ABB has brought some good news for solar photovoltaic power project developers who look to squeeze out additional revenue in an increasingly competitive market scenario.
ABB has started shipping its latest PVS980 central inverter that significantly increases the incoming power from the solar power panels. The company also claims that developers will now have to use lesser number of inverters.
The PVS980 increases the incoming power from solar power modules by 40% meaning more power being converted from DC to AC and fed to the grid. This would effectively mean that developers will have to install lesser number of panels to feed a given amount of electricity into the grid, thus resulting in less capital investment.
Developers will also save on the cost of putting up inverters. ABB claims that by using PVS980 project developers will be able to reduce the number of inverters required to be installed by 30%. This will translate into huge savings as inverters represent one of the costliest components of the solar PV project.
The inverter was first introduced as a concept at Intersolar 2015 and the company has now started shipping the product following tests in pilot projects and strong interest from customers.
“ABB engineers have improved the compactness of the device, enabling a power density increase of more than 40 percent making it possible to build large power rated inverters in the same physical size. Avoiding external air entering the critical compartments of the inverter, the inverter can operate from below freezing to extreme heat in 100 percent humidity without jeopardizing functionality,” ABB said in a statement.
Such inverter solutions are critical for the financial sustainability of projects in highly competitive markets. ABB is the largest inverter supplier in India where solar PV tariff have plummeted from around US¢19.00/kWh in 2010 to US¢6.50/kWh in 2016. ABB is also supplying inverters to the solar power project with the world’s lowest tariff – Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum solar park in Dubai.
Photo courtesy of vectoropenstock.com for CleanTechies
1 comment
The Author has misunderstood the characteristics of this inverter. It is not claimed to be more efficient. Inverter efficiencies are already in the high nineties. There is very little extra to gain in that direction.
By greater density they mean the same size enclosure can handle more power. This will save on the number of inverters if there is a limit on the size of the inverters. 5 inverters rated at 1.4MW will handle the same power as 7 inverters rated at 1MW.
However it will not cut the number of panels. Both systems will require 7MW of panels to fully load the panels.
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