PHOTOVOLTAICS CENTRAL INVERTERS Innovations for the markets of the future Are there any new developments in the central inverter market segment? How do companies assess their future prospects in this segment? What markets are they eyeing and what products do they have in their lines? SUN & WIND ENERGY posed these questions to a number of manufacturers and presents an overview of central inverters. PV power plant in Japan or most manufacturers, it is not the new break- ing box, as the DC circuit breakers are already with central inverters throughs but the day-to-day grind of sales and integrated in the device. This results in cost savings from SMA Fservice that play a dominant role in their busi- and significantly reduced planning and installation.” Photo: SMA Solar Technology AG ness, hinted Christoph Lapczyna, Senior PR Manager The solar farm, continues Lapczyna, fulfills all the at Bosch Powertec GmbH. He knew of no significant requirements for feed-in management. The approxi- issues in his company at present, other than the mately 60-acre facility was built on the brownfield necessary adjustments, to transfer protocols for con- site of a former NATO airport. trollers and regulators, which companies constantly have to make for different countries. After all, busi- On the question of trends, concepts and develop- nesses have to make money and provide service to ments, Jun Huo, Marketing Department Field customers. Lapczyna painted a positive picture of the Application Engineer for Shanghai Chint Power future prospects for central inverters: “The potential Systems Co., Ltd. said that the biggest challenge in is far from exhausted. Roofs on commercial proper- central inverters was offering the customer high ties are particularly attractive for self-consumption quality performance over the full voltage and power systems. For space reasons, as well as their quick and range, along with high system efficiency and reliability. easy installation, pre-assembled inverter stations are Manufacturers also had to strive to create better topol- Speaking Italian or very attractive in this segment. For ground-mounted ogies and higher system power capacities in order to systems so-called outdoor inverters are currently further reduce BOS costs in relation to the overall in- Turkish? seeing a surge in popularity. However, topologies vestment, he said. Moreover, the market needed more We are combining our focus on with three-phase string inverters represent an inter- turnkey systems in which inverters, DC distribution selected markets with a main esting alternative for various reasons.” systems, communication equipment and all of the distribution of the magazines necessary accessories could be housed in a separate at the most important events, Bosch Powertec GmbH equipped a 33 MW project building or container. Chint sees the regions of South plus individual mailing in rele- with inverter stations in Ahlhorn, Germany in 2012. America, South Africa, China, Europe, the Middle East vant countries. In this issue According to the company, it installed 23 of its and Southeast Asia as lucrative future markets. there will not only be the usual 1,200 kVA stations and 2 of its 900 kVA (AC) stations. contributions in English, but They contain a total of 98 central inverters of the new Andreas Schlumberger, Director of Corporate also extra translations into BPT-C series, which includes devices with AC outputs Communications at KACO new energy GmbH, sees Italian and Turkish language. If of 200, 300 and 350 kVA. “With a maximum efficien- three trends that apply specifically to the central you live in T urkey or Italy, you cy of 98.7 % and a European efficiency of 98.5 %, the inverter market: keen price competition, an increase may find a compiled transla- BPT-C inverters are the most efficient in their class,” in output capacities, and a trend toward product sup- tion of this article at the end of writes Lapczyna. “The completely new concept of the pliers becoming system suppliers that take into this magazine. BPT-C series eliminates the need for a generator dock- account specific customer specifications. “One of the 70 Sun & Wind Energy 3/2014 concepts we are responding with,” says Schlumberger, Agilo outdoor central “is our IPS (Integrated Power Station) with a capacity inverters from Fronius of 2 MW, which we will bring to market this summer. Photo: Fronius International Like its 1.1 MW predecessor, it includes all of the necessary components, so that all that is left to do is connect the PV plant and install the grid connection from the integrated transformer.” In the German- speaking region, and in many other parts of Europe, Schlumberger does not see any great opportunities at present. “We see good market opportunities in North and South America, as well as in the Middle East and Asia. However, customer-specific equipment adaptations present major challenges.” The Austrian manufacturer Fronius International sees new requirements for central inverters installed out- doors. “Basically, the issue is the variety of environ- mental factors, such as sunlight, rain and snow to which the devices are exposed,” writes Andrea Schartner, Team Leader of Communications. “Our outdoor central inverters already meet these high re- quirements. In addition, at Fronius, development is ongoing. Our tests exceed the standards, particular- ly in the area of quality.” Thanks to new markets in the USA, Australia and India, the company sees great potential and therefore is developing central inverters “Europe is likely to remain an important market for specifically for this segment which meet the needs of photovoltaics and thus also for central inverters. We’ll these markets as well as new technical and environ- see our greatest growth mainly in North America. mental demands. We’ve been represented there for almost ten years by According to Schartner, Fronius sees the growth a branch office and sales teams. This investment potential of individual PV markets in 2014 as follows: early on has resulted in a significant market share Solar Edition 71 PHOTOVOLTAICS CENTRAL INVERTERS Central inverters at a glance Company Products (selected) Max. input DC voltage AC nominal AC nominal Max. effi- Euro-effi- Protection Weight W/H/D [mm] power (kW) range MPP [V] output [kW] voltage [V] ciency [%] ciency [%] [IP xx] [kg] ABB PVS800-57-0100kW-A 120 450...825 100 300 98.0 97.5 42 550 1,030/2,130/646 PVS800-57-0250kW-A 300 450...825 250 300 98.0 97.6 42 1,100 1,830/2,130/646 PVS800-57-0315kW-B 380 525...825 315 350 98.6 98.3 42 1,100 1,830/2,130/646 PVS800-57-0500kW-A 600 450...825 500 300 98.6 98.2 42 1,800 2,630/2,130/646 PVS800-57-0630kW-B 756 525...825 630 350 98.6 98.4 42 1,800 2,630/2,130/646 PVS800-57-0875kW-B 1,050 525...825 875 350 98.7 98.5 42 2,600 3,630/2,130/646 PVS800-57-1000kW-C 1,200 600...850 1,000 400 98.8 98.6 42 2,600 3,630/2,130/646 AEG Power Protect PV.560 500...680 385...1,000 560 283 98.4 98.2 20 1,650 2,700/1,800 Solutions (+230 fans)/600 Protect PV.690 630...890 465...1,000 690 345 98.4 98.2 20 1,800 2,700/1,800 (+230 fans)/600 Protect PV.880 800...1,150 486...1,000 880 360 98.9 98.6 20 1,850 2,700/1,800 (+230 fans)/600 Bonfiglioli Vectron RPS 450 Compact 0170 170 425...875 150 400 96.7 95.9 20 1,100 1,200/1,700/800 RPS 450 Compact Outdoor 170 425...875 150 400 96.7 95.9 54 1,100 800/1,950/1,200 0170 RPS TL 1580 1,587 550...875 1,400 360 98.6 98.4 20 4,100 2,100/5,000/800 RPS TL Modular Outdoor 220 545...875 200 360 98.6 98.4 54 900 800/1,950/1,200 0220 RPS TL-UL 1400 1,587 550...850 1,400 360 98.6 98.4 20 4,100 5,000/2,100/800 RPS ND 0500 650 550...875 500 360 98.6 98.4 20 900 1,210/2,120/610 Bosch Powertec BPT-C 200 260 530...800 200 300 98.7 98.3 20 1,250 1,800/1,600/800 GmbH BPT-C 300 360 530...800 300 300 98.7 98.5 20 1,250 1,800/1,600/800 BPT-C 350 400 580...800 350 315 98.7 98.5 20 1,250 1,800/1,600/800 Shanghai Chint CPS SCA500KTL-H 565 450...820 500 270/315 98.5 98.3 20 1,500 1,810/2,170/800 Power Systems CPS SCA630KTL-H 650 500...820 630 320 98.5 98.3 20 1,500 1,810/2,170/800 Co.,Ltd. CPS PSW1M 1,130 450...820 1,000 270/315 98.5 98.3 20 9,000 6,058/2,896/2,438 CPS PSW1.26M 1,300 500...820 1,260 320 98.5 98.3 20 9,000 6,058/2,896/2,438 Danfoss GmbH QLX U1 1000 (US market) 1,250 450...950 1,000 285 >98 97.5 NEMA 3R 3,200 4,000/2,200/1,100 outdoor QLX U1 1250 (US market) 1,500 560...950 1,250 355 >98 97.5 NEMA 3R 3,200 4,000/2,200/1,100 outdoor QLX U1 1500 (US market) 1,750 680...950 1,500 430 >98 97.5 NEMA 3R 3,200 4,000/2,200/1,100 outdoor Fronius International Fronius CL 33.3 Delta 44.75 230...500 33.3 208 95.9 n/a NEMA 3R 300 1,105/1,945/797 Fronius CL 36.0 57.9 230...500 36 230/400 95.9 95.3 20 248 1,105/1,830/722 Fronius Agilo 75.0-3 117.4 460...820 75 230/400 97.3 96.7 30/54 760 1,100/1,884/700 Fronius Agilo 100.0-3 156.6 460...820 100 230/400 97.3 96.6 30/54 834 1,100/1,884/700 Fronius Agilo 75.0-3 117.4 460...820 75 230/400 97.3 96.7 44/55 732 1,204/1,913/862 Outdoor Fronius Agilo 100.0-3 156.6 460...820 100 230/400 97.3 96.6 44/55 806 1,204/1,913/862 Outdoor KACO new energy Powador XP500-HV TL 600 550 500 3x370 98.5 98.2 21 1,656 2,400/2,120/870 Powador XP550-HV TL 660 550 550 3x370 98.5 98.2 21 1,656 2,400/2,120/870 Powador XP500-HV TL 600 550 500 3x370 98.7 98.3 54 2,200 2,600/2,125/860 outdoor Powador XP550-HV TL 660 550 550 3x370 98.7 98.3 54 2,200 2,600/2,125/860 outdoor KACO blueplanet 1000 1,050 550 1,000 3x370 98.7 98,0 54 3,000 3,110/2,120/1,000 TL3 5) LTi Reenergy PVM3-59-350-EM 385 590/920 350 390 98.6 98.2 00 (54) 400 1,200/2,000/500 PVM3-58-333-EM 366 580/920 333 370 98.6 98.2 00 (54) 400 1,200/2,000/500 PVM3-59-350-EM 310 570/920 283 350 98.6 98.2 00 (54) 400 1,200/2,000/500 Power-One PVI-330 354 485...800 330 400 96.7 95.5 20 1,750 1,250/2,184/850 (continues on next page) PVI-400-TL 430 570...800 400 380 98.0 97.7 20 1,150 1,250/2,184/850 ULTRA-700.0-TL-OUTD 824 645...850 780 690 98.7 98.2 65 3,000 3,000/2,938/1,520 ULTRA-1050.0-TL-OUTD 1,240 645...850 1,170 690 98.7 98.2 65 3,800 3,700/2,938/1,520 ULTRA-1400.0-TL-OUTD 1,660 645...850 1,560 690 98.7 97.7 65 4,600 4,400/2,938/1,520 72 Sun & Wind Energy 3/2014 which we want to increase in the coming year.