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Solar Solutions and

Large PV Power Plants

Oscar Araujo

Business Development Director -

Americas

Schneider Electric 2- Renewable Energy – Oscar Araujo

Solar Business of Schneider Electric

●The Solar Business of Schneider Electric is focused on designing and

developing renewable energy products and solutions and providing

best-in-class, global customer services and technical support.

●Our innovative products help you to get the most efficient solar harvest

from your installation, and you benefit from having a single supplier for

all of your components. Our products and solutions are present at every

link in the energy chain and contribute to your total energy savings.

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Brief history…

●Antoine Becquerel first described the photovoltaic effect in

1839, and Albert Einstein explained the mechanisms in

1912

● When a material is exposed to sunlight, exposed atoms

release electrons

● The « free » Electrons create a continuous low voltage

● In the 1950s teams of Bell Laboratories manufactured the

first crystalline silicon cell

● First commercial applications with space programs

●A real interest born from the second oil shock (early 1980)

for terrestrial energetic applications

● In 1963 the first cells are installed in Japan

● Today, photovoltaic cells are present in various applications

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Solar Farms(few megawatt)

General public

applications(few watts)

Installation in the

residential(1 to 5 kW)

Some examples of applications…

Installations in

buildings(few 100 kW)

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A cell

Current generation

●A photovoltaic cell is made from a

slice of silicon70 mm

● The electrons will recombine with

holes through the external circuit to

balance the junction :

A direct electrical current

is generated

● The silicon is doped with impurities.

This creates an area with excess

electrons (N zone) and a deficit of

electrons or holes (P zone)

●The energy of photons from the sun

will release electrons

-P doped zone

N doped zone

300 m

+ ++

--

+

-

+

-

Photons

+-

A slice of silicon

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The main manufacturing technologies

●Mono crystalline silicon cells ( M-Si )

● Higher efficiency

● Quite high manufacturing costs

●Poly crystalline silicon cells ( P-Si )

● Widely used

● Cheaper than mono crystalline

●Thin film or amorphous silicon cells ( a-Si )

● Lower efficiency but better than crystalline on diffuse radiation

● Cheaper than polycrystalline

● Suitable to large building projects , roof or cladding systems

● Flexible and lightweight

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●Energy production

● A photovoltaic generator produces

DC

Junction box

Inverter

Protection enclosure

Raccordement

au réseau

Photovoltaïc

generator

●Energy conversion

● An inverter converts direct current

into alternating current .

●The connection and protection of

continuous and alternative circuits

● Junction boxes

● DC and AC protection enclosures

=

Structure of a photovoltaic system

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Off Grid and

Solar Back-up

Power Systems

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Residential Grid-Tie Systems

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Small Commercial Grid-Tie Systems

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Utility Scale

Grid-Tie Systems

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Schneider position and offer: leader in

offering the lowest LCOE possible

production

O&M costs investment

Financingcosts

taxes

Increase

O&M efficiency

Offer high level of

Equipment reliability

Decrease

Construction price

Life time

High level of Bankability

By Reduction of risks

Reduction of

Construction time

Decrease

O&M costs

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90%

95%

100%

105%

110%

115%

120%

125%

130%

135%

140%

145%

150%

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

Price (100% for 24 MW)

MW

The Bigger – The Better

Below 10 MW, CAPEX is strongly increased

CAPEX as a function of size

●As an example, cost of electricity is increased by 15% if the power plant

size is 5 MW instead of 50 MW

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How is a Solar Farm Built ?

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Civil work :

Land leveled if needed,

Screws or piles are positioned to

support structures

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Structures :

Aluminum or steel construction

Pre-assembled or easy to put

together on-site

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Modules :

Crystalline or thin-film

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Array boxes :

Connect strings

Cables are usually trenched

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PVBox for Power

conversion

Includes

Inverters

Transformers

MV protection

Cooling equipment

Typical Size: 1MW

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Large power plants are made of 1MW

(or larger) blocks

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Grid-Tie Substation

Includes

transformers

Circuit breakers

energy meters

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Large power plants are just

" Copy-and-Paste " of smaller blocks

Olmedilla, Spain,

60 MW

● 1MW (or larger blocks) 20 000m²

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Schneider Electric offers a

comprehensive solution

7 % - Engineering &

Commissioning

15 % - Cables &

Electrical installation

27 % - Schneider Electric

equipment

36 % - Screws, structures

& panel mounting

15 % - Civil works

50 % - Civil work

Structures

Electrical Equipment

50 % - Panels

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SE Business Models

Products/Equipment

Inverters

Transformers

Switchgears

Solution Package:

PV Box

Grid Box

Array Box

Monitoring/SCADA

Electrical EPC

Adequate packages +

Project Management

Electrical Engineering

Electrical Installation

Security system

Operations and Maintenance Services

Commitment on availability level

1

2

3

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