Global Utilities

La Trobe University
Science, Technology and Engineering

System Description

Picure of Equipment Rack
Equipment Rack

This system represents state-of-the-art commercially deployed photovoltaic (PV) electricity production in 2008. The PV array itself is made up of thirty mono-crystalline silicon (“solar cell”) modules each producing up to 160W. Only about 14% of the light energy falling onto the array is converted into electricity and improving PV efficiency is a major objective of solar cell research.

The DC power is converted to 240V AC by four grid connected inverters wired in parallel and the output energy is recorded by a state of the art interval meter donated by the meter manufacturer PRI Australasia Pty Ltd. This meter is continuously read by an automatic system donated by the semiconductor design company Semitech Innovations Pty Ltd.

Power produced by the PV system also flows through a conventional electromechanical wattmeter based on a spinning aluminium disk. The meter is wired so that when the PV system is feeding power into the grid the disk spins backwards.

 

The PV power station can be monitored remotely through the internet in two ways:

  1. Through a web page that accesses data from the PRI meter that has been logged into a database by Semitech equipment and software protocols.
  2. Through a web cam that shows the spinning disk of the electromechanical wattmeter and an analog power meter developed by the Department of Electronic Engineering.

 

Typical power generation curve on a sunny day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

picture of power meter

Specifications

Solar panels                      30 x Suntech STP160S-24
Inverters                           4 x Latronics PVE 1200
DC voltage (working)          69V
DC voltage (maximum)       100V DC current (working) 70A
DC power (maximum)        4.8kW
AC voltage (working)         240V
AC current (maximum)       18A
AC power (maximum)        4.4kW
Annual energy production   5.2MWh
Annual CO2 saving            8t

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