DefiningBankabilityforEachStepofaPVProjectUsingIECRESarahKurtz

July12,2016IntersolarNorthAmerica,SanFrancisco

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NREL•  Mission:Developclean

energyandenergyefficiencytechnologiesandprac4ces,advancerelatedscienceandengineering,andprovideknowledgeandinnova4onstointegrateenergysystemsatallscales

•  PVreliability:Elucidatethesciencebehindpriori4zedreliabilityissuesandapplyresultstodefineandimplementusefulstandards

NaEonalRenewableEnergyLaboratoryGolden,CO

1 FY 2017 Annual Plan – TRANSMITTAL DRAFT – May 13, 2016

1. MISSION/OVERVIEW

From breakthroughs in fundamental science to new clean energy technologies to integrated energy systems that power our lives, NREL researchers are transforming the way the nation and the world use energy.

Founded in 1977 as the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI), NREL is the only federal laboratory solely dedicated to the research, development, commercialization, and deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. The Alliance for Sustainable Energy manages NREL under a performance-based contract to the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).

In the first chapter of NREL’s history, its research was instrumental in enabling the emergence of a national and global renewable energy industry, particularly evident in solar, wind, and biofuels. NREL’s solar research yield advances in thin-film PV materials and high-efficiency, multi-junction solar cells, helped launch several successful companies and made solar photovoltaics one of the fastest-growing energy sectors. NREL’s wind turbine design codes, innovations in components and blades, and its capabilities in validating performance of prototype blades and turbines have supported the wind industry in lowering the cost of electricity to 4-7 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh). NREL’s research in biofuels led to a greater understanding of photosynthetic systems of hydrogen, fuel, and chemical production; as well as genetic and pathway engineering of micro-organisms. Its knowledge and know-how supported the emergence of the first integrated biorefineries in the United States. As the market began to mature and the uptake of first generations of technologies began to scale up, NREL added systems integration research to its portfolio with an initial focus on the important topic of grid integration.

The relevance and impact of NREL’s research has been acknowledged with 58 R&D 100 awards since 1982. NREL continues to lead the national laboratory system in partnerships through which NREL innovations and knowledge are transferred to the market. Partnering to achieve market impact is an essential part of NREL’s DNA.

At this time, the key question is what is next for NREL? With the early commercial successes, some might suggest that the mission has been accomplished. However, we are only at the very early stages of a transition. The agreements reached at the Conference of the Parties (COP) 21 in Paris point the way to the significant transformation that is required to achieve the long-term vision of keeping the global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius and driving efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. This will require market uptake of clean energy technologies at an unprecedented pace and scale and new system operating strategies. It will require more than deployment of today’s technology to achieve scale at an acceptable cost and with the performance and resiliency required to sustain reliable operation. A much deeper understanding of the systems of systems that surrounds and interacts with engineered energy production and use systems is needed both to guide technology and system innovation and the areas of scientific discovery that will provide the foundation for transformative innovation as well as to create a viable roadmap that ensures the fidelity of actions toward the vision. With these factors in mind, Alliance has set a course for NREL that will reinvigorate its science culture and position NREL as the focal point for innovation in this next phase of clean energy research and development.

The laboratory’s mission is to develop clean energy and energy efficiency technologies and practices, advance related science and engineering, and provide knowledge and innovations to integrate energy systems at all scales.

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•  MoEvaEonforcreaEonofIECRE:HaveconfidencethataPVplantwillsafelyperformaspromisedandreducecostatthesameEme

•  Strategy(achieveconfidenceatminimalcost)•  Stepstoconfidence(eachfinancialtransacEon)•  StatusofimplementaEon(availablestarEngthisfall)•  EncourageyoutobegintomakeuseofIECRE!!

OUTLINE

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•  WhileIECwritestechnicalstandards,IECdoesnotdefinehowtheseareused

•  IECREwasformedin2014todefinehowcerEficatescanbeissuedatthesystemlevelo  IECREserves3sectors:Wind,PV,andmarineenergyo  DefinesrequirementsforcerEfyingbodies,etc.o  IdenEfiesthetechnicaldocuments(withinIECorotherstandardsorganizaEons)foreachcerEficate

o  IniEally,asinglecerEficatewasenvisioned,butnowplanacerEficateateachstageofdevelopment

WHYWASIECRECREATED?

Technicalstandards CerEficatesforsystem

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Investorswantzeroriskpluslowerprices

Goals: Streamline the due diligence process Leverage what has been learned by others Increase confidence at reduced cost

The IECRE process ensures that technical due diligence hurdles are cleared.

IECRE Pillars

Consensusbasedstandardsworldwide

Registered&PeerreviewaccreditaEon

Consistent/transparentprocess

Technicalstandards SystemcerEficates

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CostRisk

Investorswantzerorisk,butatlowcost:Needbalance

Challenges:Wewanteverythingtobeperfect,butwealsoneedtominimizecost;

Eachcustomerasksforadifferentbalanceandhasslightlydifferentgoals

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•  AccuracyrequirementsdefinedinIEC61724-1*o  ClassA–highestaccuracy:(onsitePOAirradiancemeasurementsrequiredwithsensorcleanedperiodically)

o  ClassB–mediumaccuracyo  ClassC–lowestaccuracy:(OKtousesatellitedataforirradiance)

•  IECREsystemtypeso  U1:UElity–Focusdiscussiononthistodayo  U2:ResidenEalo  U3:Commercialo  U4:Aggregate(collecEonofsmallsystems)

Differentsystemsneeddifferentrequirements

*Detailsunderdiscussion

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•  BenefitfromstandardizaEono  CreateandadoptinternaEonalstandards(onlyoneset)o  Learnfromeachother(definebeststandardsmorequickly)

•  Oversightateverystageo  Designandplanningo  ConstrucEono  OperaEon

•  Emphasizeconsistentqualitycontrol:o  RequireconEnuouslearningo  Don’tassumethatasinglesuccessimpliesfuturesuccesses

•  EfficientimplementaEono  Don’tduplicateinspecEonso  LeverageinternalqualitymanagementacEons

Principlesforbalancingriskandcost

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PVSystemTimelineandCerEficates(simplified–morelater)

Design

QualificaEon

SubstanEalCompleEon

Annual

Performance

AssetTransfer

ProjectTimeline

•  Needconfidencethateachstepduringaprojectiscompletedcorrectly

•  Forsimplicity,todaywewilldiscussfoursteps:o  DesignqualificaEon(readytoproceedwithconstrucEon)o  SubstanEalcompleEon(readytooperate)o  Annualperformance(finalcompleEon,orannualcheckup)o  Assettransfer(definehealthofplantasbasisforacquisiEon)

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•  Localcoderequirementsmet•  Componentselec@on

o  Qualifiedforapplica@ono  Qualitycontrolduringmanufacturing

•  Safety:o  Restrictedaccessifappropriateo  ConEnuouslymonitoredo  OvercurrentprotecEon

•  Gooddesigno  Shadingconsideredo  Trenching

PVSystemTimelineandCerEficates(simplified–morelater)

Design

QualificaEon

SubstanEalCompleEon

Annual

Performance

AssetTransfer

ProjectTimeline

ExampleconsideraEons

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•  Localcoderequirementsmet•  Commissioningcompleted•  Componentqualityverified•  Qualitymanagementduringinstalla@on

o  Workerstrainedwithoversighto  Anydesignchangesreviewedo  Con@nuousimprovement

•  Performancechecko  Doespoweroutputmatchthedesign?

PVSystemTimelineandCerEficates(simplified–morelater)

Design

QualificaEon

SubstanEalCompleEon

Annual

Performance

AssetTransfer

ProjectTimeline

ExampleconsideraEons

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•  Basedonmeasuredweatherandoriginalmodel,doesplantperformasexpected?o  Energyavailability(e.g.ifinvertersbreak,theplantcouldbe“offline”andunavailable)

o  Performanceindex(measuredperformancedividedbyexpectedperformancebasedonmeasuredweather)

•  O&Mcostso  RelaEvetoplannedcost,howmuchdiditcosttokeeptheplantrunning?

PVSystemTimelineandCerEficates(simplified–morelater)

Design

QualificaEon

SubstanEalCompleEon

Annual

Performance

AssetTransfer

ProjectTimeline

ExampleconsideraEons

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•  Hasplantoutputbeenconsistentwithoriginalmodel?

•  HaveO&Mcostsbeenconsistentwithoriginalmodel?

•  Isthereevidenceofproblemstocome?(Crackedcells,weedsgrowingthroughthemodules,hotspots)

PVSystemTimelineandCerEficates(simplified–morelater)

Design

QualificaEon

SubstanEalCompleEon

Annual

Performance

AssetTransfer

ProjectTimeline

ExampleconsideraEons

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•  ModelassumpEons•  Annualperformance

o  Energyavailabilityo  Performanceindexo  AnnualO&Mcosts

•  Manyotherdetails(currentlistincludesover200items,includinginformaEonfromeachcerEficate,datesofcompleEon,localinformaEon,andfinancialdetails)

DatadocumentaEonfromstepsinEmeline

Design

QualificaEon

SubstanEalCompleEon

Annual

Performance

AssetTransfer

ProjectTimeline

DatadocumentaEon–proposetoalignwithXBRL

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•  EffecEveimplementaEonrequires:o  DefiningWHATwillbeimplemented(technicaldetails)

o  DefiningHOWitwillbeimplemented(whohasauthoritytosay‘yes,thismeetstherequirement’?)

•  ConsistentimplementaEoninallcountriesisrequiredforanIECREcerEficatetohavemeaning

•  Onceimplemented,staEsEcswillhelptodefinetheoutcomesassociatedwithusingthisapproach

ImplementaEonofIECRE

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•  ProgressofimplementaEoncanbetrackedathpp://www.iecre.org/documents/refdocs/(OD-401,OD-402,etc.arePV-specificdocuments)

•  First,definewhohasauthoritytodoPVplantinspec4ons:o  OD-406:ProvidesapplicaEonformtobecomeanIECRECerEficaEonBodyoranIECREInspecEonBody

o  ApplicantsmustagreetofollowIECREdocumentso  Applicantsmustagreetopeer-reviewprocess

•  RequirementsforinspectorsofPVmodulefactoriesaredescribedinOD-405

StatusofIECREImplementaEon–whocanparEcipate?

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•  Technicalrequirementsarebeingdefined:•  Moduleselec@on

o  IEC61215–Qual.Test:newedi@onjustpublishedo  IEC61730–SafetyTest:newedi@onwillbe

publishedthisfallo  Addi@onalchangesareintheworkso  IEC62941–Qualitycontrolduringmanufacturing:

published•  PVplantdesignguidelines:

o  IEC62548–Smallsystemsguidelines–publishedbyendof2016

o  IEC62738–UElity-scalesystemsguidelines–publishedin2017

•  IECREdocuments–underdevelopment

StatusofDesignQualificaEonCerEficateImplementaEon

Design

QualificaEon

SubstanEalCompleEon

Annual

Performance

AssetTransfer

ProjectTimeline

Status

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•  IEC62446-1–Commissioning–newediEonpublished

•  IEC63049–Qualitymanagementforinstalla@onprocess–indevelopment,willbepublishedin2017

•  IEC61724-2–Capacitytest–plannedtobepublishedbyendof2016

•  IECREOD-401–Published–willbeupdatedsoon

StatusofSubstanEalCompleEonCerEficateImplementaEon

Design

QualificaEon

SubstanEalCompleEon

Annual

Performance

AssetTransfer

ProjectTimeline

Status

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•  IEC61724-3–Energytest–inpress•  IECREOD-402–Published;revisionwillbepublishedsoon

StatusofAnnualPerformanceImplementaEon

Design

QualificaEon

SubstanEalCompleEon

Annual

Performance

AssetTransfer

ProjectTimeline

Status

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•  Developmentatconceptstage•  Someofthepiecesarecompleted,butthepieceshavenotallbeendefined

StatusofAssetTransferImplementaEon

Design

QualificaEon

SubstanEalCompleEon

Annual

Performance

AssetTransfer

ProjectTimeline

Status

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•  OrangeBupon–SolarbankabilitydatatoadvancetransacEonsandaccess(SB-DATA)FundedbyDOEo  SmartGridInteroperabilityPanel(SGIP)

hpp://www.sgip.org/orange-bupon/

o  SunSpecAlliancehpp://sunspec.org/sunspec-osdx/o  kWhAnalyEcs

hpp://www.kwhanalyEcs.com/kwh-selected-for-department-of-energys-orange-bupon-iniEaEve/

o  NRELhpp://www.orangebupondata.org/•  Datasetforsolarassetperformancemetric

hpp://www.xbrl-cet.com/internaEonal-electrotechnical-commission.html•  WillbemeeEnginpersoninSanFranciscoJuly13-14,

2016

Plansforstandardizeddatabase

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•  IECREinternaEonalstandardsarebeingdevelopedtoo  IncreaseconfidenceinPVplantperformanceandsafetyo  Reducecosts

•  FirstcerEficatesmaybeissuedbyendof2016–it’s&metostartincludingtheserequirementsinnewprocurements

•  Developmentwillbeongoing,butthefoundaEonalpiecesshouldallbeavailablein2017

•  Totrackprogress,monitordocuments(nocost)at:hpp://www.iecre.org/documents/refdocs/

•  YoursuggesEonsandsupportinwriEng/reviewingdocumentswouldbewelcome!

Summary–IECREvalueandstatus

Thankyou!

Sarah.Kurtz@nrel.gov