CONCEPT TO COMMISSIONING OF SOLAR PV POWER

PLANTS

REC
IPM
T
Session:
Best practices in
operation and
maintenance of solar
power plants with a case-
study
Presented by
Ramchander Nirudi
Master Trainer RECIPMT 1
Session title
Best practices in operation and maintenance of solar
power plants with a case-study

RAMCHANDER NIRUDI
Consultant (Solar & EV Projects),
Associate Professor, EEED-BVRIT,
& Guest Faculty at RECIPMT,ESCI, CPTI , CTI , CBIP

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 “Our development of Photovoltaic's is something that I feel is a mission, not
just technical or scientific research. I believe it is the only energy source
that can save mankind in the 21st century”
Dr. Yoshihiro Hamakawa , Osaka University

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Solar Photovoltaic Electricity Generation

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Typical Grid-Connected Rooftop Solar PV System 4
 Why Maintenance is important for your Solar power plant?

• The number of on-grid / off-grid solar photovoltaic (PV) systems is

expected to increase dramatically over the coming years.
• O&M annual contracts are typically about Rs. 5-6 Lakhs/MW without
trackers and 7-8 Lakhs/MW with trackers, usually escalating annually
at 5%.
• solar plants to perform with maximum possible efficiency and
reliability.
• improving the performance of the plant.
• Types of Maintenance
• Preventive Maintenance :
• Corrective Maintenance:
• Condition-Based Monitoring:

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 Top Solar Data Analytics Companies Of 2020 In India

• GreenPowerMonitor:
• AlsoEnergy, Inc.:
• Mahindra TEQO:
• Apollo Energy Analytics:
• TrackSo:
• EnerMAN:
• AirProbe:
• Solargis:
• PV Diagnostics:

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 Job
Opportunities

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 Major Elements of Photovoltaic Operations and Maintenance

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 In-House versus Outsource PV O&M

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 Solar PV Plant Maintenance Cost Breakdown

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 PV System Failure Areas and Relative Frequencies

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 PV Monitoring Options across the PV System

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 Operation , Maintenance & Trouble shooting of Solar Plants

 No moving parts in the Solar PV project, thus the maintenance cost is less
compared to other renewable projects.
 Crimping of Cables on DC side.
 Check for any shading due to any object or dust on the modules by visual
inspection.
 Checking the module for hotspots with infrared camera’s.
 Laying of Cables: Check visually and by Meggar for any faults before laying.
 Faults in Jointing Kits.

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 Operation , Maintenance & Trouble shooting of Solar Plants

 Checking of string voltage and string current regularly.

 Current checking with respect to current irradiance level.
 Checking input DC power and out put AC power of Inverter.
 Cleaning of Inverters & Fan filters.
 Check for inverter data using inverter software.
 Check for battery charger & battery bank condition(in case stand alone PV System)
 Working out a maintenance schedule and follow the same & keep all records.

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Cleaning & Physical Inspection

• Regular cleaning of the modules

• Online monitoring through mobile
App/SCADA
• Physical inspection at regular intervals

21-Sep-21
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 Auto cleaning of solar PV modules

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 Solar PV Performance testing equipment

Thermal Imager (Testo-868)

Day star
I-V Curve Tracer

21-Sep-21
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 21-Sep-21
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Session title
 Performance Analysis of Solar Power Plants
and Case Study of 100kWp SPV Plant

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 100kWp Solar PV Power Plant @ BVRIT

Total Project Cost : 130 Lakhs

Subsidy(MNRE) : 39 Lakhs

21-Sep-21
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 System Specifications
PV Modules Specifications
(SIRIUS Solar Energy Pvt Ltd)
 PV Modules : SIRIUS Solar 250Wp (400 no’s)

Cell Technology : Poly-crystelline (microsol)

Mounting : Fixed Tilt(170 South facing)

Inverters : REFUSol 20kW (5 no’s)

 Number of Arrays : 20 (each 5kW, 20 modules in series)

Number of Strings : 5 (each 20 kW, 4-arrays in parallel)

Array Junction Box : 5 no’s (IP65 protection with MOV’s)

Lightning Arresters : 2 no’s

Earthing : 7 no’s

LT Panel : 1 no’s

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 System Configuration

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 Inverter Specifications

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 Performance Analysis

• The parameters considered in this study are actual performance ratio,

capacity utilization factor:

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 Performance Analysis

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 Performance Analysis

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 Monthly wise PR comparison

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 Inverter wise energy comparison

21-Sep-21
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 Power Generation Profile on 26th Feb14
(590 kWh generated)

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 Irradiance (POA) W/m2

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1000
1200

0
200
400
600
800

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6:45AM
Feb 26 2014 6:56AM
Feb 26 2014 7:07AM
Feb 26 2014 7:18AM
Feb 26 2014 7:29AM
Feb 26 2014 7:40AM
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Feb 26 2014 10:58AM

PSH =5.85
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Feb 26 2014 12:04PM
Feb 26 2014 12:15PM

Consider 25% loss

Measured PSH=7.8
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Feb 26 2014 5:56PM
Feb 26 2014 6:07PM
40
 Power Generation profile on 16th Feb14
(508 kWh generated)

21-Sep-21
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 Voltage and Current profile on 25th Feb14

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 Performance Ratio
1

0.8

0.6
PR

0.4

0.2

0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Hyderabad 0.9 0.88 0.72 0.73 0.73 0.68 0.9 0.8 0.8 0.9 0.84 0.92
Bhimavaram 0.87 0.82 0.7 0.7 0.72 0.82 0.84 0.84 0.83 0.87 0.71 0.8

2
Calculated nominal yeild  GHI (in kWh/m )
actual energy generated under field conditions
Performance ratio 
Rated module efficiency energy estimated without temperature losses
2
Total PV area (in m )
21-Sep-21
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 25 Capacity Utilization Factor

20

15
CUF %

10

0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Hyderabad 18.97 21.24 19.09 19.74 19.09 13.72 15.94 13.95 15.11 17.31 16.93 18.18
Bhimavaram 17.25 18.73 18.03 18.67 18.03 16 14.39 14.71 15.16 15.55 13.25 14.83

Annual yield
CUF=  100
100kW×24h×365days
21-Sep-21
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 280MW Solar Plants-Auditing
Technical due diligence of seven(7) sites in Telangana

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Sol-Bright Technology, Beijing, China, visit in March 2017
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 EV’s Manufacturing Industries visit in China, December 2018
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Challenge Areas related to Solar Photovoltaic's Power Generation
Systems

• Design and Development of low cost, low power, high-efficient Inverters.

• Performance Analysis of PV Power Plants and Different PV Technologies.
• Design and Development of Charge Controllers.
• Power Quality Issues on Integration of PV Plants.
• Harmonic Analysis of solar inverters.
• Design and development of Data Acquisition Systems.
• Solar VFD’s for water pumping Application.
• Modeling and simulation of solar PV systems (PVSyst, PVsol, Solar Pro,
PV Professional, PV Planer, String Design Tool)
• Smart Integration of future Grid-Connected Systems.
• PV Performance Reliability and Safety.
• Analyzing micro-cracks on PV modules(snail trails)
• Designing of low cost/low power tracking methods.
21-Sep-21
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 Thank-You

Ramchander Nirudi
Consultant & Associate Professor
Ramchander.nirudi@gmail.com
+91-9247798832
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