power in buildings by “EMerge Alliance”. In UK there is an Initiative by the name of “SMART DC”.

Shall we in India be left behind? I am sure NOT…. Let us build an Energy Efficient, Smart n Green INDIA…

Higher compatibility with energy storage

Implementing Energy Efficient Systems: Controls

techniques

Energy l

Some challenges of DC network

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SO L A R ENERGY

skytron® energy launches redesigned smart combiner box for economic operation in PV power plants skytron® energy GmbH

he new ArrayGuard® FH combiner boxes type PV29 to PV32 have been designed to meet the demand for cost-conscious BOS components in utilityscale photovoltaic installations.

switch mounted on the front panel, 1500VDC

Berlin-based skytron® energy is a

supervision, ArrayGuard® combiner boxes

renowned supplier of high quality monitoring,

with their integrated monitoring function

control and supervision solutions to the

ensure high resolution visualization of plant

renewable energy sector. Its product range

and string performance. This combination

includes the well-established ArrayGuard®

helps provide comprehensive remote plant

operation or 32 string inputs, UL certification for the US market. When combined with skytron’sPVGuard® control room software for remote plant

combiner-box series for PV systems, first

Type 2 for medium-risk conditions, compliant with local lightning protection standards

launched in 2006. This 1000 VDCcomponent family has now been expanded to include a redesigned

Fully integrated monitoring of all critical conditions: tripping of surge protector, on/off status of DC isolator switch, cabinet temperature

please contact sales@skytron-energy.com

Low cost operation ensured by efficient power management with 24 V dc supply over CAN bus and low power consumption at 1.5 W max.

developing integrated monitoring, control

Optimised cabinet layout providing efficient heat dissipation and prevention of condensation in humid climates

in utility-scale PV installations, it has installed

preserving the reliability that this product’s reputation has been built upon. l

the essential measurement, switching and protection functions fully integrated at no additional cost. l

Operational safety provided by integrated DC isolator switch

Real-time monitoring of string performance using reliable shunt measurement techniques with high temperature-stable measurement precision of 0.5%

Efficient DC connection of up to 24 strings

Dependable string protection provided by gPV plug-in fuses, flexibly configured for both PV+ and PV-, or just PV+ Adaptable surge protection, using Combi Type 1+2 for high-risk installations or

yield.

Industry-standard data communication based on CAN fieldbus technology

outstanding price/performance ratio whilst

The ArrayGuard® FH comes with

for maximum plant uptime and improved

smart combiner box for utility-scale PV applications. The new models offer an

diagnostics, optimising O & M performance

Long service life outdoors ensured by rugged cabinet design using UVresistant polycarbonate material Straightforward installation, DC connection and maintenance provided by optimised mounting kit, clear terminal fixings, and easily replaceable plug-in string fuses

Fo r

further

i n fo r m a t i o n

skytron’sArrayGuard® smart combiner boxes,

About skytron® energy GmbH Berlin-based skytron® energy has been and supervision systems for photovoltaic installations since 1977. Now one of the leading suppliers in the industry, specializing monitoring systems in more than 600 plants having a total capacity of over 4 GWp. As one of the technological leaders in its field, skytron® energy has received a number of prestigious awards, including the highly coveted InterSolar Award for its “PVGuard®” Supervision Platform as well as for its “StringGuard®” string current measurement system.

These standard built-in features can be expanded by additional functions such as remote OFF for additional fire safety on rooftop installations, external DC isolator

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EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

I NT ERV I EW

Ajay Kawadikar Vice President and Country Head Solar ISI ABB LTD. EQ : How many MW’s of Solar Inverters have been supplied by your co in India and how does the future look? AK : ABB India Limited entered the solar inverter business in India in the second half of 2010with the grid type central inverter as the key product.Our inverters are energy efficient and have been quite a success in the market. In the last 2 years we have been among the top players in the market and we command a very good market share. We have already supplied more than 200 MW in India and have another 300 MW under execution.

EQ : Please enlighten our readers on the unique technology aspect of these inverters installed in India and its performance. AK : Recently we introduced the 875 kW and 1000KW inverter and have already booked substantial orders for the latter. ABB solar inverters have been popular for its many user friendly features, one such unique feature being the single handed replacement of inverter module at remote site in 10minutes due to wheels provided for easy racking-in rack-out. ABB has deep roots in India. The 50 years we have spent in the country has helped us adjust our products better to local needs, apart from having an extended service centernetwork for effective after sales services.

EQ : Please enlighten our readers on the debate of “Central vs. String Inverters Design” Which concept is best suited for India and why 48

EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

AK : This is a very common debate and each side has its own merits and demerits based on how and where it is used. In the Indian context, MW-scale utility PV commercial projects have attracted more investment and focus. For plant sizes >1 MW it makes more technological and commercial sense to go for grid tied central inverters, as it reduces overall cost without effecting efficiency.Reliable inverters currently available in the market make a good grid tied central solution easily available and the cost of string inverter is much higherfor similar MW requirements. In case of residential >10kw and commercial rooftop >1MW projects,string inverters for the better option as it reduces risk of major power loss, DC cabling, inverter rooms etc. With acquisition of PowerOne, ABB has a strong portfolio in both central as well as string inverters to offer.

EQ : Please tell us in detail about your company (Company structure, Sales, Employees, Products & Solutions etc…) AK : ABB is a global leader in power and automation technologies. Based in Zurich, Switzerland, the company employs 145,000 people and operates in over 100

countries. The firm’s shares are traded on the stock exchanges of Zurich, Stockholm and New York. Today, ABB is a major supplier of industrial motors and drives, provider of generators to the wind industry, and the largest supplier of power grids worldwide. ABB’s business is comprised of five divisions that are in turn organized in relation to the customers and industries we serve. These are namely: Power Products, Power Systems, Discrete Power and Automation, Low voltage Products, Power Automation. Many of the technologies that underlie our modern society, from high-voltage DC power transmission to a revolutionary approach to ship propulsion, were developed or commercialized by ABB.

EQ : What are the other products and solutions for Solar PVplant provided by your co and what are its technological features. AK : Except for solar modules and cables, ABB offers complete solution for solar PV plant, be it string monitoring/combiner boxes, inverters, low/medium/high voltage switchgear, transformers,tracker automation, SCADA, sub-station and turnkey Engineering, Procurement, Construction / Balance of Systems /Electrical Balance of Plant solutions. ABB’s engagement goes beyond

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for its technology, products and services.What’s your annual R&D budget

project execution and includes consultancy and operation and maintenance services.

EQ : What are the resources in terms of manpower for sales, O&M and other aspects developed and present in the Indian market. AK : ABB India operates 12 manufacturing units, has 23 marketing offices, four training centres, eight service centres, three logistics warehouses, two power and automation engineering centres. India also housesone of ABB’s largest R&D centres. We are listed on BSE and NSE.

EQ : Please tell us about the unique technological features of your products which are also distinguishing factors. AK : Our inverters are energy efficient and have been quite a success in the market. As mentioned earlier recently we introduced the 875 kWand 1000 kWinverter and have already booked orders for 1000kW. In India, ABB gathers strength from two things. Over five decades in the country has helped ABB develop deep roots in India. The company has 12 manufacturing plants and a significant installed base. Solar plants are built to perform for 20- 25 years and people believe in ABB; that ABB is, was and will be there to look after their plant. Our products are diverse while being very comprehensive. Like I said, barring module and cable, we can produce anything along the solar value chain. That is what differentiates us from our competitors. Also, we understand our customers better and provide a single point for solutions – through our Industry Sector Initiative (ISI) - for solar from across our various businesses.

EQ : Kindly enlighten us on the ongoing R&D within the company and the way forward

AK : ABB is a technology company where R&D is a continuous process through which we bring new innovations through our products and solutions. In India, we have ABB’s largest R&D centre with more than 1000 engineers on the job. ABB invests a lot on R&D efforts.

EQ : Kindly highlight the recent trends in your company sales, profitability and other key financial figures. AK : Link to Press Release: http://www.abb.co.in/cawp/seitp202/ d0689aeff7b88eeb65257bc2001859db. aspx

EQ : Have your products won any award recently….Kindly enlighten us in detail about this product AK : ABB has strong commitment towards clean energy initiatives. The company’s commitment and efforts towards sustainability have been recognized through two prestigious awards during the year: 



ABB VI, Nashik plant was recognized in the Silver Category at the 13th Annual Greentech Environment Excellence Award 2012 for the Engineering sector The Golden Peacock Global Award for Sustainability in recognition of ABB’s sustainability efforts.

EQ : Development of MicroInverters and its implication towards development of solar Pv market, its applications and usage…Kindly describe in detail regarding micro inverters

Key figures:

Q2 2013

Q2 2012

H1 2013

Orders

1731

2045

3262

Revenues

1720

1858

3674

Profit before tax

125

Profit before tax %

3.6

4.1

3.4

Profit after tax

Profit after tax %

2.3

2.8

2.3

Operational EBITDA*

111

239

Operational EBITDA%

6.4

4.7

6.5

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AK : The Indian solar power market is estimated to reach 12.6GW bythe end of 2016, driven by growing demand.This Rupees in will also likely attract crores significant investments from H1 2012 3709 global industry players. 3631 Sales of micro-inverters is 148 expected to increasein the 4.1 coming years led by growing 99 demand in foreign markets, 2.7 according to IHS’ latest 197 research. Micro-inverters 5.4

convert direct current (DC) electricity from a single solar module into alternating current (AC). Though micro-invertersmay be priced higher than conventional inverters, their energy output is higher than the conventional string of central inverter devices, which convert power from multiple solar panels.

EQ : Whats your view on the Indian Policy Framework and one piece of advise you would like to give to the government AK : The government – both central and state have done a commendable job in creating solar revolution and achieving some early success.However,there needs to be a pick up in momentum and for that support from the government is necessary. We feel effective implementation of renewable purchase obligation or solar purchase obligation, National Solar Mission phase-II and net metering policy will help significantly.

EQ : What is your Top 5 Advice to a Project Developer in India while choosing the your products for its Solar PV Plant AK : Based on our global experience in solar segment we can say 1) planning , 2) engineering , 3) partnering , 4)execution and 5)operation and maintenance, are the key parameters for long term success.

EQ : Kindly enlighten us on the competition scenario and increasing competition from manufacturers worldwide AK : The market is quite competitive and currently established qualifying criteria, specifications or norms are few. In case of modules - 55% of total cost - supply still exceeds demand. Chinese players and falling power purchasing agreementrates are causing additional strain on PV value chain.The upside is that buyers are evolving and selecting reliable products with efficient life cycle support.

EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

SO L A R ENERGY

Felix G. Hensel -Managing partner of Gustav Hensel GmbH & Co. KG

R. Rajesh-Managing Director Hensel Electric India Pvt Ltd

Array Junction Boxes  Must Be Total Insulated! A strong requirement of the IEC standard for protection against electric shock in PV plants.

rids in building installations are generally grounded. That means, in the event of an electric fault a protective device interrupts the supply in the circuit, for example by MCB or MCCB. The DC power grid from photovoltaic systems (installation between PV module and solar inverter) is not grounded and therefore requires special measures to protect against electrical shock.

How is the protection against electric shock guaranteed in photovoltaic systems on the DC side? IEC 60 364-7-712 requires for the installation of photovoltaic (PV) power supply systems:

Equipment standard 712.511.1 ... The PV array junction boxes, PV generator junction boxes and swtichgear 50

EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

assemblies shall be in compliance with IEC 60 439-1 (Since 2010: IEC 61 439-1).

Protection measures 712.413.2 Protection by use of class II or equivalent insulation should preferably be adopted on the DC side.

Why does IEC 60 364-7-

712 require protection class II () for PV array junction boxes? In grounded systems a earth fault short circuit current flows through the protective device and leads to a switch-off. On the DC side of a PV installation, the maximum short circuit current is the same as the maximum operating current. This means that devices for protection against electric

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Hensel array junction boxes are total insulated  and ensure the protection against electric shock! Installation of total insulated array junction boxes in photovoltaic systems according to IEC standards:

shock, such as MCB or fuses, don‘t trip, because the residual current is too low.

after the cover has been opened.

As a consequence the protection against electric shock is not guaranteed in the event of an electrical fault.

Total insulated equipment  ensure the protection against electric shock by encapsulating a possible electric fault by double or reinforced insulation. In general, total insulated enclosures (equipment of protection class II) fulfil this requirement.

This standard specifies requirements and tests that will be placed on an array junction box (AJB), particulary with respect to the required total insulation.

IEC 61439-1 requirements, clause 8.4.3.4 for total insulation l

1st The apparatus shall be completely enclosed in insulating material which is equivalent of double or reinforced insulation.

2nd The enclosure shall carry the symbol  which shall be visible from the outside.

3rd The enclosure shall at no point be pierced by conducting parts in such a manner that there is the possibility of a fault voltage being brought out of the enclosure.

4th The enclosure shall give at least the degree of protection IP 2XC (see IEC 60529). 5th The enclosure must be accessible only via the use of tools in order to ensure the protection against unintentional contact of accessible live parts and the exposed conductive parts that are only accessible

Testing of enclosures made of insulating material in accordance with IEC 61439-1, 10.9.4 For assemblies with enclosures made of insulating material, an additional dielectric test shall be carried out. The test voltage has the following values , for example: Ma x . PV oper ating test voltage voltage 690-800 V DC

4,245 V

800-100 V DC

4,665 V

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SO L A R ENERGY

High Concentrated Photo Voltaics (Hcpv) Technology For Solar Grid Connected & Offgrid Power Generation B. T. Ajwani & Mr.R.V.Girish from Meridian green energy International Ltd, Hong Kong

s global consciousness is increasing towards reducing carbon foot print, Photovoltaic technologies play a significant role along with other renewable technologies available in the world. Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s photovoltaic (PV) industry is growing at a rapid rate and every nation is waking up to this challenge with Government policy initiatives to bring solar generated electricity towards grid parity with in this decade, but the industry would grow even at a faster rate if costs could be reduced for both the

final products and the capital investment required for scale-up. One strategy for reducing module cost is to reduce the amount of semiconductor material needed (the cost of the silicon solar cells typically comprises more than one-half of the module cost). Many companies are thinning the silicon wafers to reduce costs incrementally; others use thin-film coatings on low-cost substrates (such as amorphous/ microcrystalline silicon, cadmium telluride, or copper gallium indium diselenide on glass or other substrates). Concentrated Photo Voltaic (CPV) is one such effort in this direction and uses concentrating optics to focus the light onto tiny cells, the size of the cell can be as low as 4mm x 4mm. The optics may be designed for low or high concentration. Low-concentration optics (LCPV) use silicon cells & highconcentration optics (HCPV) adopt Triple Junction solar cells made of materials such as InGaP/InGaAs/Ge . The efficiency of the best GaAs solar cells surpassed that of silicon solar cells, and in the 1990s GaAs solar cells took over from silicon as the cell type most commonly used for Photovoltaic arrays for satellite applications. Later, dual- and triple-junction solar cells based on GaAs with germanium

52Â

EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

and indium gallium phosphide layers were developed as the basis of a triple junction solar cell which held a record efficiency of over 32% and can operate also with light as concentrated as 2,000 suns. This kind of solar cell powers the rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which are exploring Mars surface. Recently, Triple Junction solar cells have been reaching increasingly impressive efficiencies, inspiring new interest in the high-efficiency, high-concentration approach. The third Generation solar cell, Triple junction compound photovoltaics, enjoys its long-term development under NASAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Space Programs. Starting few years back, the Triple junction solar cells are being re-engineered for terrestrial uses on earth. Concentrating optics both primary Fresnel lens at a focal distance from the cell and Secondary optics positioned right on top of the cells are adopted to take the advantage of high efficiency. Till date 42.3% energy conversion of solar radiation has been realized with Triple junction solar cells and very recently the record efficiency is 44.7% has been achieved for four-junction solar cells in the laboratory. Theoritically more than 68% of solar energy can be converted to electrical energy

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by adding multiple Junctions on currently developed 3 or 4 junction Solar cells and having specific junction responding to particular wave length of solar radiation.

Thermal management of cell is very critical to enhance the lifetime of Multi junction solar cells more than 20 years and hence lot of research and development has yielded advanced materials which can with stand 2000 suns concentration with passive cooling such as proper selection of materials for module design and heat sink for quick dissipation.

Triple junction solar cell has intrinsic advantage of ability to convert solar energy in to electricity from the entire three spectrums (Infrared, Visible & Ultraviolet) and can achieve higher energy output (CUF) in comparision to Mono/poly crystalline silicon or Amorphous Thin film technologies.

For large scale power generation the High Concentrated photovoltaic module design can be managed with passive cooling even in High Direct Noraml Irradiance (DNI) locations such as India, Africa & Middle East and hence do not require water unlike solar thermal power generation.

Concentrator Photo Voltaic is one of important technology base for grid and off grid power generation and has been recognized and with relevant industry technical standards such as IEC62108 for CPV modules

High concentration photo voltaics (HCPV) High concentration photovoltaic’s (HCPV) systems employ concentrating optics consisting of fresnel lenses that concentrate sunlight to intensities of 300 suns or more. The solar cells require high-capacity heat sinks to prevent thermal destruction and to manage temperature related performance losses. Multijunction solar cells are currently favored over silicon as they are more efficient. Multijunction solar cells, originally designed for non-concentrating space-based satellites, have been re-designed due to the high-current density encountered with CPV (typically 8 A/cm2 at 500 suns). Though the cost of multijunction solar cells is roughly 100 times that of comparable silicon cells, the cell cost remains a small fraction of the cost of the overall concentrating PV system, so the system economics might still favor the Multi junction cells in coming years.

HCPV as an integrated technology with Dual axis sun tracker as a array. HCPV Technology mandates the use of Dual axis sun tracker and hence has an advantage over fixed solar technologies due to higher energy collection per day and enhanced power generation due to cell conversion efficiency of more than 40% and Module efficiency of 32% and above. The dual axis sun tracker is essential to keep the concentration on to the solar cell throughout the day from sunrise to sunset. The dual axis sun trackers has been designed to position the cells in synchronization with sun movement daily(Azimuth Angle) and also including seasonal variation of sun movement ( Pitch Angle ). Dual axis sun trackers can be scalable designs with as low as 1m² to 16m² suitable for off-grid applications and as high as 50m² to 100 m² suitable for large grid connected power generation plants.

Cell Energy conversion efficiency comparison of various solar Photovoltaic Technologies

Thermal management of High concentration photo voltaic cells

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EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

Typical 4mmX4mm & 10mmX10mm HCPV cell assembly & 42 Cell HCPV Module

•

New generation higher efficiency chip can be easily implanted in place of old generation chip technology.

Meridian Green energy International Limited Meridian Green Energy International Ltd. Hong Kong & Meridian Green energy Pvt. Ltd. India is engaged in design, engineering, manufacturing and installation and technical support for solar high concentrated photovoltaic (HCPV) products and solutions for home and utility scale applications, thanks to seamless HCPV technology integration by our associate who are one of the leading manufacturers of germanium single crystal based ingot and wafers and also the Triple junction solar cell assembly which is a very key component of HCPV modules. HCPV modules will be further integrated with dual axis sun trackers and balance of system to generate green power.

Various User applications of High concentration photo voltaic technology

Meridian Green Energy International Ltd. is working on a mission to empower people with green and clean technologies and in particular to harness the energy of the sun is working on development of state of the art grid connected and off grid solar solutions with high concentrated photovoltaic (HCPV) technology.

Eco-solar Technology application centre at Manyata Tech Park, Bangalore

Various advantages of High concentration photo voltaic (HCPV) technology • • • • • • •

•

HCPV off-grid & Grid connected Solar applications live demonstration can now be witnessed at eco-solar technology application centre being set up by volunteers and Environment conservation enthusiasts now at Manyata Tech park in Bangalore city .

Mature technology used by NASA over more than 20Years. 40% less area required to set up on ground or roof top applications in comparison to Mono/Poly or Thin film Silicon technology. Individual cells in a HCPV module are repairable if required. Simple maintenance and low cost Rapid ROI and good pay back period Higher Capacity Utilization factor (CUF ) Lower cell degradation factor year on year compared to Silicon cells and efficiency is least effected by increase in ambient atmospheric temperature Double land usage, the land below the panel area can be utilized for cultivation. EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

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Jyoti Dar, Director Kuvam Energy Pvt. Ltd.

ndia’s electricity sector has become fifth largest in the world with an installed capacity of 211.766 GW as on January 2013. Even though with such a huge generation capacity, over one third of India’s rural population and 6% of the urban population do not have access to electricity. Of those who did have access to electricity in India, the supply was intermittent and unreliable. Kuvam Micro-grids estimate the unmet demand for energy generation and supply services to be Rs. 200 Billion with an addition of 1200GW by 2050. The energy shortage is most acute among India’s rural poor and the majority of them still rely on conventional and traditional fuels for their energy needs. Lack of energy access affects all walks of life, ranging from childcare, to subsistence agriculture, to earning a living. Unavailability of electricity has an effect on productivity, health, education, availability of safe water and communication services. In recent years decentralised source of energy have gained popularity especially in rural and remote areas. The success of this model is largely dependent on insightful perceptive of the issues at the grass root level along with understanding of the government policies. Kuvam Micro-grid envisions creating access to clean, reliable and affordable electricity for people in rural and urban areas. Having very closely observed the development of different promotional mechanisms such as the JNNSM and Renewable Energy Credit mechanism as well as the changing trend of the component prices, Kuvam has been able to formalize a strategic approach towards the application of Solar Photo-Voltaic technology in India. Kuvam started its operations with microgrids from West Champaran district of Bihar. More than 400 households have been provided with a 24 hour electricity connection. The electricity has been generated through solar energy and distributed through a micro-grid based on pre-paid metering model. Kuvam boasts of having 99% repayment rate by the consumers and 100% electricity theft elimination through its unique model. Kuvam’s

business model is one of the most profitable in solar industry with lowest establishment and maintenance cost. It has succeeded in developing a high return and low risk model to provide scalable and reliable electricity to the target households. Actually Kuvam with its partners has implemented the only successful return based micro-grids in India involving community participation and works on a model that does not depend on subsidy being provided by the government Kuvam has installed Solar PV plants that pump power into local micro-grids. This has enabled energy access in form of reliable, affordable and green electricity to villages which historically have never had electricity. The electricity from the micro-grids is distributed to houses by setting up distribution infrastructure (pre-paid meters, poles and wires). When a household signs up for the electricity connection, Kuvam’s team installs the wires and pre-paid meters in the house. People pay for the service and accordingly get the stipulated amount of electricity. The electricity is stored in batteries so that each household has electricity for full day and can be used as and when needed. The user just has to tap a switch to get the light and can even charge mobile phones from the prepaid meter. This rural electrification programme through off-grid solar PV installations is getting tremendous response. A 24/7 helpline has been setup to cater to the query and complaints of the users. Kuvam also provided 2 LED bulbs along with 1 mobile phone charging point to all the user households which has never been done by any other microgrid player. Kuvam has invested in energy efficient product manufacturing so as to provide these products like Pre-paid Meters, LED Lights, Low Wattage TV, No electricity Fridge, Li Ion battery at affordable rates directly to the users. Kuvam has chosen to create long term infrastructure in the villages as against dumping of products. These products have further enhanced the quality of life. The locals have been trained to operate and maintain the micro grid systems. Kuvam’s strategy to bring local brains and expertise

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to support their village development has inculcated a sense of ownership among the locals. This has in turn on one hand helped Kuvam in strengthening its roots and gaining trust of the local community while on the other created job opportunities for the lowest rung of population. Kuvam further addresses energy needs of participating users with benefits including reduced energy costs, increased overall energy efficiency, improved environmental performance and local electric system reliability. Bringing electricity to rural areas that never may see the grid is a great boon to both people’s quality of life and the region’s economy, thus Kuvam model helps rural consumers bypass conventional grid supplies and also costs less than the monthly expense on kerosene. Regular supply of energy has enabled availability of clean drinking water to the BOP household as well as facilitated use of modern electric devices. The Extended light-hours to the household have been instrumental in improving the labour productivity and provide support to agricultural and allied activities. It has also lead to gender empowerment as the womenfolk have become independent and are contributing to the household income. Availability of electricity has ensured reduction in crime rate especially crime against women. Earlier the village life would come to a standstill after sunset but now the whole scenario has undergone a major change. Kuvam’s technology not only supports lighting and phone charging, but also pioneers in services such as community entertainment centres by providing projectors which can be used for knowledge dissemination to the BOP households. Kuvam‘s transparent processes, investment in education and health, no political influence has made the efforts for inclusive growth and development of BOP households successful. Kuvam is trying to replicate its model and planning to scale up its projects especially in the states of Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.

EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

SO L A R ENERGY

Kuvam Bihar Initiative

SO L A R ENERGY

Grid Connected PV System Design Dwipen Boruah - Managing Director GSES India Sustainable Energy Pvt. Ltd.,

lobal Sustainability Energy Solutions (GSES),an internationally recognised engineering consultancy, education and training provider in the Renewable Energy (RE) Innovation and Technology sector has introduced an online training course on ‘Grid Connected PV System Design’ as a part of its clean energy education programme in India. This training course is nationally recognised by the Clean Energy Council (CEC) of Australia as a part of skills set under the Australian Electro technology training package. The three months online certificate course is specifically designed to address the fast growing Indian Solar Market. With a fully flexible web-based format, the online course allows students to complete the theory in their own time. GSES has a team of tutors who mark the online work and as necessary provide feedback or additional technical information to the students. GSES’ tutors are also available to be contacted by phone or email during the course period. Course Outline: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19.

Introduction and OH&S Electrical Basics Solar Radiation PV Cells Inverters PV Mounting Systems Balance of System Equipment Energy Efficiency Site Assessments Matching Array & Inverter System Protection Cable Sizing Losses & System Yield System Installation System Commissioning Maintenance & Troubleshooting Economics of GC PV Systems Design Tasks Final Exam

The course covers fundamentals of solar PV system, descriptions of the different components, sizing a system and matching different components. It also includes methods and approach on conducting site surveys of potential installations, system installation, troubleshooting, maintenance and the economics of grid-connected PV systems. The course is designed around relevant Indian and international standards relating to grid connected solar systems. The resource materials provided under the course is highly illustrative and explanations are made with the help of case studies and working examples. The course has 17 topics as mentioned in the course outline above and all these topics are presented in a meticulous way so that the trainees learn and practice all aspects of designing a grid-connected solar systems. Each of these topics consists of illustrative reading materials, working examples for study followed byquizzes and exercises to be practiced.The quizzes and exercises are of multiple choices, numerical, matching type, short answers and sometime essay type.The

participant has to complete the assignments one by one to move ahead to the next topics of the course.This helps the participants to clearly understand the technical issues required to work on the next topic of the course. The first few topics of the course are designed to help the beginners to understand about solar irradiation and peak sun hours, sun path diagram, position of the sun, solar altitude, geometric effects, tilting solar modules, electrical integration of PV modules and method of combining the modules to configure an array etc. Types and characteristics of solar cells including power characteristics, performance, electrical protection and reliability issues are discussed in details which provides essential engineering and scientific knowledge to the designers. This includes a topic on inverter covering types of inverters, efficiency, inverter protection systems, power quality, monitoring and selection of inverters. The highly illustrative topic on mounting structure covers different types of mounting systems suitable for different type of roofs

Course Review: The comprehensive online training course provides detailedtechnical informationand step-by-step methodology for designing a grid connected photovoltaic (PV) systems.

EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

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and ground, PV array row spacing calculating wind loading for solar array for different regions of India. The course covers the methodology and technical requirement for designing and selection of all key balance of system components including all DC and AC cablings, protection and disconnect switches – fuses, isolators and/or circuit breakers, lightning protection, PV array DC isolator and inverter AC isolator, metering and system monitoring. The course contains step by step methodology to undertake site assessment to determine energy efficient initiatives, occupational health and safety (OHS) risks when working on that particular site, solar radiation and shading analysis, how the PV modules will be mounted, positioning of inverter and cable layout planning. Matching of array and inverter is of utmost importance for better performance of a grid connected PV system. The designer needs to ensure that these components match in terms of voltage, current and power during seasonal change in operating temperature of solar array. The coursecovers this aspect quite elaborately with several working examples and case studies.

participants: “The course has been of great help to me, not only in providing insights of the solar PV system but also in assessing the importance of various parameters/factors that affect the performance of system. As a consultant, I deal with the policy and regulatory issues of the solar PV, but after going through the book and the online content to the course, I believe that I am better equipped at understanding the needs of the PV project and basically the nitty-gritty of the project.” Vaibhav Singh Consultant – PwC PricewaterhouseCoopers Pvt. Ltd., Gurgaon, India “Overall this course has given me full understanding on the basic theory of Gridconnected Photovoltaic Power System Design, installation procedures as well as protection devices needed.”

The course meticulously covers the forms of protection used within a photovoltaic array, the method of determining whether fault current protection is required and the sizing of fault current protection. Similarly sizing and selection of DC and AC cable is also covered in the course with a number of working examples. The course covers methodology and steps to evaluate energy yield and performance ratio of a PV system considering losses from different factors like temperature, soiling, shading, manufacturer’s tolerance, voltage drop through AC and DC cabling, inverter, tilt and orientation of the solar modules. At the end of the course the participants have to carryout a complete design assignment with given site and climatic information, equipment data sheets and economic consideration of prevailing market. Overall, the online certificate course on ‘Grid Connected PV System Design’ is a well structured course highly recommended for solar PV professionals and students to adopt best practices in designing a grid connected PV system.

Feedback from

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Soon SiewSuan Independent Consultant Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

“I was so happy on starting Grid Connected PV systems course, I really appreciate the curriculum and I learn a lot from the course, even if I am in the middle of the course, I am so interested in it. I also will inform to my friends to take this course, especially your help is so great to understand the course” Samson Tsegaye, Country Director, StiftungSolarenergie - Solar Energy Foundation Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Certification: The content of the course meets the requirement of the Australian Clean Energy Council’s Design Grid Connected Photovoltaic Power Systems Accreditation and student will receive a certificate from GSES Australia on successful completion of the course. GSES also connect/ recommend its student to respective industries for placement after successful completion of trainings.

SO L A R ENERGY

DEHN Short Circuit Interruption Technology for PV Installations. Varun Goel - Sr Manager Solar Division DEHN India Pvt Ltd “Concentrating on the essentials without compromisingsafety“ means reliable products with economic benefits. This has been a working principle for DEHN + SOHNE, Germany since more than a hundred years now and this principle has lead them to come up with technological advanced solutions, and not just products, from time to time.

must“as these installations are in exposed environment, specially Panels & Modules which are either on the roof top or in open ground and full of conductors due to mounting frames and structures which are made of metal, therefore chances of Lightning strikes are much more in comparison to any other indoor installations.

With its excessive research and real time field data, DEHN has delivered a state of the art Short Circuit Interruption (SCI) technology arresters specifically designed for photovoltaic installations. The PV installations (Roof top or ground mounted) are exposed to all types of weather conditions and must withstand such conditions over decades in order to safe guard the investment and reap monetary benefits as per the pre calculated ROI, DEHN products meets this customer requirement with reliability and ease. The total capacity of the PV system – be it a roof mounted system or large scale solar park – can easily be determined by means of the number of inverters. From a surge protection point of view, this means a high number of DC circuits to be protected. The cabling and connections involved in such installations usually runs through structures and extends over long distances until it reaches the connection points. Lightning discharge causes induced and conducted electrical interferences. This effect increases in direct relation to the increasing cable lengths or conductor loops. Surge not only deteriorates the PV components like 58

EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

inverters, modules and monitoring electronics but may also damagehousehold devices in the domestic installations (in case of roof top systems). The energy released by a lightning discharge is one of the most frequent causes of fire so it is of utmost importance and necessity to safe guard the PV installation and operating personals from fire hazards and damages. A right “Lightning & Surge Protection solution” for Solar / PV installations is “a

Once the Lightning Strikes the Solar / PV installations or in the vicinity of a site, it may cause following damages: 1. Fire at site 2. Burning of Solar modules 3. Damage to Solar PV Modules / Panels 4. Damage to Inverter 5. Damage to Solar Charge Controller 6. Damage to services Any damage may cause discontinuity in services / loss of revenue and danger to human safety. It is necessary to determine the risk of damage posed by a lightning strike as per IEC 62305 and take the results into account for design and right selection of surge protection devices. Hence External lightning and surge protection of the Solar – PV installations is important to be considered.

Moreover, PV installations come with peculiar characteristicse.g. (1.) The current in PV systems is DC, so no zero crossing is available for switching off the possible arc outbreaks.

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The SCI technology with the combined disconnection and short-circuiting device is the core of the arrester. PV SPD has to have a SAFE DISCONNECTION mechanism meant for any irradiation level for DC current and mere THERMAL DISCONNECTOR is not sufficient, as in AC arresters. The PV SPD is supposed to handle the short circuit current of the PV Generator in case of overload in order to avoid the possible fire hazards due to DC ARC. This is now the requirement of EN-50539 standards too. It is therefore important to look for Short circuit withstand capability of the SPD (like we check breaking capacity of switchgear in AC circuits) while making the right selection of SPD. Every SPD has an end of life and indicators are provided to observe the health of the SPD. These indicators are normally connected with a Thermal disconnector. But thermal Disconnector does not provide the required short circuit withstand capability (for PV DC applications) and pose a huge risk of fire to the whole combiner box or inverter as the arrester may not be safely disconnected and the DC switching arc maynot be extinguished during end of life. Sometimes, in order to avoid this scenario, PV rated series fuses are recommended – but this is like “fog in the mirror situation’ as fuse rating has to be matched with surge current as well as full spectrum of irradiation- which is simply not possible. (E.g. Higher rated fuse may not blow during morning time when current is less!!).

(2.) The If or the Fault Current of PV system is almost equal to Operating Current or In as the PV modules are already operating at maximum efficiency. (3.) It operates usually on high current and high voltages. (4). Current depends upon intensity of radiation. With a narrow width of modules and a clamping range of 1.5 mm2 to 35 mm2, the mechanical design of DEHN SCI products is ideally suited for protecting inverters and combiner boxes. Since the terminals are located on only one side of the device, more space is created for further installations. Moreover, the terminals are clearly labelled.

Thus the arrester itself has to have an in built short circuit interruption mechanism apart from mere thermal disconnector (or thermal fuse),so as to call it as FIRE SAFE SPD.A SCI SPD from DEHN has an inbuilt bypass parallel fuse with low current rating and high breaking capacity. This fuse comes into the picture to take on the arc current created due to operation of Thermal Disconnector. Thus Thermal Disconnector PLUS bypass fuse provides safe disconnection to higher PV currents and brings the SPD in safe state on end of life. This implies a lot of safety related highlights e.g.

(b.) Being a continuous / uncontrolled DC source (The SUN) at high voltages, the DC arc gets continuously fed by the PV current from the modules. At such a time if an end of life behaviour of Metal Oxide Varistor (MOV) was to happen, the fire spread would be uncontrolled. To avoid this, SCI plays a very important role by diverting this arc to the additional inbuilt by pass fuse circuit and thus quenching it safely. This enables the maintenance staff to replace the finished device with a new one at any time of the day,and continue the regular operation without any wastage of the generation. (c.) To know the stage of the device, a visual indication which is purely mechanical in nature is provided on the device which turns RED once the end of life cycle of the device has been performed. This indicates that it is time to replace the device. (d.) The life check can also be monitored by using the remote monitoring feature of the device which can be clubbed with a visual / audio signal and routed on with a SCADA system to the monitoring room for easier accountability. The DEHN devices are tested to the latest EN 50539-11 and have a short-circuit current rating Iscpv as per the required application. They are available for voltages of 600 V / 1000 V and 1200 Volts. Since the products are based on heavyduty varistors which are permanently connected to the DC circuit by means of a fault-resistant Y circuit, it increases the reliability and longevity of PV systems. Impulse currents up to 40 kA (8/20 μs) can be handled. Moreover, small voltage peaks which would reduce the service life of electronic devices of the PV systemsare limited. The devices feature an operating-currentfree operating state and fault mechanical indication which immediatelyprovides information on the availabilityof each protective circuit.

(a.) DC arc created due to the operation of thermal disconnector gets diverted onto the fuse and gets quenched inside the module without causing any harm to the other neighbouring devices due to fire spread possibilities.

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SO L A R ENERGY

A New Cascaded 21 Level Inverter with reduced number of switches and DC sources for Grid Connected Solar PV system Nakul Thombre, Ratika singh Rawat, Priyanka Rana, Umashankar SSchool of Electrical Engineering, VIT University, Vellore, Tamilnadu, India

This article introduces new topology of cascaded multilevel inverter, with considerable reduction in the number of switches and DC voltage sources. The proposed topology is based on asymmetrical multilevel inverter which produces 21 levels of output with the use of 11 unidirectional switches, 3 diodes and 4 DC voltage sources. The advantages of this topology are reduction in the number of switches (2 nos.) and gate driver circuits (2 nos.), reduction in the number of DC sources (2 nos.) also cost, complexity, and space required for hardware is reduced without sacrificing the quality output of the inverter. To validate the proposed topology the circuit is simulated and verified by using MATLAB/Simulink

olar energy is one of the important renewable energy sources. The output of the PV solar cell is DC. It has to convert into AC before connecting it to the grid. So to get distortion-less, ripple free AC waveform, MLI plays an important role. Subsequently, many topologies of MLI are developed and studied. They are generally classified into: •

Flying-capacitor inverter

•

Diode-clamped inverter

•

Cascaded H-bridge inverter

From these inverter topologies cascaded H-Bridge multilevel inverter is widely used. In symmetric MLI all the DC voltage sources used are of equal magnitude, whereas in asymmetric MLI magnitudes of DC voltage sources are unequal. In the asymmetric topologies, the values of DC voltage sources magnitudes are 60

EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

Fig. 1 Schematic of 21 Level Inverter

unequal. By giving proper switching sequence to the gate driver circuits, desired number of output voltage levels can be obtained. So the number of power electronic components required will be reduced as compared to that of MLI with symmetrical DC voltage sources. Hence overall cost, size and complexity of

the circuit will also be reduced and reliability improves. As DC voltage magnitudes are unequal, the variation between the voltage stress across each switch is more. So variety of ratings of switches is more. The proposed topology has been

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lesser than that of existing topology to get the same number of levels. So proposed topology has successfully reduced the number of switches and DC sources, without sacrificing the quality of output voltage. Table 1. Maximum blocking voltages of switches in existing and proposed topology Following table shows comparison between existing and proposed topology: Table 2. Comparison between existing and proposed topology

Fig. 2. Chart represents No. of Levels Vs No. of Switches

Existing Topology

Proposed Topology

21 Levels

6 DC Voltage Sources

4 DC Voltage Sources

13 Switches

11 Switches + 3 Diodes

-6 Unidirectional -7 Bidirectional

All Unidirectional

20 IGBTs

11 GBTs

SIMULATION RESULTS

Fig. 3. Chart represents No. of Levels Vs No. of DC sources

successful in significantly reducing the switch count and no. of DC voltage sources. It consists of four asymmetrical DC voltage sources for 21 levels. Increments in the DC voltage sources are in the fashion n, 2n, 3n, 4n.... Where n = lowest DC voltage source magnitude. All switches used are unidirectional. The figure shows proposed topology. In figure S8, S9, S10, S11 are used to form H-bridge of inverter that produces positive and negative output voltage. S8, S11 will conduct during the positive half cycle of the output and S9, S10 will conduct during the negative half cycle of the output. S1-S7 are used to generate 21 levels of output.

No. of Levels and No. of switches among the proposed topology and the two existing topologies (topology 1 and topology2) [1]. It can be seen that No. of switches required to proposed topology is lesser than that of existing topology to generate the same number of levels of output voltage. Also graph2 shows relation between no. of levels and no. of DC voltage sources. No. of DC voltage required by the proposed topology is PROPOSED TOPOLOGY

EXISTING TOPOLOGY

Switch

Maximum Switch blocking voltage

Maximum blocking voltage

Proposed topology follows one relation between number of output voltage levels and number of DC sources. The relation is,

30V

S1,1

40V

20V

S2,1

20V

S3,1

40V

Nlevel = NDC (NDC+1) + 1

30V

S1,2

80V

30V

S2,2

40V

S3,2

80V

60V

S1,3

80V

20V

S2,3

40V

30V

S3,3

80V

40V

Where, Nlevel= Number of levels, NDC= Number of DC sources. Following graph shows comparison between existing topology and proposed topology. Graph 1 shows relation between

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Proposed circuit is validated on MATLAB/Simulink platform. IGBT in parallel with the series RC snubber circuit is used as a switch. The magnitudes of DC voltage sources taken are 10V, 20V, 30V, 40V. Load resistance is 10 Ohm. Repeating sequence block is used to generate the switching sequence. Pulse generators are used to give pulses to the H - bridge. Fig 3 shows the circuit diagram of proposed topology. Fig shows the 21 level output of the inverter. Fig shows THD content in the output. It is 12.69%.

EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

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SO L A R ENERGY

Shopfloor Automation for Predictability Venu Madhav D, Vice President â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sytems Optimization, Nuevosol Energy Pvt Ltd.

How scientific management and process optimization is essential to realise quality and accountability in shop floor.

he Steel Mounting Structures that are roll formed and fabricated come from manufacturing shop floors in the country that today seem to have low level of data automation. However the need for that critical data automation which can keep logs on the tool, relay information into a Manufacturing Execution System (MES), tie into a predictive maintenance scheduling application is more than ever needed to get full grip on achieving high levels of Overall Equipment Efficiency(OEE).At Nuevosol we are working with our Fabricators to implement these processes on every shop floor to improve output, quality, and accountability. Owing to the massive explosion in availability of these kind of enterprises the inevitable job-shop mode type of operations is in existence and like in any other job-shop situation these enterprises run through the crests and troughs in equipment utilization due to seasonality etc.; which then becomes one of the driver for inflated manufacturing costs owing to lack of volume continuity. Most parts of India have at least two months of Summer and two months of Monsoon depending on the location, which obviously restricts the Solar PV projects implementation window to the remaining 8 months in an year where there isa peak demand. Shop floors which do not follow a scientific process will get loaded for their peak saturation levelsforcing them to underperform

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EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

under pressure which howevercan be only tackled with proper planning of capacity utilization and optimization. This process optimization has been implemented at Nuevosol and this articles discussess these with a case study. Variables Impacting Shop Floor Output. So when we list the variables that can impact these enterprises they can be categorized into two sides: Demand side: Solar versus Non-Solar demand having an impact on Excise Duty especially given the fact that Solar Mounting Structures are lighter in weight despite the processing times being almost the same. Supply side: Steel- prices, availability; Zinc- prices, availability; MachineThroughputs

Manufacturing overview - Right From Raw Material. Drawing parlance from other industries, when semiconductor chips are manufactured, typically a lot of data is collected to ensure that there is traceability to every chip/die to almost the wafer/substrate level. Owing to the fact that these chips can enable systems for a prolonged service span it becomes critical to track every chip component, characterize the reliability aspects of them and ensure an effective Product Life Cycle Management. In a similar way, when we are constantly focused on offering reliability almost equal to the life of the project then it becomes critical to track it from the raw material stage. Thus, to provide quality mounting structures that once installed will retain the capability for the full life cycle of the project, there

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with the site layout will indicate exact geographical location on the site and which when tied into the MES system and maintained will show the history on raw material quality, slit coil, etc.; which of course enables end to end visibility.

needs to be a scientific approach to shop floor optimization and processes to ensure implementation of quality assurance plans. So now to enable adequate visibility from the Raw Material stage and onto even at the MW farm level we could start with a Manufacturing Execution System(MES) at the shop floor. The MES is not a monolithic system that will operate on it’s own but instead an integrated system that can tie in at least with the Factory Production Planning System and Quality System for starters.

Tangible Benefits – Increased Output, Transparency and Accountability

merely a capital expense to be concerned but rather an assurance that we can provide towards every mounting structure that gets designed, supplied and installed by us. This data driveniterative technique is an ongoing process at Nuevosol for an improved performance in the peak times. It is common knowledge that there is relentless downward pressure to reduce the cost of mounting structures towards achieving grid parity. While the intent is

Pre-Galavnized Steel – A Case Study This suggested holistic visibility can be enabled in multiple ways and one of the approaches that we feel could be useful is as follows:

In the case of pre-galvanized steel: i.

The steel mill/roll forming mill will slit the coils to a suitable width and send it to the shop floor; so that’s where the unique identifier for the slit coil roll will incorporated. Passive RFID tags or may be even barcodes.

ii. A sample piece sent for 3rd party Material Testing will also have the carry forward tag against which the Quality will be ascertained for the Material Test Certificate provided by the Steel mill. iii. When the coil gets unwound during the roll forming at a pre-defined length, we could have a passive RFID tag on the line that marks a number associating it with the slit coil unique identifier and the cut component number. iv. The RFID/ bar-codes will be put at lengths so no punches will cause loss of identity. v.

When the roll forming if it happens in an online mode it might be easier to feed that identifier along with the operations especially punches and bends into the MES.

vi. And when it is in the offline punching mode it may have to be manually fed into the system. vii. The existing RFID tags will be used for counting the number of despatches made and also tie it to a particular truck using which they get transported. viii. For O&M purposes, post the install process this system when integrated

With a system of the suggested kind, customers will be able to understand the exact quantity of structural components that are getting manufactured on an almost real time basis as the logging happens into MES from where various output reports can be generated and utilized for timely decision making. Further to the MES system at the fabrication floor level when we dovetail it with tracking from Steel mills and the Power farm then a holistic Product Life Cycle Management can be established which will become a key driver to utilize this data framework and identify the root cause to effectively drive continuous improvement programs.

unquestionably correct the approach however may not be correct to achieve a sustainable LCOE especially keeping in view of the 25 years of project life. We do not have a single example in the country for a PV farm with near to 25 years in existence and hence all of the solutions offered are based on the benchmarking from similar applications like transmission and communication towers etc.. Thus the solutions to be offered/ utilized should push for longevity in the robustness of structures rather than the upfront sensitivity towards cost.

Data Driven Descison Making At Nuevosol, we strongly believe only facts based data can drive rational decisions and hence all of our solutions are engineered accordingly. Thus, taking a peek into the future we feel shop floor automation is not

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EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

SO L A R ENERGY

Time For Strong Performance Monitoring And Reporting Standards Ketan Chheda, Solar Business Development Manager, India – GL Garrad Hassan

The Indian government’s plan to support 750 MW solar projects through Viability Gap Funding (VGF) presents a bright opportunity for the solarindustry. Ketan Chheda of global renewables consultancy GL Garrad Hassan commends these developments – butrecommends that government should go further: it should standardize the performance monitoring and reporting.

ndia’s Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) recently received cabinet approval to set up 750MW of solar projects under Phase 2 Batch 1 of JNNSM. These projects will be supported byViability Gap Funding (VGF) – which seeks to bridge the ‘gap’ between project costs and revenue. The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), a public sector company under the administrative control of the MNRE, in association with NTPC VidyutVyapar Nigam Limited (NVVN) will implement the scheme. SECI will manage the award of licenses, sign Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with developers, sign back-to-back Power Sale Agreements (PSAs) with state utilities/discoms, and disburse VGF payments to developers. According to draft guidelines, developers seeking the lowest VGF will be awarded project licenses. Successful developers will be paid a fixed tariff of Rs. 5.45 per kWh (Rs.4.95 if Accelerated Depreciation benefits are claimed) for a period of 25 years. VGF will be limited to 30% of the project cost or Rs.2.5Cr/MW, whichever is lower. The VGF will be released in two parts: 1. 50% on successful commissioning of

EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

full capacity. 2. 50% over next five years of operation subject to meeting the generation requirements. The declared Capacity Utilization Factor (CUF) of PV plant cannot fall below 19%. The VGF payment schedule clearly indicates that MNRE is focusing on long term performance of the plants. So it is now more important than ever to introduce standards for performance monitoring and reporting to ensure that the upcoming solar installations perform to their full potential and deliver MWh, not just MW. In particular, it is recommended that MNRE monitors and verifies the performance ratio of plant in addition to CUF. A common methodology should be laid down by MNRE for measuring and calculating the performance parameters.Since a plant’s performance ratio is a function of inplane solar radiation (measured on-site), installed capacity and energy generated, all projects should follow the same method of measurement, monitoring and verification as per MNRE’s directions. For verifying installed capacity, annual physical checks should be carried out. Meanwhile, energy generation can be

verified from the energy accounts issued by STU/SLDC, as proposed in the revised draft guidelines. Operation and maintenance (O&M) of the on-site weather station should be verified by a competent, independent entity to ensure that the radiation and other climatic data recorded are reliable (this will also help build a robust national climatic database). These would establish a set of common standards that can govern the entire industry. These standards would become a reference for clauses to be included in the EPC and O&M contracts, and all stakeholders would be encouraged to align towards a common goal. It is also hoped that by mitigating performance risk, these standards would improve the bankability of projects. With 750MW of solar development set to go ahead, and hundreds of MWs being implemented under other schemes, we need to ensure that the right standards are in place to deliver quality installations.The time has come to consider how to standardize performance monitoring and reportingso that wedeliver maximum generation as well as capacity. Making the effort now to set standards will ensure that new solar power plants will continue to generate efficiently in the years ahead.

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New Delhi, 14th September: The curtain was brought down on the 7th edition of final day of Renewable Energy India Expo, at the India Expo Centre, Greater Noida, with another day of highly stimulating conversations ranging from Solar Financing to future market for investors in India. The highly successful 7th REI 2013 Expo from the 12th - 14th of September also witnessed more than 10,000 visitors from across the globe experiencing Products, Services and Solutions showcased by the exhibitors. Both exhibitors and visitors expressed their satisfaction that the key challenges faced by the Industry had been addressed at the Expo and their confidence in the Sector was further emboldened by the outcome of the show.

Lamp lighting- Dignitaries from left : Sanjay Chakrabarti (Partner – E&Y), Mr. Ryuichi Kaga (Senior Advisor, Public/Private Partnership of ADB), Mr. John M. McCaslin (Minister counselor – US Commercial Services), Mr. Hiroyuki Ishige, (Chairman & CEO, JETRO), Mr. Rajneesh Khattar (Project Director – UBM India), HE Pierre Vaesen (Ambassador of Belgium to India), Mr. Sadao Wasaka (Executive Director, NEDO. JAPAN). Mr. Keiya Iida (Deputy Director General, Trade Policy & Trade Policy Bureau METI, Govt of Japan, Mr. Joji George (MD – UBM India)

The highlight of the show was key participation by exhibitors from over 27 countries who further reaffirmed their faith in the Indian renewable energy market as an attractive investment destination. Enthusiastic participation by leading international and domestic trade associations further magnified visibility for the Expo. Trade Associations like Global Solar Alliance, Panchabuta, Indian Biomass Power Association, Maharashtra Solar Manufacturers Association (MASMA), Wind Indpendent Power Producers Association (WIPPA), Solar Power Developers Association, Tamil Nadu Solar Energy Developers Association (TNSEDA) and Solar Thermal Federation of India (STFI) also made their presence felt. The Expo also had support from C-WET (Centre for Wind Energy Technology), set up by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India. According to Mr. Joji George, Managing Director, UBM India, said, “REI 2013 Expo witnessed the crème-de-la-creme as far as Industry participation is concerned. Powerful international participation by trade delegation like JETRO and NEDO from Japan was another highlight wherein they also unveiled industry reports, apart from workshops conducted by Asian Development Bank (ADB), BASF, Sterling & Wilson and KPMG.” Japan being the country partner attracted 29 companies under their pavilion which showcased cutting–edge technologies and unmatched products in the renewable energy and energy efficiency sector. JETRO acted as a catalyst for creating business

matching opportunities in all sectors for an inclusive and scalable growth. The Japanese support has proved to be a stepping stone in Indo-Japan energy dialogue. REI Expo continues to be an effective platform for the global energy fraternity to share ideas and products for the next generation. Series of high-power conferences and workshops run parallel to the Expo, of which, the conference on Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) Phase II – Industry wish list chaired by Mr. Tarun Kapoor, Joint Secretary, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) and supported by key Industry head honchos, was clearly the highlight of the three days. The 7th Renewable Energy India 2013 Expo witnessed participation from leading companies like Jinko, Yingli, LTi, Bonfiglioli, Sun Power, GE, Kirloskar, Gamesa, EI Dupont, Mahindra, Sun Edison, Ballard Power, Borg Energy, Suzlon, Sterling and Wilson, Refex Energy, Enerparc Energy, Applied Material (AMAT) and 27 countries including Japan, Canada, China, Germany, Sweden, Malaysia, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland and Portugal that further enriched the experiencxe of visitors. Mr. Nitin Kasturi, Chief Strategy Officer, BORG Energy India said, “To place on record, the 7th REI 2103 Expo was indeed a great launch pad opportunity for us to showcase our flagship solar brand the ‘Astra Home Series’ and Tesla Power Station that garnered exponential interest levels pointing in the direction of increased business opportunities. The expo has been

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quite instrumental in taking us much closer to our prospective customers resulting in a flurry of inquiries about the products and its benefits; the expo has been quite resourceful for us to develop new network groups whilst growing existing relationships with our clients and partners. It has been extremely gratifying to have the media and leading international and domestic trade associations extending their support in the magnified visibility of BORG Energy.”

Mr. Bikesh Ogra, President - Solar, Sterling and Wilson Ltd., said, “REI is a great platform for industry experts, government dignitaries and corporates like us to interact and explore the opportunity of a mutually beneficial association. We have been exhibiting in REI since last few years. The turnouts have always been excellent for us. This year we had organized a Solar Conclave in association with UBM where well known industry experts and speakers graced the event by sharing their perspective in the panel discussion about the challenges and opportunities that are present in India’s renewable energy sector. We look forward to such great networking opportunities in future.” “It was a very heartening and encouraging experience for us at Inox, fastest growing Wind Turbine manufacturer in India, as this was a perfect platform to showcase our Latest technology best suited for Indian climatic conditions and also our best in class execution capabilities. As expected our stall was visited by many eminent people from various PSU’s, Independent Power Producer Companies and Large and Medium Corporate houses interested in investing with Inox and thereby reducing their carbon footprints in a longer run. Inox Wind Limited a fully integrated player in the wind energy market was one of the main participants in the Renewable Energy India Expo” said Mr. Kailash Tarachandani, Chief Executive Officer, Inox Wind Limited. The Expo created an environment for interactive discussions between policy makers, manufacturers and financing institutions. The show continues to attract footfalls confirming its status as Asia’s most talked about trade expo in the renewable energy space with the number of visitors and exhibitors going up by year after year.

EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

P O ST SH O W REP O RT

Policy Makers And Industry Captains Give 7th Rei 2013 Expo Thumbs Up/ Relying On Renewable Energy For A Better Future/Race For Clean Energy : Destination India

QUA RT ER RESUL T S

SunEdison -

Q2 2013 Results : Saumya Bansal Gupta - EQ International •

GAAP revenue of $401.3 million and GAAP EPS of ($0.45)

•

Non-GAAP revenue of $491.6 million and non-GAAP EPS of ($0.19)

•

Semiconductor Materials revenue and operating income grew sequentially

•

Solar Energy recognized non-GAAP revenue related to 51 MW of solar energy systems, interconnected 22 MW and ended the quarter with 200 MW under construction

•

Solar project pipeline grew to 2.9 GW and backlog grew to 1.0 GW

•

Cash and cash equivalents of $438.0 million at quarter end

SunEdison formerly known as MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc., announced financial results for the 2013-second quarter that reflected solid execution in its Semiconductor Materials segment and continued growth in its solar project pipeline and backlog. Relative to the prior quarter, cash increased $16.4 million, driven primarily by solar project financing activities and improved working capital management. “Business conditions in the second quarter remained challenging, but I am optimistic regarding our prospects for growth through the remainder of this year and into next,” commented Ahmad Chatila, Chief Executive Officer. “Although the semiconductor wafer market continues to be in an extended downturn, our second quarter Solar Materials performance improved. Solar Energy posted sequentially higher non-GAAP sales, pipeline and backlog, and remains well positioned to capture a disproportionate share of the solar market going forward. We remain committed to maintaining a healthy balance sheet, achieving profitability and generating strong returns for our shareholders,” Chatila concluded.

EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

Key summary financial results for the 2013 second quarter are set out in the following table.

Cash Flow Operating cash used in the 2013 second quarter was $86.4 million and was primarily driven by changes in working capital related to project construction. Free cash flow was $4.4 million and was largely influenced by capital expenditures, solar project construction costs and solar energy project financing activities. See the reconciliation of free cash flow in the financial statement tables at the end of this press release. Capital expenditures were $38.8 million and included $9.0 million related to the previously announced acquisition of a TCS plant as part of a contract settlement with Evonik. Similar to the 2013 first quarter, the majority of 2013-second quarter capital expenditures were incurred in the Semiconductor Materials segment. The company ended the 2013 second quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $438.0 million, an increase of $16.4 million

from the prior quarter. Cash increased largely due to solar project financing activities and strong working capital management.

Semiconductor Materials Semiconductor Materials revenue was up year-over-year and sequentially as increased volume across all diameters offset price declines and an unfavorable mix. Yearover-year and sequential pricing declined across most diameters but the decline was greatest among 300mm products. Continued weakness in the Japanese Yen remains a significant challenge in the competitive pricing environment. The year-over-year and sequential increase in operating income was due primarily to higher gross margin and profits driven by increased shipments, improved operational efficiencies and various cost reduction initiatives.

Solar Energy: GAAP Solar Energy segment GAAP revenue

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was down year-over-year. In the 2012 second quarter, 89 MW of projects were sold which were originally expected to term out in December 2011 but were delayed due to adverse market conditions in Europe. The year-over-year decrease also reflected a less favorable project mix in the current year period and the effect of the company’s decision to slow development spending in 2012. During the 2013 second quarter, all of the projects recognized for GAAP revenue were EPC-only projects, for which pricing per watt is generally lower than fully developed solar system projects per watt because the company is not involved in every phase of the solar project design, financing and development. Second quarter 2013 GAAP revenue was sequentially lower due primarily to lower solar project sales which were only partially offset by higher solar materials sales. First quarter 2013 included revenue of $25.0 million from the amendment of a supply contract with Tainergy. Second quarter 2013 and first quarter 2013 GAAP revenue included $11.7 million and $8.2 million, respectively, of previously deferred revenue related to the sale of projects in prior quarters for which the same amounts were recognized in non-GAAP revenue in the corresponding prior periods. In the 2013 second quarter, Solar Energy recognized GAAP revenue from solar projects totaling 14 MW, compared to 47 MW in the 2013 first quarter and 144 MW in the 2012 second quarter. The decrease in year-over-year and sequential GAAP operating income resulted primarily from lower volume and pricing for solar projects and materials. Additionally, first quarter 2013 included operating income of $25.0 million from the previously mentioned contract amendment with Tainergy.

Solar Energy: NonGAAP Solar Energy segment non-GAAP revenue was down year-over-year. In the 2012 second quarter, 98 MW of projects were sold which were originally expected to term out in December 2011 but were delayed due to adverse market conditions in Europe. The year-over-year decrease also reflected the effect of the company’s decision to slow development spending in 2012. NonGAAP revenue was higher sequentially due to higher solar project volume and prices, and higher sales of solar materials products.

First quarter 2013 included revenue of $25.0 million from the amendment of a supply contract with Tainergy. Non-GAAP revenue was recognized from 51 MW of solar project sales in the 2013 second quarter, compared to 45 MW in the 2013 first quarter and 169 MW in the 2012 second quarter. Of the 51 MW that were recognized for nonGAAP revenue in the 2013 second quarter, 44 MW were direct sales and 7 MW were sale-leaseback transactions. The year-over-year decrease in nonGAAP operating income was influenced primarily by lower solar project volume and pricing. The sequential decline in operating income was driven primarily by losses generated from solar wafer sales. First quarter 2013 included operating income of $25 million due to the amendment of a contract with Tainergy.

Solar Project Pipeline, Backlog & Construction Solar Energy ended the 2013 second quarter with a project pipeline of 2.9 GW, up 218 MW compared to the prior quarter and unchanged from the year ago period. Backlog at June 30, 2013 was 1.0 GW, an increase of 119 MW compared to the prior quarter. A solar project is classified as “pipeline” where SunEdison has a signed or awarded PPA or other energy off-take agreement or has achieved each of the following three items: site control, an identified interconnection point with an estimate of the interconnection costs, and an executed energy off-take agreement or the determination that there is a reasonable likelihood that an energy off-take agreement will be signed. A solar project is classified as “backlog” if there is an associated executed PPA or other energy off-take agreement, such as a feedin-tariff. There can be no assurance that all pipeline or backlog projects will convert to revenue because in the ordinary course of our development business some fall-out is typical and certain projects will not be built.

Outlook The company provided the following key metrics for the 2013 third quarter and revised metrics for full-year 2013. Assuming no significant worldwide economic issues or other significant shocks in these periods, the company expects the following: For the third quarter 2013: •

Semiconductor Materials revenue between $230 million and $250 million

•

Solar energy systems total non-GAAP sales volume in the range of 60 MW to 100 MW

•

Solar energy systems MW retained on the balance sheet between 0 MW and 10 MW

•

Fully developed solar energy systems average project pricing between $3.25/ watt and $3.50/watt

•

Capital spending between $30 million and $40 million

For the full year 2013: •

Semiconductor Materials revenue between $940 million and $980 million

•

Solar energy systems total non-GAAP sales volume in the range of 430 MW to 500 MW

•

Solar energy systems MW retained on the balance sheet between 50 MW and 100 MW

•

Total solar energy systems average project pricing between $3.10/watt and $3.40/watt

•

Capital spending between $120 million and $140 million

Solar projects interconnected during the 2013 second quarter totaled 22 MW from 17 projects and consisted of 16 MW of direct sale projects and 6 MW of sale-leaseback projects. As of June 30, 2013, 200 MW of the pipeline was under construction. “Under construction” refers to projects within pipeline and backlog, in various stages of completion, which are not yet operational.

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EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

PRODUCTS Most Versatile Inverter Is Now Compliant In More Countries. In addition to the over 30 grid codes that are already found in the TLX inverter, you now get even more. With the latest software update 4.02 the TLX inverter is compliant with: Romania MV, South Africa, Chile, Malta and UK (G83/2). In addition a BDEW generic has been added enabling installation in for instance MV grids in Turkey as well as areas of Romania. This ensures that wherever you want to take advantage of the most versatile three phase string inverter, you probably can.

Danfoss TLX stands for versatility and flexibility The Danfoss TLX inverter has a weight of 35kg making it easy to install and handle. It can be mounted on the PV racks, on the wall of a building or where convenient. It

combines 1000 VDC input with 3x400 Vac and 98% max. efficiency, making it suitable for a broad range of installations. The TLX has 3 truly independent MPP trackers providing extreme flexibility, as every input has its own tracker. This individual tracking enables a more precise and faster tracking of the optimal performance of every string of modules. Integrated web interface – no additional communication devices needed The integrated web interface makes it possible to view settings and log information without installing additional software or hardware devices. The inverters in the systems can be set up quickly and easily by connecting any PC directly to the inverter.

replicating data across the system By defining one inverter as the master, system configuration is faster and more efficient, as only one inverter needs to be configured. It instantly replicates data and other settings across all the other inverters in the network. This reduces overall installation and system costs due to faster setup and easier service, for example when adding a new inverter to the system’s layout.

Available to more markets This favorite among installers is now compliant to over 37 markets.

Master inverter – saving time by

RenewSys Launches Thinner Backsheets and Bus Bar Insulation Sheet for PV Modules RenewSys, the quality manufacturer of EVA Encapsulant and Backsheets based at Bengaluru, India has announced the launch of its thinner Backsheets in Fluoro and NonFluoro constructions and Bus Bar Insulation sheet for PV modules. Company’s Backsheet range ‘PRESERV’ now covers economically prices 300 mic Backsheet for off-grid application (600 VDC system voltages) todemanding 370 micBacksheet for grid connected applications (> 1000 VDC system voltage). The company had recently announced UL approval of 330 and 370 mic Backsheets. The UL Approval of its newly launched 300 mic Backsheet is expected soon. The Insulation sheetbranded as ‘PRESERV E2’ is based on PolyolefinPolyester construction. Specially designed sheet has found to be exhibiting extremely 68

EQ INTERNATIONAL - August October2013 2013

high ‘Peel Strength’with Encapsulant and Backsheets and DHT rating indicating high performance and longer durability. The product is being supplied commercially. RenewSys has already been selling TUV and UL certified ‘CONSERV’ EVA Encapsulant and Backsheets in domestic and overseas markets witnessing encouraging business growth since its inception. With the launch of the thinner Backsheets and Bus Bar sheets, company feels it would be a great advantage for module makers to buy all the Polymeric components from a single source eliminating issues relating to quality, inventory and logistics. Many domestic and overseas modules makers have appreciated the move and acknowledged these advantages.

provide innovative & technology driven solutions, RenewSys has invested significantly in setting up a R&D center at its Bengaluru production facility. The company has recently added hi-tech UV tester for conducting longterm reliability tests on solar components. This enables RenewSys partner with its clients to create customized solutions for mutual benefit and contribute in taking the industry forward.

To re-iterate, with a commitment to

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PRODUCTS The STRINGER TT1200 HS single-track system from teamtechnik now strings BC, MWT, 5-busbar and half-cells teamtechnik presented newly developed options for innovative cell and ribbon technologies at 7th Renewable Energy India 2013 in New Delhi. The STRINGER TT1200 HS now solders standard cells with up to five busbars, cells in half-cell format and BC cells. The system already handles structured ribbons in a reliable production process. teamtechnik is a leader in the international stringer technology market segment. The STRINGER TT1200 HS is the fastest single-track stringer system in the world. teamtechnik supplies 60% of all high-output stringers for soldering solar cell strings worldwide. The STRINGER TT1200 HS solders solar cell strings in a 2.5 second cycle on just one track, delivering more efficient and profitable production than multi-track systems:The through-put per soldering process is higher, the complexity of the system on the other hand is lower as is the requirement for spare parts and personnel. Availability at over 95% ensures stable production 24 hours a day, seven days a week. What’s more, the company offers its international customers 24-hour on-site support. Reliable process at 1400 cycles per hour teamtechnik uses a unique design of hold-down device in the systems to separate the actual soldering process from the cellhandling process. This hold-down device is instrumental in delivering high output, a reliable process and perfect string geometry. At the same time, it guarantees extremely low breakage rates – from below 0.1-0.3%, depending on the type of cell.

The STRINGER TT1200 HS now solders new cell and ribbon technologies at 1400 cycles/hour on just a single track.

Teamtechnik is represented in India by iNETest Technologies Pvt. Ltd. in Chennai with sales and service locations all over India. Most important for teamtechniks customers are short reaction times of local service engineers and availability of local spare parts which is assured by teamtechnik indian agency. Their Indian service engineers have a long history in the PV industry, realised many installations of module manufacturing lines in India, and received intensive training in Germany and also made installations and services in China which is the biggest market for teamtechnik with a market share of more than 50%.

A short portrait: teamtechnik Maschinen und Anlagen GmbH

technology and automotive sectors for over 35 years. The systems are distinguished by their modular and standardized process-oriented structure. teamtechnik is a recognized global leader in automation technology designed for optimal flexibility and with a production capacity of 9 GWp, a global leader in stringer technology. The senior management team has set a sales target of €145 million for the current business year. The company employs 800 people around the world. The majority of the workforce are engineers and highly qualified specialists. The teamtechnik group has production sites in Germany, Poland, China and the USA and offers worldwide support and service.

Based in Freiberg/Germany, teamtechnik has been making intelligent and reliable automation solutions for the solar, medical

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EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

PRODUCTS SMA Solar Technology AG Is First NonJapanese Manufacturer to Receive JET Certification for Three-Phase Inverter The Japan Electrical Safety & Environment Technology Laboratories (JET) certified the Sunny Tripower 10000 TLEEJP for sale on the Japanese market. This makes SMA Solar Technology AG the first non-Japanese inverter manufacturer to sell a three-phase JET-certified device in Japan. The inverter specially designed to meet the demands of the Japanese market is now available. “Measured by market volume, Japan is one of the world’s most attractive markets, and the U.S. market research company IHS estimates that it will also be the photovoltaic market with the strongest sales in 2013. Now that the Sunny Tripower has received JET certification, we can cover all market segments in this important market from small residential PV systems and commercial applications to large-scale PV power plants,”

water and salt-containing atmospheres. The inverter’s connection area is adapted to Japanese conduits.

explains SMA Chief Executive Officer PierrePascal Urbon. The three-phase Sunny Tripower 10000TLEE-JP is designed for commercial PV plants with an output of more than 10 kilowatt-peak. It offers a peak efficiency of 97.8 percent, which is unmatched in its class. Its robust enclosure for outdoor installations offers excellent protection against dirt,

Since last year, in addition to the Sunny Tripower 10000TLEE-JP, SMA has also offered JET-certified Sunny Boy inverters for residential PV systems as well as Sunny Central inverters tailored to local requirements on the Japanese market. And this fall, the county’s largest PV power plant equipped with SMA inverters and plant monitoring solutions will go into operation. “We expect continued strong growth stimuli from the Japanese photovoltaic market. With our sales and service company in Tokyo as well as our highly efficient inverters across a range of power classes precisely tailored to the demands of the Japanese market, we are extremely well positioned here in all segments,” says Pierre-Pascal Urbon.

Waaree Energies launches the WS- 400 Wp PV Module in India This one of its kind module boasts of highest efficiency and power as a single product in India

bringing down the overall cost of the solar power installation. This product comes with a 5 year long warranty and promises 90% power for a duration of 10 years with a mere 10% deficit for 20 years.

Waaree Energies Ltd launches the WS400 Wp PV Module. As the first of its kind single product in India, the WS-400 brings highest efficiency of 18.85% as well as power in the module industry. The Waaree WS-400 Wp module is set to optimise solar power plant projects and revolutionise the module industry by generating more power per panel surface area. Besides, it will reduce solar site area 70

EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

requirement and ensure shorter construction time-frame. It means less cabling & surfacing and lesser quantity of fixing clips in total thus

Mr. Hitesh Doshi, CMD, Waaree group commented,“We take immense pride in being the first company in India to be launching a PV module that is set to take the industry by storm. With this product, we are setting a precedent for future developments in this sector. This is testimony to Waaree Energies’ commitment to innovation and our existing expertise in the solar industry.”

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PRODUCTS Power-One Introduces Energy Storage Solution React At Solar Energy Uk Power-One, a member of the ABB Group and the world’s second largest designer and manufacturer of photovoltaic inverters, recently announced that the company will showcase its first residential energy storage solution REACT (Renewable Energy Accumulator and Conversion Technology) at this year’s Solar Energy UK. From October 8 to 10, Power-One will also present its wide range of inverter products for small and residential PV installations in Birmingham, UK.The company’s first energy storage system REACT will be available in 2014 and consists of a 4.6kW single-phase grid connected Power-One inverter and a lithium-ion battery, providing 2kWh of usable capacity. The solution will allow home owners and landlords to store any energy produced by their PV installations for times with higher energy demands. Moreover, REACT is equipped with typical features, such as fast dual MPP trackers, offering maximum installation flexibility for optimal energy harvesting during changing weather and light conditions as well as a broad input voltage range and a top class efficiency due to the proven TL topology. In case of a blackout, operators benefit from basic load management outputs and auxiliary AC output.

years. REACT can also be expanded up to three times its original size by adding additional battery modules.“Looking at increasing electricity prices and reduced feed-in tariffs, self-consumption as well as energy independence will be the central issues for the residential PV market in the UK in the upcoming years,” said Paolo Casini, Vice President, Marketing at PowerOne. “PV energy has to be available upon demand, since its feed-in to the grid is no longer worthwhile. With REACT we enable homeowners and landlords to adjust energy production and consumption with their needs, helping them to increase self-consumption and save money on their energy bills with the energy storage solution. Products of this kind will play a major role in the increasing spread and establishment of renewable energy systems.”

residential PV installations: ranging from the company’s smallest module inverters – the AURORA MICRO-0.25 and the AURORA MICRO-0.3 – with the related monitoring solution AURORA CDD as well as the singlephased AURORA UNO-2.0 and AURORA UNO-2.5 inverters to the popular three-phase string inverters AURORA TRIO-20.0 and 27.6. Especially designed for the residential market, Power-One’s new AURORA TRIO string inverters with an output of 5.8, 7.5, and 8.5kW respectively, will also be on display. At Solar Energy UK, Power-One will exhibit its products in hall 3, booth H24. As one of the leading events for the solar industry in the UK, Solar Energy UK will bring together the entire PV sector.

The presentation of REACT will be accompanied by Power-One’s inverter portfolio for small and

Thanks to an integrated Ethernet port directly on the board, users are able to perform remote as well as local monitoring activities without further interfaces. As is usual for Power-One, the new, innovative product is designed for a long battery life cycle of over ten

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EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

RENEXPO® Poland 2013

Date: 16-17-Oct-2013 Place: Warsaw, Poland Organiser: Reeco Tel.: +48 22 2660216 Email: info@reeco-poland.pl Web.: www.renexpo-warsaw.com

Solar Summit 2013

Date: 23-23-Oct-2013 Place: Freiburg, Germany Organiser: PSE AG, Freiburg Tel.: +49 761 479140 Email: info@solar-summit-2013.org Web.: www.solar-summit-2013.org

IREC 3iForum

Date: 22-24-Oct-2013 Place: Chicago, Illinois, USA Organiser: IREC Tel.: +1 518 4586059 Email: larry@irecusa.org Web.: www.irecusa.org/news-events/irec-3i-forum

The 8th AsiaSolar PV Industry Exhibition Date: 28-30-Oct-2013 Place: Shanghai, China Organiser: Shanghai Aiexpo Tel.: +86 21 65929965 Email: info@aiexpo.com.cn Web.: www.AsiaSolar.net

Taiwan International Photovoltaic Exhibition 2013 Date: 30Oct-1Nov-2013 Place: Taipei, Taiwan Organiser: TAITRA Tel.: +886 2 27255200 Email: pv@taitra.org.tw Web.: www.pvtaiwan.com

PV Asia Pacific Expo 2013 Date: 28-30-Oct-2013 Place: Singapore Organiser: PVAP Tel.: +86 21 64279573 Email: info.China@pvap.sg Web.: www.pvap.sg

3rd International Exhibition / Conference on Renewable and Alternative Energy

Asia SmartGrid 2013

Solar Industry Summit - Middle East 2013

Date: 1-3Nov-2013 Place: Karachi, Pakistan Organiser: REAP Tel.: +92 21 34818177 Email: energyexpo@eventandconference.com.pk Web.: www.reapkhi.com

Date: 29-30-Oct-2013 Place: Singapore City, Singapore Organiser: Reed Exibitions Tel.: +65 6780 4653 Email: louise.chua@reedexpo.com.sg Web.: www.afef.com.sg

Date: 6-6Nov-2013 Place: Dubai, United Arab Emirates Organiser: Solarpraxis Tel.: +49 30 726296-301 Email: tina.barroso@solarpraxis.de Web.: www.solarpraxis.de/en/conferences/solar-

industry-sum...

Envirotech & Clean Energy Investor Summit 2013 Solar Power International 2013

Date: 21-24-Oct-2013 Place: Chicago, Illinois, USA Organiser: SEI Tel.: +1 703 7389460 Email: info@solarpowerinternational.com Web.: www.solarpowerinternational.com/2013/

Date: 30-31-Oct-2013 Place: London, UK Organiser: New Energy World Network Tel.: +44 20 77491270 Email: events@newenergyworldnetwork.com Web.: www.envirotechinvestorsummit.com/2013

Renewable Energy World Conference & Expo North America 2013

23rd International Photovoltaic Science and Engineering Conference

Intersolar India 2013

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Turkey-MENA Renewable Energy Congress 2013 Date: 24-25-Oct-2013 Place: Istanbul, Turkey Organiser: SZ&W Group Tel.: +86 215 8300710 Email: info@szwgroup.com Web.: - www.szwgroup.com/renewable2013

Date: 28Oct-1Nov-2013 Place: Taipei, Taiwan Organiser : SEMI Tel.: +886 3 5601777 Email: pvsec23@semi.org Web.: www.pvsec23.com

Date: 12-14Nov-2013 Place: Orlando, Florida, USA Organiser: Renewable Energy World Tel.: +1 918 8329249 Email: dickr@pennwell.com Web.: www.renewableenergyworld-events.com

Date: 11-14Nov-2013 Place: Mumbai, India Organiser: MMI India Pvt. Ltd. Tel.: +49 7231 58598-212 Email: steffen@intersolar.in Web.: www.intersolar.in

For Listing of your Event : Conference and events are listed free-of-charge, so please feel free to get in touch to tell us about your event. We would also be happy to provide you with free copies of magazine for distribution at your events.(while stock last). Please send your conference information to : Mr. Gourav Garg at gourav.garg@EQmag.net

EQ INTERNATIONAL - October 2013

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India’s Largest Exhibition and Conference for the Solar Industry Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai The meeting point for 300 international exhibitors and 8,500 potential business contacts from 45 countries Establish new business partners in one of the fastest growing solar markets Network and meet the people who are shaping India’s solar market Benefit from taking part in the world’s leading exhibition series for the solar industry Network and expand your business at home!

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EQ International Magazine Editorial Advisory Board

Shivanand Nimbargi MD & CEO Green Infra Limited

Rajesh Bhat - Managing Director juwi India Renewable Energies Pvt Ltd

G. Kalyan Varma Country Head TUV Rheinland (India) Pvt. Ltd.

Ravi Khanna - CEO Solar Power Business Aditya Birla Group

Gyanesh Chaudhary Managing Director Vikram Solar Private Limited

Gaurav Sood Managing Director Solairedirect Energy India Pvt Ltd

Inderpreet Wadhwa CEO Azure Power

Sunil Jaini Chief Exe. Off. & Exe. Director Hero Future Energies Pvt Ltd.

Pashupathy Gopalan Managing Director MEMC-SunEdison

Paulo Soares CFO & Director Inspira Martifer Solar Ltd

K Subramanyam Former CEO Tata BP Solar

Shaji John Chief Solar Initiatives, L&T

R.N.I. NO. MPBIL/2013/50966 | DT OF PUBLICATION: OCT 20 | POSTAL REGD.NO. MP/IDC/1435/2013-2015