h.a. Fisher Homes of Rhode Island and Dow Solar are proud to announce that Reynolds Farm, a community of more than 200 homes under construction in North Kingstown, will feature DOW POWERHOUSE Solar Shingles. Reynolds Farm is the first community in the state of Rhode Island to feature this solar roof shingle product, which will enable homeowners to benefit from significant savings on their utility bills.

An example of Dow’s solar shingles.

Dow Solar, a business segment within The Dow Chemical Company, manufactures DOW POWERHOUSE Solar Shingles, a first-of-its-kind solar roofing product developed to combine the benefits of solar technology with the durability and performance of traditional roofing materials. h.a. Fisher Homes has exclusive rights to install the solar roof shingles on the homes they build in Rhode Island. Owners of homes with this particular roof shingle system are able to access a database that outlines how much electricity is being produced, how much is being used, and their energy savings.

The shingle roof product system will be highlighted in two model homes of Reynolds Farm, which are scheduled to open in April.

“The DOW POWERHOUSE Solar Shingles are an innovative feature that will provide the homeowners of Reynolds Farm with enormous savings on their energy bills. Our company firmly believes in creating energyefficient homes because they are healthier and more cost-effective to live in and because they are beneficial for the overall natural environment,” said Hugh Fisher, founder and president of h.a. Fisher Homes.

“h.a. Fisher Homes is truly progressive in its approach to building homes that are designed to meet the needs of today’s homeowners. Hugh and his team appreciate the importance of sustainable design and that translates into significant cost savings,” said Mark Paille, Northeast Account Manager for The Dow Chemical Company.“We are very happy to partner with this company to introduce Solar Shingles to Reynolds Farm and the residents of Rhode Island.”

Reynolds Farms will include a mix of single-family homes, single-level condominiums and live-work townhomes that will range in size from 1,500 to 2,100-plus square feet. The homes are being constructed on a site of approximately 100 acres off Post Road in North Kingstown. The single-family homes include an optional Casita, a private space that includes a separate entrance, kitchen, living room, and bedroom. Designed for multi-generational living, Casitas can be used by retiring parents, postcollege adult children or other family members. Prices at Reynolds Farm are expected to start in the low $300,000s.

Solar Power World

Last week solar professionals registered from 32 countries gathered for a webinar putting the use of “big data” for solar PV asset care under a microscope.

This article was written by Glenna Wiseman, founder of Identity3

Conducted on March 19 by Solar Power World, a leading industry publication, and Alectris, a global solar PV asset care provider, the webinar “Drowning in Solar Data, but Starving for Knowledge?” was an interactive format giving attendees the opportunity to express their chief complaints.

The discoveries unearthed in the webinar included four big problems inherent in the current status of monitoring and analytics for the operations, maintenance and asset management of the world’s solar PV sites.

The industry’s widespread need for effective information processing was reinforced by noted researcher, Cedric Brehaut, author of the GTM Research Reports Megawatt-Scale PV O&M and Asset Management and Global PV Monitoring who stated: “Solar PV monitoring and data analysis solutions are increasingly expected to enable efficiency and productivity gains in operations & maintenance and asset management activities. Early detection of faults and underperformance conditions, remote diagnosis and troubleshooting, and streamlining of processes are paramount as solar portfolios grow in size and O&M market prices continue to come down.”

The audience represented a mix of self-identified solar industry players predominately EPC/installation firms.

Big Problem #1 – Report Generation
The first big problem with solar PV “big data” came in answer to this question, “What kinds of challenges do you face related to data to manage your solar assets?”

Attendees were given these multiple choice options 1) Data is not congruent,  2) I don’t get the kind of data I need,  3) Takes too much time to generate reports, 4)Data does not help me manage some aspects  and 5) The Data is too expensive.

Nearly half of the attendees answered “it takes too much time to generate the reports” they need to maintain and manage their PV assets.  The second most popular response at 38% was the “data does not help me manage some aspect.”

Big Problem #2 – Wasted Time
Next participants were asked “Approximately how many hours does your team spend on monthly reports for each solar PV plant?”

Here the answer was a single choice with the options being 1)Less than 1 hour, 2) 1-10 hours, 3) 10-20 hours, 4) 20+ hours or 5) Don’t know or other.

The top answer was “Don’t know or other” followed by 1-10 hours per PV site per month.

The conclusion:  we as an industry are spending a lot of human hours generating reports on each PV site or even more alarming, we don’t know how many “man hours” we are spending to amass, validate, analyze and communicate the necessary information to maintain and manage our PV portfolios.

Big Problem #3 – Spreadsheet Hell
The third “big problem” revealed itself in answer to this poll question, “What type of data platform or software do you use now to manage your solar PV plants?”

The multiple choice answer possbilities for this question included 1) Manufacturer provided monitoring, 2) Software developed in house, 3) Purchased Software, 4) Spreadsheets and 5) Other or None.

The top answer “spreadsheets” leads one to understand why the first and second biggest challenges to managing PV asset care information relate to report generation and the time intensive nature of the task.

One could also draw the conclusion that “spreadsheet hell” leads to software opportunity, which explains the number of players who have jumped into this aspect of the market in the last year from a wide range of industry and non-industry firms.

Big Problem #4 – The O&M, AM Disconnect
In response to the question, “Where do you feel the industry needs to do a better job in terms of solar ‘big data?’” the answer highlighted the disconnect between information tracking operations and maintenance (O&M) and asset management (AM) activities.

Participants were given these multiple choice answer options 1) Streamlining O&M in field efficiency 2) Integrating monitoring into overall reporting, 3) Integrating O&M reporting with asset management, 4) Asset Management related and 5) Other.

67% answered “integrating O&M reporting with asset management” as the biggest area the industry as a whole needs to address on the analytics side.

Data Challenges
Bringing to bear his experience with over 1,500 MW of solar and wind energy, Ken Kostok of Alectris highlighted the wide variety of inputs realized in a data solution.

Inputs into system analysis include high and low frequency, performance maintenance and cost factors. In addition to the hundreds if not thousands of inputs, task management portfolio wide represents another significant challenge.

A full asset management and O&M package requires about 100 single (simple) tasks to be performed (excluding accounting).  Multiplied over a 40 PV plant geographically distributed portfolio result results in 40×100=4,000 such tasks, by which one starts to see the spreadsheet time consuming morass of such an endeavor.

Reducing Solar PV OPEX – The Difference Between Monitoring and a Solar ERP
A solid line can be drawn between the importance of actionable information to reduce the risk of solar PV investment and deliver returns to the investors and the critical nature of holistic, powerful data solutions.

“OPEX reduction and reliability improvements of solar PV plants through the use of sophisticated IT platforms” was outlined as a critical end result in this space by Vassilis Papaeconomou of Alectris.

Aspects of solar PV OPEX which can be addressed effectively with a more holistic approach to data generation and reporting include:

• Spare parts
• Preventative maintenance labor
• Corrective maintenance labor
• Software Costs (Monitoring & Management platforms)
• Asset Management cost and/or internal labor

The promise of effective management through Solar ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) Systems is realized because the Solar ERP integrates all the monitoring, operational data and asset management requirements of a plant or portfolio into a seamless suite of actionable intelligence.  Alectris launched the world’s first Solar ERP, ACTIS, in 2013.  This platform has gone on to win the “Facilities Management” award in Europe.

What is the difference between a monitoring system and a Solar ERP?  A monitoring system passively captures the outcome versus a management platform which actively helps manage efforts to improve the outcome.

The Solar ERP closes the loop between measuring results and the actions to influence these results. It is a transactional system with defined processes and workflows, adjusted to the organization’s needs for internal and external operations, together with an enhanced reporting interface.  Functionality covers monitoring, technical and financial aspects of the plant and portfolio.

Case Study – Resurrecting Italy Based Portfolio
Alectris team member, Emanuele Tacchino, walked the audience through a case study involving a distressed solar PV portfolio based in Italy.  The site, constructed between 2009 and 2010, consisted of 7 1-MWp sites of biaxial trackers.

This portfolio suffered from bad initial system design, lack of proper maintenance, a complete absence of proper monitoring and underperformance issues related to the lack of remedy for root cause malfunctions.  The result was a performance level up to 25% below base case scenario.

The case study, along with remedial steps including the installation of ACTIS can be found here.  Pictured below is the tracker energy generation pattern now aligned (right image) properly to the sun’s radiation.

Overall results from these remedial steps including adoption of the Solar ERP within the first year included a yield increase: +27%-33% achievable and a compressed payback time of 2 months for the remedial investment.

The Presenters
The team from Alectris who conducted the webinar represent the following industry perspectives:

• Vassilis Papaeconomou – experienced European based solar PV engineer, project developer and solar industry business leader.
• Ken Kostok – U.S. based solar professional who has managed the development and asset management of over 1500 MW’s of solar and wind clean energy generation in the U.S. and Canada. Ken is on the NREL Solar PV O&M Committee, a joint Sandia National Labs/EPRI.
• Emanuele Tacchino – Italy based business development expert with over a decade of experience in solar PV project management.

Software Providers at Solar Asset Management North America
One can see why next week’s Solar Asset Management event in San Francisco has drawn a host of software providers including Alectris.  Use discount code SAMNA15-ALECTRISREL if you have not registered yet for this Solarplaza event, the second U.S. event for this organizer on the exploding solar O&M and asset management sector.  Ken Kostok will address Maintenance Best Practices on day 1 of the event.

“Drowning in Solar Data, but Starving for Knowledge?” Webinar Resources
You can view the agenda and webinar video here.  Slides from the event are available here.

Glenna Wiseman has been a solar marketing executive since 2007 and is the founding partner of Identity³, a leading woman-owned communication firm in the clean energy space. Her expertise includes work with companies along the solar supply chain from manufacturers to installers, financing entities to solar O&M providers and across continents to international firms making a U.S. market entry. Twitter: @GlennaWiseman; @Identity3Co.  Email GWiseman@Identity3.com. 

Solar Power World

EnerNOC Inc., a leading provider of energy intelligence software (EIS), and SunPower Corp., a leading global provider of solar solutions, announced a strategic agreement that will enable SunPower’s customers to verify the impact of their solar energy investments and drive optimum energy savings with EnerNOC’s world-class energy intelligence platform. Under the three-year agreement, EnerNOC will exclusively offer SunPower solar solutions to its enterprise customer base, and SunPower will exclusively offer EnerNOC’s energy intelligence software to its commercial and industrial solar customers in the U.S. and Canada. As part of the agreement, SunPower will start deploying EnerNOC’s SaaS (software as a service) solution bundled with solar to its existing enterprise and institutional customers.

Solar Power World

SunLink Corporation continues to solidify its leadership position in the commercial and utility solar market by finalizing the acquisition of the SunLink ViaSol Tracker — proven on such high profile, multi-megawatt projects as Arizona State University and USAA’s Phoenix Campus sites, as well as a Southern California community solar project for NRG Energy. Applying SunLink’s engineering expertise to the tracker market for the first time, the SunLink ViaSol Tracker features installation and O&M benefits through the utilization of industry standard, off-the-shelf components and a streamlined design.

“As the leader in ground-mount solutions, SunLink is the perfect company to enhance and scale this proven single-axis tracker technology,” said Michael Maulick, CEO of SunLink. “We’ve been watching this segment with keen interest for quite some time, and now thanks to significant gains in module efficiencies, the economics of trackers have finally gotten to the point where an investment made sense for our company and for our customers. Lowered project costs, coupled with the current ground-mount market boom, motivated our move to command the tracker space with a reliable and extremely price-competitive solution for our partners.”

According to GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) in the U.S. Solar Market Insight 2014 Year in Review, 8.1 GW of PV is forecasted to be installed in 2015. Of that total, approximately 5 GW is likely to be utility-scale and commercial ground-mount projects. Now offering a full range of trusted fixed tilt and tracker ground-mount solutions, SunLink is better able to support customers that are tapping into this market potential, especially the more than 65 percent of ground-mount projects being built with tracker technology today.

SunLink’s ViaSol single-axis tracker features a robust central drive that delivers 25+ year durability, lower hardware costs and higher reliability while requiring significantly less maintenance than distributed driven products. Using drive components that have been proven over decades in the heavy equipment industry, each power unit drives up to 1 MW of solar modules. The product offers market-leading pricing in both the utility sector and the commercial space – particularly for commercial projects of 1 to 5 MW.

Attend the SunLink Webinar “Lessons from the Field: Comparing Single-Axis Tracker Technology”

Join Yury Reznikov and Daniel Tarico from SunLink’s Product Management team on Tuesday, April 14, at 11am PDT for a discussion on the pros and cons of tracker features, such as:

• Module supports, racks and bearings
• Actuator configurations
• Actuator mechanisms
• Tracker control systems

Webinar participants will learn how to weigh the costs and benefits of each tracker design alternative in the context of what is ideal for a given solar project and the ownership and operating requirements of the average 25-year tracker lifespan. To register, visit: http://sunlink.com/training/.

Solar Power World

Applied Energy Technologies (AET), a supplier of commercial and utility-scale racking systems, has received certification to the new UL 2703 standard on its Rayport-B ECO roof ballast solution. The Rayport-B series is an ideal system for EPCs looking for cost-effective, functional, lightweight, and durable PV rooftop racking.

Solar Power World

GRID Alternatives, the nation’s largest non-profit solar installer, and Grand Valley Power (GVP), an electric cooperative utility based in Grand Junction, CO, today announced an unprecedented partnership to develop and produce a community solar garden dedicated exclusively to rate-payers qualified as low-income. The first of its kind in Colorado, the 25-kW array will provide clean, renewable power to six to 10 families in the Grand Junction area, offsetting up to 90% of their electricity costs.

Solar Power World

Clean Power Finance (CPF) has brought together Panasonic Eco Solutions (Panasonic) and Coronal Group LLC (Coronal) with the State of Hawaii to finance up to $100 million of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. This public-private partnership is part of Hawaii’s Green Energy Market Securitization Program (GEMS). GEMS is a sustainable financing initiative of the Hawaii State Energy Office to make clean energy more affordable for and accessible to businesses and nonprofit organizations.

“The state engaged CPF to structure the product and identify experienced partners to provide significant electric bill savings to underserved non-profits and businesses in Hawaii,” said Sean Coletta, managing director at CPF. “We look forward to bringing clean, affordable energy to a broader demographic in Hawaii with a unique product that has the potential to serve as a model for other states and municipalities.”

GEMS is the first program in the United States to use rate reduction bonds, which are commonly used by utilities, to finance solar energy. The ability to tap a huge pool of municipal bond capital reduces financing costs for clean energy installations by minimizing overhead expenses and maximizing economies of scale.

“The Coronal-Panasonic platform provides long-term stability and peace of mind to GEMS customers. Our combined team is fully committed to the design, construction, long-term ownership and operation of solar PV systems,” said Jamie Evans, head of U.S. Eco Solutions at Panasonic. “Enabling access to solar energy for underserved customers through the GEMS Program is just the beginning. Over time, GEMS customers can access additional solutions through our ‘Energy-as-a-Service’ platform, forming a long-term relationship with one of the most trusted brands in the world.”

Coronal and Panasonic will initially provide tax equity and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services to installers in Hawaii who will originate the solar energy projects. CPF will work with the state of Hawaii to manage capital deployment and provide underwriting and origination services to the state and the Coronal-Panasonic team.

“Coronal is deeply committed to supporting the GEMS program, which we see as a major step toward removing barriers that have prevented many Hawaii nonprofits and small businesses from accessing solar energy,” said Jonathan Jaffrey, chairman and CEO of Coronal Group LLC. “We believe that through its success this program will provide others with a road map to engage these underserved markets.”

The state of Hawaii’s Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism initially engaged CPF to identify program partners for the commercial portion of GEMS because of CPF’s solar deal structuring expertise and ability to connect originators, installers and financing sources for solar energy.

Solar Power World

SunEdison, the world’s largest renewable energy development company, today announced that it plans to purchase up to 1,000 vanadium flow batteries (over 100 megawatt hours) from Imergy Power Systems, a leader in advanced energy storage solutions. The vanadium flow batteries will be used to store solar-generated electricity for SunEdison’s rural electrification and solar powered minigrid projects in India.

“Energy storage is the perfect complement to solar powered minigrids because it enables us to provide dependable, 24/7 electricity,” said Ahmad Chatila, President and Chief Executive Officer of SunEdison. “And Imergy’s technology is a great fit for rural electrification because their systems are high performance, low cost, ultra-durable and need very little maintenance.”

“Imergy is proud to be working with SunEdison to bring electricity to the under-served in rural India,” stated Bill Watkins, Chief Executive Officer of Imergy Power Systems. “Imergy’s storage systems are safe and sustainable, and provide the lowest cost and most reliable way to store energy for these minigrids.”

SunEdison will also increase its equity investment in Imergy. This strengthens the supply relationship between the two companies as SunEdison begins deployment of its extensive rural electrification program in India.

Solar Power World

Solar mounting manufacturer Roof Tech is offering one-on-one training webinars that cover best practices for installing its RT-[E] Mount Rail-less PV mounting system, which it says is designed for fast, easy installations on pitched asphalt roofs.

The webinar includes training on how to install the product to meet code and education on the engineering and rigorous testing that led to RT-[E] Mount’s ICC Evaluation report and UL2703 ETL classification. Those who complete the webinar will earn one NABCEP Continuing education credit.

The class is taught by Milton Nogueira, Business Development Manager at Roof Tech, who has an in-depth background in the solar PV industry and is an experienced technical educator.

For more information or to sign up for the webinar contact Milton at milton.n@roof-tech.us or call (415) 382-1036

Solar Power World

ABB, an automation technology group, and Samsung SDI, the manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries, have signed a memorandum of understanding to promote microgrid solutions globally.

The two companies will establish a global commercial alliance to develop and market modular and scalable microgrid solutions, utilizing lithium-ion batteries for energy storage.

The combination of ABB’s global market presence, its leadership in grid technology and its global service footprint with Samsung SDI’s leading lithium-ion battery technology will enable accelerated growth of the market. It will make microgrid solutions a viable alternative to promote and broaden access to electricity in emerging markets and remote areas while providing power reliability, resiliency and security to developed markets.

“ABB is very pleased to sign this Memorandum of Understanding with Samsung SDI. Microgrid applications are expanding rapidly, both in emerging and developed markets, and are a key growth area in ABB’s Next Level strategy,” said ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer. “This strategic alliance allows us to combine our complementary capabilities and will enable us to bring optimized solutions to our customers.”

“The alliance with ABB provides Samsung the basis to expand our global No. 1 position into the Microgrids market. Together with ABB we will make our utmost effort to develop new products and to pioneer new markets to keep on being the world’s best ESS company,” said Namseong Cho, President and CEO of Samsung SDI.

ABB will provide technologies for electrification, control optimization, stabilization and expert consulting services. Samsung SDI will provide the batteries and the battery management system. The alliance will further strengthen ABB’s and Samsung’s ability to supply advanced solutions to the global microgrid market.

Solar Power World

Advanced Energy Industries, Inc., a leader in precision power conversion solutions, announced the successful installation of its medium voltage three-phase string inverters at the 13MW Roves Farm solar park near Swindon, UK.

“Given Advanced Energy’s long-standing history of manufacturing quality string inverters, we were extremely confident in their ability to meet our expectations with regards to the park’s inverter system,” said Mark Hogan, Managing Director of Wirsol UK, the solar park developer. “After comparing them to a number of other European manufacturers, we found that Advanced Energy offered the optimal performance ratio and return on our investment.”

Norbert Apfel, Senior Vice President, Inverter Products, Advanced Energy  said, “When used with the relevant transformer, our medium voltage inverter offers 15 per cent more energy production than its low voltage alternative. This allows our customers achieve the maximum return on investment and energy production for the size and location of the solar park.”

With an input voltage range of 575 to 850 volts and an efficiency factor of more than 98%, the AE 3TL 23-MV is the ideal solution for medium voltage applications on large scale solar projects.  The AE 3TL 23-MV utilizes convection cooling with no moving parts to ensure high uptime and minimum maintenance, a lightweight power-weight ratio, and plug and play configuration to ensure the unit remains safely closed during installation.

Solar Power World

Will future energy systems run almost entirely on solar or other renewables or aim for an optimum mix of all energy resources? Will managing energy distribution remain primarily a utility function or will the grid evolve to give customers the ability to produce, buy and sell power locally.

These are some of the questions asked and answered, in many different ways—in proposals the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) has received in response to its 51st State Initiative, all of which are now publicly posted on the 51st State website. Launched last October, the initiative challenged people across the country to come up with ideas for a 21st-century energy system, built from the ground up, as if for a hypothetical 51st state with no regulations or market structures in place.

“What is exciting about these papers and their authors is that they reflect the broad and diverse range of perspectives and ideas we hoped the 51st State Initiative would attract,” said Julia Hamm, SEPA’s president and CEO. “We are in the midst of a period of enormous change in energy and utility markets, and each state will be making its own decisions about the direction it wants to take, so many different ideas and models are going to be needed.”

The organizations submitting their ideas range from utilities and industry trade groups, such as Arizona Public Service and the American Public Power Association—to a team of industry experts including Jon Wellinghoff, former chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Each paper has a unique slant or perspective, but some core ideas resonate across many:

• Business models focused on consumer choice and informed decision-making.
• Rate designs that incorporate the value of energy services and targeted system outcomes.
• Dynamic grid structures offering local control. resilience, and advanced data and communication functions.

The papers are being evaluated by the 51st State’s Innovation Review Panel, composed of five top thought leaders from the energy and utility sectors. They will choose three to five papers for further discussion and exploration at a series of forums and public events in coming months.

All papers available at www.sepa51.com

Authors include:

American Public Power Association: APPA 51st State Proposal

America’s Power Plan/Energy Innovation: An Adaptive Approach to Promote System Optimization

Arizona Public Service: Education Discussion on the Future of Solar Generation

Clean Power Finance and Stoel Rives LLC: The 51st State of Welhuton: Market Structures for a Smarter, More Efficient Grid

Graceful Systems LLC: A Blueprint for Electricity/Energy Services in Fertile Ground – the 51st State

Institute for Local Self-Reliance: Energy Democracy in the 51st State

Michael Jochum and Ankit Saraf: The Decentralized Grid

National Rural Electric Cooperative Association: The 51st State: A Cooperative Path to a Sustainable Future

North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center and the Pace Energy and Climate Center: The Sharing Utility: Enabling and Rewarding Utility Performance

Strategic Utility Management LLC: 2040 SEPA Fact Finding Mission to the 51st State

James A. White: The First 100% Solar Electric State

Wisconsin Energy Institute: Dynamic Distribution System

Solar Power World

The North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) is proud to announce its partnership with ProSight Specialty Insurance (ProSight). Through this partnership, NABCEP is able to add to their Benefits of Certification program, and launch an exclusive insurance offering for NABCEP Certified Professionals. The organizations have collaborated to promote NABCEP certification by offering insurance premium credits to qualified solar installation companies that have achieved NABCEP Company Accreditation or have Certified Professionals on staff.

“Our partnership with ProSight Specialty Insurance demonstrates how installation companies, and the solar industry as a whole, benefits from a trained and certified workforce,” said Richard Lawrence, Executive Director at NABCEP. “ProSight understands the risks associated with our industry and offers products that help meet the needs of solar installation professionals.”

As the solar industry’s most recognized and esteemed certification, there are many benefits that come with being a NABCEP Certified Professional. Certificants and Accredited Companies gain increased credibility and marketing value, giving them a competitive advantage over other solar professionals that do not hold the same certification or accreditation. This in turn provides greater career mobility and peer recognition.

NABCEP’s Benefits of Certification program demonstrates solar industry support through exclusive offers on products, services, and events. This new partnership with ProSight Specialty Insurance adds to the growing list of benefits available to NABCEP Certified Professionals and Accredited Companies.

“NABCEP certified contractors bring a ‘gold standard’ level of safety and skill to every project and we value NABCEP’s leadership and commitment to furthering educational excellence in the renewable energy industry,” said Mary Hughes, President of Energy at ProSight Specialty Insurance. “The premium credit was designed for qualified NABCEP certified practitioners because we know they have achieved a skill level in the field given the training and expertise associated with a NABCEP certification.”

This partnership comes just days before the 4th Annual Continuing Education Conference in Albany, NY, designed for NABCEP Certified Professionals who need continuing education credits in order to maintain their certification. ProSight will be at the conference from March 30 through April 1, to meet with attendees to discuss safety, risk management and the exclusive insurance offering for NABCEP certified professionals.

NABCEP/ProSight Partnership

 NABCEP

ProSight Specialty Insurance

Solar Power World

Ginlong and The PowerStore 
Solar and Wind distributor, The PowerStore (TPS) have strengthened its distribution partnership in the United States with Chinese Solar/Wind Inverter manufacturer, Ginlong (Solis) Inverters. TPS said that the modified agreement would allow them to expand their ability to better serve the lower cost arena. The deal will give their customers a choice depending on the budget of the end consumer.

SOLIS, a well recognized brand within the UK, Australia, Europe and Asia has become a reputable and respectable brand among global PV end users. With world-class design and quality, Ginlong (Solis) inverter products fulfill all The PowerStore’s business principles.

Commenting on the deal, Jim White, President of The PowerStore said, “We took a long time and considered many inverters for a lower cost option, we wanted to ensure we continued to offer our customers the same high quality they have been accustomed to, at a lower price point. Alongside our sister company CCL in the UK, we have been very impressed with the SOLIS units and can see continued growth within our range. With their excellent products and our excellent support and distribution model we feel it will continue to be a very successful relationship” Yiming (Jimmy) Wang, CEO of Ginlong Technologies said, “It is our pleasure to extend our relationship with US leading distributor ‘The Power Store’, and enhance the SOLIS Inverter position with in the USA. As the first UL 1741 certified string inverter from China, Ginlong over the last 6 years has built up loyal support by providing a broad product range, backed up with technical development and reliability”

Ginlong and CCL 
Solar, Wind & Energy Storage distributor CCL has strengthened its distribution partnership in the United Kingdom with Chinese Solar/Wind Inverter manufacturer, Ginlong (Solis) Inverters.

CCL said that the latest partnership with SOLIS would allow them to expand their ability to better serve the lower cost arena. The deal will give their customers a choice depending on the budget of the end consumer. SOLIS, a well-recognised brand in Australia, Europe, USA and Asia has become a reputable and respectable brand among global PV end users. With world-class design and quality, Ginlong (Solis) inverter products fulfil all CCL’s business principles.

Commenting on the deal, Paul R Brooks, Managing Director of CCL said, “We took a long time and considered other inverters for a lower cost option, we wanted to ensure we continued to offer our customers the same high quality they have been accustomed to, at a lower price point. Alongside our sister company The PowerStore Inc. (TPS) in the USA, we have been very impressed with the SOLIS units and can see continued growth within our range. With their excellent products and our excellent support and distribution model we feel it will be a very successful relationship”

Yiming (Jimmy) Wang CEO of Ginlong Technologies said, “It is our pleasure to extend our relationship with CCL and enhance the Solis Inverter position throughout the UK. CCL have a well-regarded position within the UK solar distribution sector and offer installers a premium level of support with their in-house technical support team. We look forward to working with CCL”

Solar Power World

Intersolar Europe will take place in Munich, Germany, June 10th and 12th. Fronius will be presenting new products and solutions relating to project business, software, inverters, service and storage at its stand B3.230.

“Intersolar Europe is a key event on our calendar every year. We are looking forward to showing visitors the latest products from Fronius. We will be exhibiting optimum solutions for current and future challenges relating to obtaining, controlling and storing power from renewable energy sources,” says Martin Hackl, head of the Solar Energy Division at Fronius International GmbH.

Project Solutions
When it comes to project solutions, Fronius has a whole range on offer at this year’s Intersolar. One of the solutions, the PV-Genset, combines diesel generators with photovoltaics in order to save fuel. The entire system is controlled by the Fronius PV system controller. Fronius also offers services for planning the PV-Genset system.

The Fronius Power Package is a system solution consisting of three to six Fronius Symo or two to four Fronius Eco inverters, a Fronius AC Combiner and pre-fabricated cables for the AC range and data monitoring. It is designed for project business. The advantages are easy scalability, practical spare parts management as well as easy installation and maintenance.

The Fronius Eco project inverter will be launched in May 2015. Available in power categories 25 and 27 kW, the three-phase device is thus the largest in the SnapINverter range.

The Fronius Agilo TL central inverter is also a must for project solutions. It is the world’s only central inverter that can be repaired and maintained on-site, meaning that any outage costs are kept to a minimum.

Software
As an inverter manufacturer, Fronius has been at the forefront of energy management for many years. Solutions for feed-in management and the energy management relay which is permanently integrated in the SnapINverter have become indispensable in this market, as have Fronius solutions for increasing self-consumption.

Fronius Connecting Energy stands for the high flexibility of Fronius devices which allows them to work with intelligent consumers. Thanks to their numerous open interfaces, Fronius inverters can be easily connected to third-party components, such as heat pumps or home automation systems. With cooperation partners such as Loxone home automation or Ochsner heat pumps, Fronius makes life easier for home owners. The benefits are a reduction in energy costs, an increase in self-consumption, maximum energy efficiency and easy installation.

As of Intersolar 2015, the Fronius Solar.web Premium PV monitoring portal will boast a range of additional practical features which sit alongside the familiar functions. It will soon be possible to export the self-consumption data and monitor at MPP tracker level. In addition to the power generation data, in the future the user will also have all self-consumption data at their disposal for all historic daily progression curves.

Inverters
There is huge demand for the new and ever increasing SnapINverter generation. The innovative range already contains six devices which have made an impression with their easy installation and maintenance. In the power categories from 1.5 to 27 kVA, they are particularly sought-after thanks to their fully future-proof interface design and their flexible application. The Fronius Primo and Fronius Eco inverters will be launched in the coming months.

Service
In the field of service solutions, customers can discover the benefits of Fronius expertise for themselves with the online SOS tool. This supports the installer during the servicing of Fronius Solar Energy products.

Repowering represents another key topic for Fronius at Intersolar. This is a simple solution designed for modernising existing photovoltaic systems. It increases the PV system’s performance and brings it up to date with the latest technological standards.

Storage
The Fronius Energy Package will be on display with the Fronius Symo Hybrid inverter, the Fronius Solar Battery and the Fronius Smart Meter. Two features of particular note are the high level of flexibility of the overall system and the Multi Flow Technology. Multi Flow Technology is a comprehensive approach to energy flow control, with which the inverter becomes an intelligent control centre for all current flows. With Multi Flow Technology all conceivable energy flows are possible, even at the same time. This increases self-consumption to the maximum possible level.

Solar Power World

Polar Racking, a North American leader in the design, engineering and manufacturing of PV mounting systems, has announced that its PRR Flush Mount Racking Solution has received UL2703 and ULC/ORD C1703 certification.

The PRR racking system is a versatile lightweight mounting solution, for use with a variety of applications including flush mounted shingle, metal, tile roofs, awning, BIPV and facade mounts. It provides an innovative clamping design featuring the Rotite Nut and integrated bonding, which is simple to install and saves time on the roof.

Polar Racking says the PRR’s UL2703 certification further proves the company’s commitment to high quality engineering and manufacturing of solar mounting solutions.

For more information on the PRR mounting solution, visit http://www.polarracking.com/, or view an installation video here.

Solar Power World

An online training workshop from Roof Tech covers best practices for installing the RT-[E] Mount Rail-less PV mounting system, which is designed for fast, easy installations on pitched asphalt roofs.

Attendees will learn how to install the product to meet code and learn more about the engineering and rigorous testing that led to RT-[E] Mount’s ICC Evaluation report and UL2703 ETL classification. This training will earn you one NABCEP Continuing education credit.

The class is taught by Milton Nogueira, who has an in-depth background in the solar PV industry and is an experienced technical educator. For more information or to sign up for the webinar, contact Milton at milton.n@roof-tech.us or call (415) 382-1036.

Solar Power World

With more and more solar coming onto the grid, solar plants are expected to provide greater grid management services. Much of this responsibility falls on the inverter. To tell us why and more, Managing Editor Kathie Zipp spoke with Soonwook Hong, Power Systems Engineering Manager at inverter manufacturer Solectria Renewables. Here’s a recap of his answers below. To hear more, listen to the full interview.

Kathie: Michael as I understand, in the past when there were fewer solar installations connected to the grid, interconnection was pretty simple. I But as more and more solar is coming online and being connected to the grid, grid operators are asking these plants to have more sophisticated grid control. Why is this necessary? And what exactly are they asking from solar plants?

Soonwook: There are two major aspects to why special grid control functions are required: Power flow and voltage. The distribution system was designed to deliver power from generation, transmission, down to distribution feeder. All equipment protections were configured with this type of infrastructure in mind.  As the aggregated solar installation grows, the power can flow from the distribution feeder to the transmission network or other distribution networks, which is called backfeeding. This conflicts with the protection coordination in utility infrastructure. The inverter can be used to prevent this by limiting the maximum power generation.

Also, when a distributed generation (DG) source generates power, the DG terminal voltage is increased to deliver power to the load. This voltage rise needs to be maintained so that it will not cause any damage to the equipment connected to the feeder. Inverters can control the output voltage by providing the reactive power. The inverter can also be used to regulate the voltage fluctuations caused by load changes or weather. Other than the functions described, voltage and frequency ride through functions are used to increase the distribution line stability. Slew rate control is used to increase power quality.

Kathie: Why does most of this responsibility fall on the inverter? In the past, the inverter’s main job has been to convert DC to AC, but what other tasks will inverters increasing be expected to do?

Soonwook: Inverter technology has been used in the industry since the 1960s to control voltage, current, frequency and power. So far, we have not needed to use those existing capabilities because the DG installation size was not large and the functions were not needed. As PV installation capacity increases, the influence of PV plants on the grid is significant so these functions are being discussed as options or requirements. Other tasks for inverters in PV projects includes coordinated operation with energy storage systems, microgrids and islanded operation. These are not as popular yet, but there’s great potential for these to be used in near future.

Kathie: I’ve heard inverter manufacturers say that their inverters already have these “smart” features and are able to handle these tasks. Is this true, do inverter manufacturers have any concerns about more demands on their products?

Soonwook: Yes, Kathie. Some of the functions are available with software changes only, and at Solectria, we have provided functions like power factor control or power curtailment to some large scale projects. Most of the functions discussed in the industry can be achieved with relatively minor hardware changes. Regarding concerns on more demand, there are a couple that I would like to point out.

1) To provide the grid supporting functions, there is a possibility that inverters may need to limit power generation and provide reactive power instead. The business model for how to compensate the site owner for the loss of generation or how to compensate for the generation of the reactive power have not been resolved yet. I know these are being discussed in smart grid consortium.

2) To provide grid supporting functions, the inverter operating profile will be changed. The inverters may need to operate more hours a day or at high loading conditions, which make the internal components run hotter and reduces their life. So, the inverter cost and reliability model can be dependent on the functions to be used.

Kathie: Can you explain how guidelines and standards come into play? 

Soonwook: Yes, at first, it is not easy to meet all requirements defined in the standard. Still, the industry standard is a great infrastructure that everybody benefits from. When the industry uses a standard product, the manufacturers can use the same processes and materials to make equipment, the customers can purchase the inverters at reduced prices and the operators can use a universal interface to control them. It is a must to promote DGs on the grid.

The European grid codes and case studies have been widely used to develop the IEEE and U.S. industry standards. In the case of Hawaii, the penetration level is high and the grid size is relatively limited, so they came up with their own requirement. Also, the California Rule 21 consortium is leading the standard development effort and more utility companies join the consortium. I believe these efforts will benefit the industry and develop a standard that everyone can use for at least the North American market.

Still, there are 3000 utility companies in U.S. and each has different policies. We expect the industry standard committee will continue to develop a requirement considering different utility requirements and operating policies.

The hosting capacity is defined to be the size of possible DG installation for a feeder. Because of the voltage and backfeeding issues, the maximum installation size is limited by the utility company. However, this hosting capacity can be increased by using these special grid supporting functions. So, you can consider these functions to be the way to install more DGs in the distribution feeders.

Solar Power World

RBI Solar has launched a new mobile-optimized website. As more customers use mobile devices as their primary internet access point, the need for a mobile-optimized website became evident. This is the next step taken by RBI to stay ahead of emerging technologies after launching the solar shading app last year.

The new website design brings a richer experience to the home page and throughout the website. This new design will make the RBI Solar website easier to use and enhance the multi-device user experience. The very popular and complementary solar shading app is still accessible from the new site.

The new RBI site has extensive content related to solutions, services, resources and details of our rich heritage. The “Solutions” section was our main focus of the new redesign. Every possible effort was made to provide our existing and prospect customers with all of the basic information at their fingertips. Additionally, the new design still places a great emphasis on project pictures.

“Our goal is to bring all of the features of the website to the mobile user while providing a rich and seamless experience across desktop and mobile platforms,” said Bill Vietas, RBI Solar General Manager. “Users visiting RBI’s website from a mobile device are automatically redirected to the mobile version on their devices.”

“We have redesigned our mobile site to improve the user experience and increase download speed. Our customers are busy and on the go, so it is our responsibility to provide an information exchange platform that matches their life style.” said Harman Kaur Marketing manager, RBI Solar.

Solar Power World

Applied Energy Technologies (AET), a supplier of commercial and utility-scale racking systems, was selected by Microgrid Energy to provide its Rayport- B Roof Mounting Solution for a 128 kW solar system at the Robert A. Young Federal Building in St. Louis, Missouri. The project, installed by Microgrid, is comprised of 416 solar modules to bring power to the businesses housed within the building.

“Microgrid Energy has a strong history of bringing solar energy to the St. Louis community,” said Aaron Faust, VP of Business Development at AET. “We are proud to be a preferred partner of Microgrid and constantly strive to deliver the highest quality product as they have come to expect from us.”

“Rack performance and installation time are important factors to consider when selecting a solar mounting provider. AET’s commitment to its customers is evident in its efficient product design, on-time delivery and install coordination. AET’s team provided exceptional support throughout the project and we look forward to working with them in the future,” said Todd Velnosky, Chief Operating Officer of Microgrid Energy, LLC.

The Rayport-B stainless steel roof ballast system fits all major solar modules available on the market today and is available in a variety of configurations. It is ETL listed to UL 2703, wind tunnel tested to 120 mph. The Rayport-B is quick and easy to install, and is available for immediate shipment.

AET’s engineers are constantly delivering innovative, high quality solutions to meet the needs of solar racking customers. AET’s solar racking products are designed to save valuable installation time, help minimize installation-related maintenance issues and work within developer and EPC budgets.

Solar Power World