OffGrid Standalon PV System 500kW

[Ozdemir GEnc]

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am trying to configure an OffGrid Standalone PV System Design using PVSOL Premium 2019.
The planned capacity of the plant will be 500kW. But, I don't see a way to configure more than 360kW capacity due to the Multicluster Box MC-Box 36 limitation.

Is it possible to configure Standalone PV Systems with a capacity larger than 360kW?
If yes, how?

Best regards,

Ozdemir Genc
SEGA Solar

[developer_mm]

Hello Ozdemir Genc,

if you want to use the SMA Sunny Island, this is unfortunately not possible. One possibility could be to use only one cluster with 3 suitable battery inverters. However, the battery inverters would have to have a very high output power.

Kind regards,

Marcel

[JoelB]

On 7/24/2019 at 8:34 AM, Ozdemir GEnc said:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am trying to configure an OffGrid Standalone PV System Design using PVSOL Premium 2019.
The planned capacity of the plant will be 500kW. But, I don't see a way to configure more than 360kW capacity due to the Multicluster Box MC-Box 36 limitation.

Is it possible to configure Standalone PV Systems with a capacity larger than 360kW?
If yes, how?

Best regards,

Ozdemir Genc
SEGA Solar

Hello Ozdemir,

Pls I am having same issue with this and each time I select the battery inverter and batter from the database it keeps coming up with some error and won't allow me complete the simulation. How did you get around resolving this issue please. In my case I have stand alone system with 110 PV moduels with PV generation output of 36.3 kWp

Battery and Inverter and Battery

Total Power: 13kW

Total Battery Power: 8640 kWh

Cluster 1

Inverter: 2 x 5000 W = 3p

Battery: 2250 x LFP-Smart 12.8/300

Power: 13 kW

Battery Energy: 8640 kWh

And there are two errors that I get in the summary:

1.the battery string voltage is outside the voltage range of the battery inverter. Please check configuration of cluster 1

2.the ratio of PV power batter inverter power is larger than the permissible maximum value of 2. (i.e ratio of 13 kw to 36.3 kWp, that is Total Power (13 kW) to PV generation output of (36.3 kWp) should not be more than 2.) I cannot find a right configuration for this

Can you help with these please. 

[JoelB]

On 7/26/2019 at 7:41 AM, developer_mm said:

Hello Ozdemir Genc,

if you want to use the SMA Sunny Island, this is unfortunately not possible. One possibility could be to use only one cluster with 3 suitable battery inverters. However, the battery inverters would have to have a very high output power.

Kind regards,

Marcel

Hello Marcel,

Please I am having same issue as with Ozedmir, and each time I select the battery inverter and batter from the database it keeps coming up with some error and won't allow me complete the simulation. How can I resolve this issue please. In my case I have stand alone system with 110 PV moduels with PV generation output of 36.3 kWp

Battery and Inverter and Battery

Total Power: 13kW

Total Battery Power: 8640 kWh

Cluster 1

Inverter: 2 x 5000 W = 3p

Battery: 2250 x LFP-Smart 12.8/300

Power: 13 kW

Battery Energy: 8640 kWh

And there are two errors that I get in the summary:

1.the battery string voltage is outside the voltage range of the battery inverter. Please check configuration of cluster 1

2.the ratio of PV power batter inverter power is larger than the permissible maximum value of 2. (i.e ratio of 13 kw to 36.3 kWp, that is Total Power (13 kW) to PV generation output of (36.3 kWp) should not be more than 2.) I cannot find a right configuration for this

Can you help with these please. 

[developer_mh]

Hi JoelB,

would it be possible for you to send us the project file? That would make it a lot easier for us to identify the problem. You can send it to me via private message here in the forum.

Thanks and kind regards,

Martin

[JoelB]

Thank you so much Marcel for returning my message, you are truly kind.

Please see attached the files to the models I have done and they are suppose to be simple systems just to have an idea of how the tool works and the results one can get from it. I appreciate this is not the full or licensed version of the software it is good to understand the capabilities before committing to the licensed version.

Please I will earnestly await a response from you as soon as you can to support my decisions about the software shortly. Thank you greatly for your help. 

Regards,

Joel  

Benisheikh Police Radio Station.pvprj Dandal Kura Radio Station.pvprj Mubi Radio Station.pvprj

[developer_mh]

Dea JoelB,

thank you for the projects. Offgrid projects are a bit more difficult to design since there is no grid that could absorb or provide energy when there is too much or too less in the system.

In your case, example "Benisheikh Police Radio Station", there is a high consumption with annual values of about 37000 kWh, but the PV system only has 3.5 kWp. In Nigeria you can calculate with approx. 1500 kWh/kWp solar energy per year, so you'll get 3.5 * 1500 = 5250 kWh of PV energy. This is far too less for your consumption, and there isn't another energy source in the system.

So the first thing to look at is the energy values of consumption, PV and batteries. Consumption and PV production have to be roughly in the same range, the more PV there is, the better. The battery size in kWh is then chosen dependent on the desired autonomy size. It will be about three times the daily consumption.

The second thing to look at are the power values. If your PV system provides 100 kWp, but your battery can only work with 2 kW, you will have a lot of energy unused. The PV power, the battery power and the peak load power should be in the same range.

To make things easier when starting with offgrid projects, you can activate the load shedding feature on the consumer's page. If there isn't enough PV or battery power or energy to supply the consumers they will be shut off temporarily.

Hope that helps, kind regards,

Martin

[JoelB]

Thank you Martin for your reply, this truly appreciated

I will work with the advise you have given me. The constraint though is that the design of each of these system is based on the wattage consumption of the equipment and/or the number of PV modules that can be taken for the available space. For example, the Benisheikh Police Radio Room is working off the number wattage consumption of the equipment expected, and in this case, a PV system with 3kWp / 15kWh (usable) / 3kVA at 40°C on Carport Mounting System with an estimated equipment peak load/consumption of 4.2 kW, as such increasing this may not be justifiable. However, I will work around what you have proposed to see how I am able to run the simulation to finish.

I will return a comment here to share my success and experience with you shortly. Thank you kindly again Martin.

Cheerss
Joel 

[Mahmoud]

Dear Martin,

I have another question related to the same topic please. when I design the off grid system the PVsol 2020 software asked me to configure the PV module and select a propriate inverter in the page of 3d design, module configuration. and after that it asked me to add another battery inverter to the system in the page Battery inverter and Battery . Is that mean that I should use 2 inverters for my design? the PV output in my design is 7.8 KWp

[developer_mh]

Dear Mahmoud,

in PV*SOL we always model PV systems with batteries with two separate inverters, one for the PV and one for the batteries. However, in reality these two inverters can be combined in one product.

Hope that helps, kind regards,

Martin

[Archit]

Dear sir/ma'am

I am designing around 500 kw stand alone system and facing issue to configure battery and battery inverter. Could you please help me out how to solve it issue.

Thanks & Regards

Archit Mishra

 

[developer_fw]

Hello Archit

I'd recommend to start your project from our example offgrid project and adapt it to your needs:

Where are you stuck? What are your steps so far?

Kind regards
Frederik