Design, Construction, Commissioning and Quality Control of Grid Connected PV Plants

This course will provide a first-hand comprehensive discussion of the most relevant topics of different stages across the value chain of a grid-connected solar PV project. Issues like technical design, best practices of installation, energy yield prediction, commissioning, O&M, EPC contract, quality assurance or Technical Due Diligence (TDD) will be highlighted focusing specifically on the challenges and best practices in order to ensure a clear understanding of what leads to a good or a poor result. The content of the course not only focuses on technical aspects, it illustrates also the interface between technical results and commercial or financial interpretations bringing LTA and investors to a common ground allowing an interdisciplinary and more accurate evaluation of technical outcomes with financial impact. This course contains the knowhow of PV expertise acquired over almost one decade of intensive activities in mature and nascent markets in the Americas, Asia and Europe.

Introduction • What will you learn?
• Structure of the capacity building program Overview of project phases from feasibility study to O&M • Project Organigram of a SPV project
• Overview of project phases
• Risks and key aspects in each project phase Solar PV technology • Applications of SPV to grid-connected centralized PV plants
• Overview of a ground-mounted SPV system
• Solar PV modules (technologies and applications)
• Fixed mounting structures vs. tracking systems (pros and cons)
• String inverters vs. central inverters (pros and cons)
• Quantifying the system performance. Representative values The solar resource
· Main variables (irradiation and temperature)
· Satellite vs. land-based stations
· Available meteorological sources in the market, main features
· Important aspects when selecting irradiation data sets
Site selection - not all are suitable for PV projects (30min)
· Key aspects to be inspected, site-specific risks
· Exclusion criteria

Energy yield prediction
· Importance of hourly values of the irradiation and temperature
· Calculation of the irradiation on a tilted plane
· Available simulation programs in the market
· Input values for the simulation programs
· Overview of the system losses between module and grid connection points
· Module degradation and system availability
· P50 and P90 calculation
·
PV plant design
· System components selection
· Layout and shading of large-scale PV plants
· Electrical design (DC/AC ratio, DC and AC protection, overvoltage, grounding)
· What does an ideal plant look like?
· Design documentation requirements

Installation standards
· Construction planning
· Site preparation
· PV modules
· Mounting structure
· DC cable routing
· Combiner boxes and distributors
· AC cable routing
· Grounding and equipotential bonding

Commissioning
· Provisional acceptance commissioning (PAC), commissioning sequence and protocols
· Final acceptance commissioning (FAC), commissioning sequence and protocols

Operation and maintenance
· Aims of an O&M plan
· General requirements for a proper O&M service
· Schedule and unscheduled maintenance
· Performance Ratio control
· Module cleaning in the field
· Typical failure distribution in operating plants


Essential electrical devices used for failure detection in the field
· Drones vs. handheld cameras (pros and cons)
· Electroluminescence analysis, best practices and applications for certain module failures
· IV tracing, best practices and applications for certain module failures

Contracts and permits
· Overview of relevant permits during the development phase
· EPC contract
· O&M contract
Quality assurance of PV plants - interface between LTA and investor
· Milestones for quality inspection
· Impact of quality lacks on the financial revenue
· Investment risks and countermeasures
· Types of Technical Due Diligence (TDD)
· Structure of TDD
· Commercial interpretation of the technical results. How much do you want to know?

Technical challenges of SPV nowadays
· Extreme climate conditions in new markets, expected performance and reliability of the system components
· Cost reduction of BOS components
· Performance simulation
· Fast and high quality installation in new markets

Case studies
· Commercially relevant design and installation failures - Photographic documentation
· 5MWp Italy - Module claim - 100% Electroluminescence - micro cracks
· 40MWp Israel - 100% Infrared - Hot Spot analysis, soiling
· 4 MWp Germany - Technical Design - roof top, shading analysis
· 64 MWp Bulgaria - Module claim - Potential Induced Degradation analysis
· 130 MWp Chile - Technical design c-Si fixed tilted - desert area
· 9 MWp India - Technical design (c-Si fixed tilted and tracking, thin film fixed tilted)
· 140 MWp Philippines - Design review