DEIF’s solar solutions: cost-effective, eco-friendly

DEIF Advanced Solar Controller (ASC) enables to share the load between solar PV cell and diesel/gas genset with maximum solar penetration, thus results in maximised savings even during utility failure

Solar Power – The need of the hour
Across the world, the need to make the energy portfolio environment friendly is a pressing need. Among the renewable sources, solar power is gaining momentum in India with the push given by government and the abundant solar potential in India. The increasing demand is driving down the cost of solar energy which is attracting more and more investment in this sector.

While the investment and increasing of solar share in the energy sources is fully justified, it is also equally important to have efficient controls that will enable solar penetration to maximum possible extent including the possibility of exporting the excess power back to the grid.

Challenge with solar
In a contemporary system, solar power can only be utilised as long as the utility supply is available. In the absence of utility, solar power can no longer deliver the power and the diesel generators come in to deliver the backup power. The Solar systems are not geared up to supply power along with the diesel or gas genset as the load sharing between the two groups is a challenge. This leads to burning the fuel (diesel/gas) for the genset to take the entire load for the duration for which the utility is absent, in spite of solar power source being available.

DEIF’s answer to the challenge
DEIF has come up with an innovative solution to this challenge. DEIF introduces the Advanced Solar Controller (ASC), a solution that provides integrated solution for systems with utility, diesel and solar power source. The system provides an interface between the diesel/gas genset and solar, with or without presence of utility power – a solution that enables you to share the load between solar PV cell and diesel/gas genset with maximum solar penetration, thus resulting in maximised savings even during utility failure. DEIF solutions being cost-effective balance your economy and conserve the environment as they are highly efficient.

A solar system consists of series of PV cells connected to their respective inverters. DEIF’s solar controller is connected to the master inverter of the group of inverters and interconnected among utility and genset controllers through CAN bus communication. DEIF’s solar controller serves as an interface between solar source and the diesel genset controllers/utility power, namely Advanced Genset Controllers (AGC), over the CAN bus to adjust power output to meet the load requirement with solar system taking the maximum load share. When the utility fails, genset start up to provide the reference and provide minimum load that will let it run efficiently and let the solar meet the rest of the demand. If the solar power output decreases due to bad sunlight, the deficit will be met by diesel/gas genset through the intelligent interface, thus ensuring reliable supply of power in all conditions. If the export of power from Solar is not demanded then the Advanced Solar Controller will restrict the solar generation to the desired limit.

How much can you save?
On an average, considering power loss of up to 20 hours per week implies that in a year you can have almost 1,000 hours of lack of utility power. Considering that the diesel consumption normally is of 125 litres per hour and assuming 1.5 $/litre as cost of diesel, for 1,000 hours of no utility power, $ 187.5 per hour is the cost for running a diesel genset for one hour. For 1,000 hours you would spend $ 1,87,500 and for running two gensets, the total spending will be $ 3,75,000 on fuel cost alone. In addition to this, the cost for handling the fuel, managing resources, maintenance of genset, gas emissions, and environmental setbacks add to the overheads.

DEIF’s solar solution enables you to use solar power even in the absence of utility with high solar penetration. For example, with a 60 per cent solar penetration one can run just one genset and save on fuel cost of the other in the period of utility failure which implies a saving of $ 1,87,500. Using solar for the additional period of the year can make that period also further green and help maximise the project’s overall return on investment. DEIF’s solar solution can be a boon to India’s evolving solar sector. n

Contact:
For more information about DEIF products and solutions, call on +91- 22- 42452000 or write at india@deif.com