When Did Solar Monitoring

Start to Matter?

This webinar will be available afterwards at www.solarpowerworldonline.com & email

Q&A at the end of the presentation

Hashtag for this webinar: #SolarWebinar

Before We Start

Kathie Zipp Solar Power World

Moderator Presenters

Judah MosesonInfigen Energy

Vassilis PapaeconomouAlectris

Keith DavisAffinity Automation

Why24/7 Solar

Monitoring Matters

Power Generation is a 24/7 Business

• All Steam Electric Stations operate 24/7• All Wind Farms operate 24/7

• The Electric Grid is operating 24/7• All Utilities operate 24/7

Solar Farms = Power Plants

• It is true that PV cells only operate in daylight hours

• The Balance of Plant Equipment Operates 24/7• DC Collection System• Inverters• Medium Voltage Transformers• Substation Equipment

o Breakerso Relayso Main Power Transformers

24/7 Control Centers

• Promotes Safety• Identify Issues in Real Time• Remote Reset of Critical Equipment • Dispatch Resources in a Timely Manner• Communicate with Utility and Grid Operators• Ensure Maximum Production is Available at

Sunrise

THE COMING BOOM OF FLEET LEVEL MONITORING

Mr. Vassilis Papaeconomou Managing Director 

Alectris

Contents

• Current Status of Monitoring

• Investor Challenges

• Evolution of Fleet Level Monitoring

Georgia Power 24 MWp – Alectris

Current Status of Monitoring – MORE!

• Leads to more monitoring:• Global PV Monitoring Deployments Outpace PV Plant

Installations in 2013 • Driven by new installations and retrofits, the PV

monitoring market grew by more than 90 percent between 2012 and 2013.

Source: Greentech Media, May 21, 2104• 2013: 39.7 GW of monitored systems versus 37

GW of new installations. Source: GTM Research/SoliChamba Consulting

Global PV Monitoring Technologies, Markets, and Leading Players, 2014 – 2018

• More GW, more plants, even more plants per investor:

• PV Is getting more geographically distributed. 79 countries with policy targets for renewables in 2008, 138 in 2012.

• Secondary market is active -> investors are acquiring / enhancing their portfolios rapidly. 187MW of plant have been sold in Italy in the secondary market.

Source: Polytecnino Milan

Investor Challenges

• Plant Level:

• Underperforming PV Plants

• Poorly planned and executed preventive maintenance

• Poorly engineered and delayed corrective maintenance

• Security more challenging than expected

Italy Biaxial Install – Alectris

Investor Challenges

• Portfolio Level – O&M:

• More GW, more plants, even more plants per investor

• Geographically dispersed assets

• Incongruent original plant monitoring systems

• Lack of integrated approach to global fleet management

• Simple tasks to be managed for large fleet of PV Plants in

several countries lead to dramatic operational complexitySource: Solar Power World, Solar OM Tools for the Solar Investor, June 28, 2014

Georgia Power 1 MWp – Alectris

Investor Challenges

• Portfolio Level – Asset Management:

• Lack of transparency into operations and financial

reports for the funding partner

• No standard method for keeping financial or operational

records

• Cash flows and margins under continuous pressure

Source: Solar Power World, Solar OM Tools for the Solar Investor, June 28, 2014

Gru.Co Italy 4MWp – Alectris

Investor Challenges

• Policy Level:

• Fluctuating incentive, legal and fiscal environment

• Lack of standardized processes and procedures

• FiT schemes abandoned (Spain, Greece, Italy cuts,

Romania GC revision..)

• Several market close to grid parity or close to be

bankable PPA markets (Italy, Chile, US..)

Georgia Power – Alectris

Investor Challenges

• Margin Protection:

• Fluctuating incentive landscape puts increased pressure

on margin protection

• Missing important deadlines can pose a potential risk to

the investment

• Inefficient management can substantially increase the

costs

Georgia Power 20 MWp – Alectris

The increasing complexity in large portfolio management

A Core CapabilitiesA.1 Data Acquisition System (DAS)A.1.1 GeneralA.1.1.1 Time lag of data uploadA.1.1.2 Equipment internal eventsA.1.1.3 Inverters monitoringA.1.1.4 Inverter subsystems monitoringA.1.1.5 Feeder protectors monitoringA.1.1.6 Meters monitoringA.1.1.7 Irradiation monitoringA.1.1.8 Internal temperature monitoringA.1.1.9 Ambient Temperature monitoringA.1.1.10 Panel temperature monitoringA.1.1.11 Wind speed and directionA.1.1.12 Strings monitoringA.1.1.13 UPS monitoringA.1.1.14 Trackers monitoringA.1.1.15 Security System intergrationA.1.1.16 Communication network monitoringA.1.1.17 Range of parameters monitoredA.1.2 AlertingA.1.2.1 Time lag of AlertingA.1.2.2 Seasonal adjustmentA.1.2.3 Configurable by end userA.1.2.4 Internet connectivity alertingA.1.2.5 Simple alertingA.1.2.6 Enhanced alertingA.2 Data Analysis CapabilitiesA.2.1 Reporting on Financial KPIsA.2.2 Reporting on Technical KPIsA.2.3 Reporting on Contractual KPIsA.2.4 Custom reportingA.2.5 Long Term technical analysisA.2.6 Incidents reportingA.2.7 Service Actvitiy reportingA.2.8 Response time analysisA.2.9 Resolution time analysisA.2.10 Failure statisticsA.2.11 Base Cases comparisonsA.2.12 Spare Part usage trackingA.2.13 Internet connectivity statisticsA.2.14 Panel Flash testA.2.15 As built documentation hierarchyA.3 Field PersonnelA.3.1 Distance from solar PlantA.3.2 Skill levelA.3.3 CertificationsA.3.4 Experience in the sectorA.3.5 AvailabilityA.3.6 Insurance coverageA.4 Control RoomA.4.1 Availability hoursA.4.2 Operator skill levelA.4.3 Number of operatorsA.4.4 InfrastructureA.5 Engineering CapabilitiesA.5.1 Number of EngineersA.5.2 Experience in the sectorA.5.3 Hands-on experienceA.5.4 Track Record/Case studies

B Supporting StructureB.1 Quality Assurance & AccountabilityB.1.1 Customer satisfaction surveysB.1.2 Tracking of contract complianceB.1.3 Field technicians evaluationB.1.4 Training programsB.2 Process controlB.2.1 Documention of internal processesB.2.2 Writen procedures for field personnelB.2.3 Activity logging systemB.3 Knowledge GenerationB.3.1 Knowledge baseB.3.2 Knowledge dissiminationB.4 Tracking of measurements by Field PesronnelB.4.1 Visual inspectionsB.4.2 Prevetative maintenanceB.4.3 Dorsally measurementsB.4.4 I-V curve measurementsB.4.5 Hot spotsB.4.6 Inverter efficiency measurements

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• A full Asset Management and O&M

package requires more than 96 single

(simple) tasks to be performed

(excluding accounting)

• Example: A 40 PV plant

geographically distributed portfolio

result will result in

40x96=3840 tasks!!!

Scaling requires evolved and

suitable

tools and an efficient

organization

Investor Challenges

THE PV MARKET PROMISES

...a PV Plant is a Financial Investment...

THE PV MARKET REALITY

...a PV Plant is an Industrial

Investment!

Evolution of Fleet Level Monitoring

THE REAL NEED

• An industrial investment must rely on an

evolved and fully integrated Business

Management Software (commonly known as

an ERP(*)) that:

• Facilitates information flow between all

the business functions

• Shares data across various locations or

fleets

• Manages connections to all the outside

stakeholders

Evolution of Fleet Level Monitoring

(*) ERP: Enterprise Resource Planning

REDEFINING MONITORING…

…Instead of monitoring the outcome (measured produced

energy) monitoring and managing the operations (technical and

financial asset management) that lead to the outcome……TO THE ERP EVOLUTION

...Simple monitoring must evolve towards full

Solar ERP Systems allowing full Fleet Level Management

and Operational Monitoring

Evolution of Fleet Level Monitoring

Solar ERP Systems for Fleet Level Management

• Provide the best possible insights on the PV asset

operations through:• World class monitoring system

• Service management

• Asset management

• Integrated management of multiple and geographically distributed

PV plants

• Extensive and customizable reporting capabilities

Evolution of Fleet Level Monitoring

Marco Lopez marco.lopez@alectris.com

Sales Manager – US & LATAM Mobile: +1 (650) 296 8782Direct: +1 (650) 492 5202

Emanuele Tacchino emanuele.tacchino@alectris.com

Business Development – ITALY Mobile: +39 342 8835856

Nikos Nikitas n.nikitas@alectris.com

Business Development – GREECE Mobile: +30 6936 172152

Vassilis Papaeconomou v.papaeconomou@alectris.com

Managing Director Mobile: +30-6944-464679Direct: +30-2311-998698

www.alectris.com

• Intelligent Monitoring – Industry Trends

• Presented by:o Keith Davis – Director of Solar Serviceso Affinity Automationo Charlotte, NC 28269

• Intelligent Monitoring – Industry Trends• Trend # 1: Technical Standards are

Changing:o (This trend will drive the remaining four trends discussed

today)

• Industry and utility standards will change to allow increased inverter:o Functionalityo Regulationo Controllability

• UL1547A will be the interim step to allow more inverter functionality and the need for even more monitoring and control capability

• Intelligent Monitoring – Industry Trends• Trend # 2:

o Solar monitoring will grow and change into Solar Control and Monitoring

• Bi-directional – A two way street into the PV systemo Inverterso Combinerso Protection Systemso Utility Interconnection

• SCADA system will be expected and eventually required by the utilities to allow them system control and regulation

• Intelligent Monitoring – Industry Trends• Trend # 2 (cont.)• The use of remote inverter control will become permissible

and expected in large scale commercial/utility PV systemso IEEE1547A will soon permit inverter control on “non-utility”

owned plants to provide:

• Voltage and Frequency Ride Through• Voltage Regulation• Curtailment• Power Control – PF and VAR support

• California is leading the industry by helping to accelerate the adoption of IEEE1547A and other new standards being developed

• Intelligent Monitoring – Industry Trends• Trend # 3

o More PV system hardware will be connected and monitored than ever before – Anything with a microprocessor will be connected!

• Site communications requirements will take a quantum leap forward in the near future

• And reliable, robust and high bandwidth communications hardware will absolutely be required

• Ethernet will become the protocol of choice for most systems

• But good old Modbus will still be included in the mix• And utilities are going to expect a new protocol – DNP3• It’s all about the data stream out and commands coming

in

• Intelligent Monitoring – Industry Trends• Trend # 4

o Big data becomes part of the solar monitoring equation• With the increase in monitored points, the amount of

data flowing from the system will increase…exponentially!

• How to deal with that flood of information will require some new software tools:o Data Mining – Looking for the needle in the haystacko Analytics – Determining system parameterso Reporting – What is the system doing and what does

it needo This data can be very helpful for solar O&M providers and system

owners to determine needed services and expected revenues if accurate and timely

• Intelligent Monitoring – Industry Trends• Trend # 5

o Utilities will demand “ownership” of the system inverter(s) and require SCADA systems be included in every project

• When the inverter becomes a utility asset, then they have full rights to be able to regulate and control the system to suit their Grid requirements

• To set energy, power factor, voltage and other generational parameters

• No longer will the amount of grid delivered energy be the only metric to determine system profitability…but there will have to be a sea change in how the owner is compensated for the energy the site can deliver to the inverter

• Intelligent Monitoring – Industry Trends• A Recap

o Trend # 1: Standards are changing creating new opportunities

o Trend # 2: Remote system control become the norm within PV monitoring systems

o Trend # 3: More BOS hardware connected and monitored than ever before requiring robust data networks

o Trend # 4: Big data will be generated on all sites and will need to be mined and analyzed for accurate and timely information

o Trend # 5: Utilities will become inverter “owners” and control the energy delivery to and from the grid to suit their needs

• Intelligent Monitoring – Industry Trends• Conclusions:

• It’s a brave new world in the solar monitoring

industry! • Be prepared to take advantage of the new

opportunities that will come and come soon.• Doing nothing is NOT a viable option, so learn all

you can about these five trends to support your customers, enhance your business and increase profitability.

• Intelligent Monitoring – Industry Trends• Please feel free to contact me with any

questions.o Contact information:Keith E. Davis – Director of Solar ServicesAffinity Automation, LLC11900 Sam Roper DriveCharlotte, NC 28269704-766-2060 x135 Office 704-501-7634 Cellkdavis@affinityautomation.com

• Thank you for your time and interest today! Keith

Questions?Kathie ZippSolar Power Worldkzipp@solarpowerworldonline.comTwitter: @SolarKathieZ

Judah MosesonInfigen EnergyJudah.Moseson@infigen-us.com Phone: 214.931.9504

Keith DavisAffinity Automationkdavis@affinityautomation.com Phone: 704.766.2060 ext.135

Vassilis PapaeconomouAlectrisv.papaeconomou@alectris.comPhone (US): 669.888.0686Phone (Eu): +30.6944.464679

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