Deployment has been completed on a 50 MW grid-connected solar power project in Golmud, China. With investment from Qinghai Huaheng New Energy Co., Ltd, the project began in April 2015, using the Huawei smart PV solution. The system will generate power to the grid by the end of 2015. Completion of this project will further promote smart PV applications and stimulate the development of green solar energy.
Combating desertification and exploiting the value of the desert through PV
The Huaheng New Energy 50 MW project is located in the PV park at the eastern exit of Golmud city and covers about 107 hectares. Large sand dunes have formed in the center of the park due to strong winds. The construction team took measures to guard against desertification during construction. For example, they bulldozed small sand dunes and stabilized large ones. These measures increased the park area and improved the park environment. In addition, the project does not require an inverter room, which reduces the amount of land required for construction.
Smart and efficient PV controller builds sample PV project
In the electrical part of the project, every six PV strings connect to a Huawei SUN2000-40KTL smart PV controller. The AC output voltage after combination is boosted to 35 kV, which is then directed to the booster station and increased to 110 kV for grid connection. The data collector in the monitoring system collects data from electrical devices in all PV arrays, including the inverter, combiner box electricity meter, and transformer protection measurement and control equipment.
The SUN2000-40KTL sm art PV controller is one of the project highlights. According to grid-connected PV inverter China efficiency technical conditions, the latest and most stringent efficiency test standards released by authoritative test institutes in the PV industry, Huawei SUN2000-40KTL is ranked number one in terms of "China efficiency" (up to 98.41%). Compared with its counterparts, European efficiency and California efficiency, China efficiency takes factors such as the solar radiation resource and temperature in typical areas in China into account. Therefore, China efficiency can accurately reflect the energy yields of PV inverters during operation and better evaluate the features of inverters used in China. The China efficiency evaluation system is more suitable for evaluating inverter efficiency in China.
Distinctive value of LTE and PLC technologies
Smart PV LTE transmission technology is another highlight of this project. LTE communication deployment is simple, resolving the issue that communications cable faults are difficult to locate and simplifying construction and O&M. In addition, adopting LTE communication improves network transmission flexibility and strengthens network transmission security and reliability. Furthermore, new smart devices such as drones and smart PV terminals have been introduced, which further improve the plant's O&M efficiency and intelligence.
Power line communication (PLC), instead of RS485 communications cables, is used for intra-array communication. The latest 4G LTE network rather than a fiber ring network is used for communication insi de the power plant . The LTE transmission technology applied in the project has the following advantages.
1. Fast deployment
A single site can cover 10 kilometers. No fiber or fiber trench is required, which allows fast deployment. Fiber deployment for a conventional power plant takes more than two weeks. In contrast, LTE communication network deployment takes only half a day.
2. Low delay
End-to-end transmission over a highly secure and reliable LTE network provides a delay of less than 50 ms and carrier-grade security and reliability up to 99.999%.
3. Simplified maintenance
The flat network architecture simplifies operations and maintenance, eliminates communications cable faults, and avoids the issue of difficult to locate fiber faults.
4. High-speed transmission
LTE transmission is based on 4G technology and can achieve a peak rate of 100 Mbps. Huaheng New Energy Co., Ltd is a subsidiary of Qinghai Province Green Electric Power Corp., Ltd, Qinghai's largest PV power company which has three years' experience in the PV industry. The company owns 14 utility-scale grid-connected PV plants with an installed capacity of 165 MW. Qinghai Province Green Electric Power Corp., Ltd's extensive experience in plant operation will help Huaheng New Energy in power plant quality control and O&M.
Successful deployment of the Golmud 50 MW PV plant by Qinghai Huaheng Ne w E ne rg y f urt he r de m o nst ra t e s Qinghai Province Green Electric Power's competitiveness in the PV industry and implements a green power concept, laying a solid foundation for the company to explore new energy sources in the future.
FR:Shine Maganine