Hybrid PV / Diesel Generator Option with SMA Fuel Saver Controller

[damonl]

Hi,

I'm looking to design a purely off grid hybrid PV / Generator system but without batteries and include the SMA fuel saver controller as an energy management system.

Can this be done in PVSol?

Thanks

Regards

Damon

 

 

 

[developer_mh]

Hi Damon,

while we haven't implemented the exact control mechanisms of the SMA Fuel Saver, you could do the following to mimic a hybrid PV system:

• Go to the battery and battery inverter page, select the first cluster in your system configuration
• Click the "Battery Management" link
• Disable the battery as good as possible with these settings:

It will not be possible to avoid their usage completely, but you can limit their participation quite effectively, so that your load will be covered by PV and diesel only:

Hope that helps, kind regards,

Martin

[damonl]

Hi Martin,

Thanks, it does answer the battery part of the equation but traditional PV Diesel generator systems only really allow the PV system to provide up to 20% of energy capacity. The SMA fuel saver controller increases this capacity to 60% though.

I suppose you can't cater for the SMA fuel saver controller though?

Regards

Damon

 

[developer_mh]

Hi Damon,

you are right, these aspects are not implemented in the simulation right now. What do you mean by energy capacity? Are these values a percentage of the instantaneous load (power), or is it in terms of daily or annual energy share?

Kind regards,

Martin

[damonl]

Apologies, referring to percentage of instantaneous load.

[developer_mh]

ok, I understand now. No, that is definetely not possible to accomplish right now. But is it never possible to cover the entire load with 100% PV on sunny days with these systems? That seems a bit odd to me...

 

[damonl]

No, but there is technology that can maximise PV output and minimise the diesel genset load according to the time of day, climatic conditions and demands.

[Adimm]

Hi Damon,

Yes, designing a purely off-grid hybrid PV/Generator system without batteries, while incorporating the SMA Fuel Saver Controller as an energy management system, can be done. PVSol may have some limitations in modeling such a specific setup, especially when it comes to real-time energy management without batteries, but it's worth exploring its capabilities. For more detailed guidance and expert advice, you may want to check with or ask directly from Force-V, as they specialize in advanced PV and energy management systems.

Best regards