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Central vs String Inverter in Big Utility Scale Solar Power Plants – EQ Mag Pro

Central vs String Inverter in Big Utility Scale Solar Power Plants – EQ Mag Pro

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The webinar was held by EQ Magazine on 20th May 2022. It was moderated by Mr. Sanjay Kumar, Head – Global Strategic Sourcing & SCM – Larsen & Toubro (MODERATOR). Mr. Sanjay Kumar discussed very rigorously new development, technologies, and a thorough differentiation of central and the string inverters.

In the following webinar, Mr. Sanjay Kumar very lithely discussed the various spectrum and various parameters of the string and central inverters based on performance, technology, quality, and the cost.

Mr. Subir Karmakar, Dy General Manager, RE Engineering – NTPC LTD (KEYNOTE) Demonstrated the technical side of the central and the string inverter, where he separately discussed the advantages and obstacles of string and central inverters based on technology. Mr. Subir very gracefully cleared out all the doubts and queries related to each inverter. In further conversation, he thoroughly explained the reactive compensation to the grid and the vital role of the inverter in the reactive compensation.

Mr. Shantanu Sirsath Technical Head India – Growatt New Energy Delivered a brief introduction about Growatt, a company that is a new energy enterprise dedicated to the R&D and manufacturing of PV inverters, Energy storage, and EV charger as well as smart Energy Management Solutions. The company is in the market since 2010 and has reached more than 108 countries worldwide. Most of the Growatt inverters are used in the application of residential rooftop, C&I as well as for the utility segment. In further discussion, Mr. Shantanu talk about the products and the solutions which they are offering in India as well as in the global market and again postulated the different milestones that Growatt has achieved in the past 12 years. In further discussion Mr. Shantanu brought to light different aspects of selecting the inverters. statistically the developers and IPPs going with the string inverters because of the advantages in terms of long terms of availability, serviceability and the up time whereas in custom prospective EPCs are preferring the central inverters due to the costing factor.

Mr. C Chaudhary, Chief Operating Officer – Amp Energy India Explained the importance of inverters in big utility-scale solar power plants, he pointed out some of the key factors for the selection process of the inverter for the utility projects, such as the overloading factor, efficiency factor, availability factor, IGBT factor, and most importantly the BOS score and the sustainability factor of the inverter.

Mr. Rajesh Tiwari, Lead- Central Design & Engg (Solar Grid) – Hero Future Energies Dispatched his views on the importance of the selection of the geographical location and the terrain for the better performance of the inverters whether it’s a string or the central. In Mr. Tiwari’s opinion, one cannot choose between the string and the Central inverter, since the inverter’s performance totally depends upon the geographical site, as both the inverter demands different weather conditions and the geographic locality, and can execute accordingly. In the later conversation, Mr. Tiwari suggested CPRI build the kind of laboratory where the actual site condition get tests.

Mr. Manoj Kumar Goyal, Design Lead – Azure Power Continued the panel with an intense discussion about the pros and cons of both the inverters. Firstly from a capacity point of view, the central inverter has a larger capacity which comes up to 5 megawatts, whereas the string inverter just reached up to 300 kilowatts. Secondly, performance-wise string inverters won the race, as it has the advantage of multiple MPPT. In his opinion string inverter is winning the race because of their multiple MPPT and as the era has completely changed central inverters are apart from today’s scenario. In the further conversation, Mr. Manoj suggested the techno commercial analysis to get a good return while designing a big utility plan.

Ms. Vallisaranya Guruprasad, Design Engineering Manager – Tata Power Solar Systems Limited Shared her significant outlook concerning today’s market scenario. In her opinion, each inverter has it’s for and against correspondingly. Miss Saranya asserted about the problems they are facing in each sector for acquiring the land connectivity approval, plus the tariff is also being the significant game in the solar sector presently. From an LCOE point of view, she believes that to bring out the fewer LCOE costs string inverters need to be developed in a better way. Miss Saranya specified some key parameters which need to be evaluated while the selection of the inverters is, the IGBT selection, verification of the software, component selection in the inverter, and the temperature-wise calculation.

For more information please see below link:

https://www.facebook.com/EQMagPro/videos/1166328984184630

Anand Gupta Editor - EQ Int'l Media Network