Assessing The Impact Of SolarPulse™ On Performance Of Utility Scale PV Plants

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Case Study Assessing the impact of SolarPulseTM on performance of utility scale PV plants

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The challenge for any solar plant is to maintain

an effective and robust monitoring solution -

its operational efficiency and thereby its

SolarPulseTM. It has allowed the company to

profitability. The large number of variables

maintain comprehensive control of the solar

involved, both controllable and non controllable,

plant by providing detailed information on every

make this a particularly challenging task. The

component of the plant and subsequently

operation and maintenance (O&M) of a solar

identifying any malfunction, failure, or defect.

plant, therefore, constitutes the most important service after plant commissioning.

In this case study, we have assessed the impact We have considered a real example of a large

of SolarPulseTM on the performance ratio, power

organization who wanted a dynamic monitoring

generation, revenue and costs of the solar plant

solution for their upcoming solar plant. The

from the perspective of the plant owner and

solution was required to be able to identify,

O&M operator. A real life event at the plant has

predict and rectify performance issues to help

also been analyzed to provide an example of the

them optimize O&M and maximize revenue.

problem solving capabilities of SolarPulseTM.

They partnered with MachinePulseTM to provide

INTRODUCTION The plant in question is a 6.12 MW solar power in Phalodi, Jodhpur area of Rajasthan.

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POWER PLANT DETAILS

Date of commissioning:

January 2014

Location:

Phalodi, Rajasthan

Installed Capacity:

6.12 MW

System Specs: Inverters:

28,176 Poly crystalline modules of 250Wp and 255Wp

9 X 680 kW

BENEFITS FOR EPC/O&M OPERATOR Reduced field expenses The real time remote monitoring solution

done once every month by two O&M professionals,

provided by SolarPulseTM coupled with accurate

as compared to a weekly inspection without a

predictions of plant efficiency and maintenance

robust monitoring solution.

issues has enabled the O&M team at the solar

SolarPulseTM has helped our customer to:

plant to be proactive rather reactive in their work. This has resulted in reduction in labor costs due to lower requirement of field visits, inspections and on-site troubleshooting.

• Save 640 man-hours per year from field visits. • INR 3.84 Lakhs per year in field expenses.

Currently the full inspection of the solar plant is

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Reduced Reporting time • SolarPulseTM has helped the O&M company to

It provides quick access and analysis of complex

reduce the routine reporting time by 60%,

sets of current and historical performance data

which approximately amounts to 500 man

and allows creation of custom reports.

hours per year.

BENEFITS FOR PLANT OWNER Increased uptime • The early identification and rectification of performance and maintenance issues by

has helped to increase the plant up-time from 99.00% to 99.98%.

SolarPulseTM along with accurate forecasting

Increased production and Revenue Preventive

maintenance

scheduling

by

SolarPulseTM has helped to keep the modules in

Guaranteed average Performance Ratio (PR)

excellent condition which has improved the efficiency of the plant.

Actual PR achieved

Power generation increased from

75.51%

11,490MW to 11,743MW

74.16%

The yearly average PR increased over guaranteed PR by

Increase in power generation

1.35%

2.20%

Increase in revenue

Rs. 15.18 Lakhs

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640 Rs.

3.84

500

Field visits:

Plant Uptime:

Man-Hours saved/ year

0.98%

Field expenses:

Increase in Plant Uptime

Power Genration:

Lakhs saved/ year

2.20%

Routine reporting:

Increase in Power Generation

Actual PR over Guaranteed PR:

Man-Hours saved/ year

1.35%

Increase in Actual PR over Guaranteed PR

PAYBACK PERIOD The above mentioned instances are just a

savings achieved due to SolarPulseTM.

glimpse of the wide range of benefits and The cumulative benefit just from reduced field expenses, increase in plant uptime and PR was approximately Rs. 19 Lakhs for one year which in itself covers the cost of SolarPulseTM and makes its payback period less than even a year.

AN EXAMPLE OF PROBLEM SOLVING WITH SOLARPULSE Problem Identification In April 2015, SolarPulseTM detected a loss of

The plant was immediately notified and upon

output in one of the strings which had a capacity

inspection it was found that the string was

of

completely damaged due to module failure

approximately

6.12

kW.

SolarPulseTM this

and had to be replaced. The problem was

underperforming string with other strings within

solved within 6 hours. This proactive response

the inverter and also with strings across the

and problem solving would not have been

plant and found that PV modules are problem

possible without the real time string level

was present only in this particular string.

monitoring provided by SolarPulseTM.

compared

the

performance

of

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Why String Level Monitoring is an advantage • The loss of output caused by this string failure

output would represent only 0.76% of the 680

represented only 0.085% of total plant capacity

kW inverter's capacity, which is virtually

which is undetectable by traditional monitoring

impossible to detect, considering that solar

methods.

irradiance at utility scale PV plants is generally

• Even if the monitoring solution tracked

measured with +/- 2 percent uncertainty.

production at the inverter level, the loss of

Savings It can be argued that such a string failure could

strings remain unnoticed for 6 months (until the

have gone unnoticed until the next scheduled

next inspection), the loss of production would

inspection and possibly even beyond that

amount to 35,251 kWh per year. This represents

resulting in considerable loss of revenue.

1.35% of total annual production and translates into revenue loss of Rs. 2.11 lakhs. The amount is

At the solar plant, SolarPulseTM notifies around

significant considering the thin margins on

four such string faults or failures in a year.

which solar power plants run.

Assuming that without SolarPulseTM, the faulty

35,251

Estimated Loss of production

kWh

4

Minimum String failures

2.11

Rs. Lakhs

Estimated Loss of revenue

CONCLUSION A well designed and effective monitoring

time, verify their potential consequences and

platform is essential for a solar plant to prevent

communicate them immediately to the O&M

risks of component malfunctions and failures.

team at plant to rectify them. Thus, SolarPulseTM

Such events can lead to financial losses by

plays an important role in ensuring that the solar

affecting plant availability and causing damage

plant performs at the highest efficiency and

to the equipment. SolarPulseTM has the ability to

generates maximum returns for the investors.

detect any source of faults or failures in real For any queries contact us at: sales@machinepulse.com | 022-61741608/09

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