SMA has revamped its Medium Voltage Block for even greater risk reduction, cost optimization, simplicity and convenience. An integral part of the Utility Power System, it pairs seamlessly with SMA’s new line of central inverters: the Sunny Central 1850-US, 2200-US and 2500-EV-US. The Medium Voltage Block is available for delivery and includes the medium-voltage transformer, AC bus bar kit and optional tracker auxiliary rack.
“The new Medium Voltage Block further advances the level of integration in SMA’s Utility Power System, creating the lowest-risk, highest-return utility-scale solution available to the North American PV market,” said Marko Wittich, SMA executive vice president of sales for the Americas region. “At SMA, we are always striving to develop and improve technologies that not only increase plant production, but also our customers’ bottom lines.”
The Medium Voltage Block is specifically designed for the unique requirements of a PV application. It is a simplified solution mechanically, based on the layout of a traditional ANSI pad mount transformer, with low-voltage connections positioned horizontally in plane with the output bus bars of the inverter. To enable this shorter connection scheme, the low-voltage connections have been relocated to the side of the medium-voltage transformer, in their own connection flange. All of the necessary hardware for installation, including the busway, bus bars, grounding straps, connection hardware, and transformer monitoring cable sets, are included. These conveniently kitted components offer vastly simplified field integration, requiring as little as one man hour, while eliminating the need for skid solutions that increase the total installed system cost and logistical complexity.
Engineered to minimize risk, the Medium Voltage Block has been fully type tested and validated at SMA’s state-of-the-art engineering facility to meet the needs of PV applications with a 25-year service life. Its space-optimized design with a 22 percent smaller footprint reduces shipping costs while fewer components and easy access maximize serviceability. Transformer monitoring, communicated through the inverter MODBUS registries, reports the health of the transformer, including analog values for temperature and pressure, which enables trend-based predictive maintenance that can considerably reduce O&M complexity.
News item from SMA America