How to guarantee outstanding power plant performance
inavitas Plant and Incrased Power Plant Performance
What if it was easier to monitor solar power plants?
Despite appearances, power plants require intricate planning in order to be monitored correctly. A reliable power plant monitoring system is a necessary tool to maintain control of the solar plant, so any minor or major malfunction, failure, or defect can be quickly detected. Unfortunately, most plants operate with a monitoring system that is only able to monitor inverters. inavitas Plant is an energy intelligence platform for power plant monitoring that can communicate with almost all devices, giving plant decision-makers more comprehensive information.
Uninterrupted power generation is critical for solar power plants. Without this, the solar plant is at risk for factors like equipment damage and loss in power generation, which translate to a loss in revenue.
About Company
INSOS Energy Investment Consultant Co, a consultancy and engineering company, owns 20 solar energy sites, totally more than 90 MW around the Anatolian Region, Turkey. This case study is about 2 of Konya sites, commissioned in 2016, 12 power plants with a total capacity of 12 MW, consisting of 480 inverters of 25 kW each from SMA. To manage all of this, a comprehensive power plant monitoring system was needed.
The Problem – Voltage Fluctuations
INSOS was noticing voltage fluctuations due to seasonal power demand and site design, when nearby agricultural sites would reduce irrigation frequency in the wintertime. This caused low energy demand, which led to an increase in voltage instability. The two solar sites were also connected to the power grid via the same feeder, in spite of a long distance in between. These factors contributed to losses in power generation. For example, you can see voltage fluctuation causing inverters to shut-down in solar sites from below inavitas Plant screenshot.
How inavitas Plant Solved the Problem
INSOS selected inavitas Plant to implement their platform to monitor inverters, LV switch gears, transformers, MV switchgear, energy meter and weather station.
With the help of inavitas Plant, the technical team was able to detect and monitor the voltage instability. This was aided by sophisticated alarms and communication systems. inavitas Plant updated users on a real-time basis, enabling power plant owners to take necessary actions on time, and increase system performance.
The technical team was able to find a solution to help stabilize the voltage and stop power generation losses by applying an on-load tap changer transformer. Without inavitas Plant providing an effortless way to view and analyze site data, they wouldn’t have been able to readily identify a solution. The Distribution company thanked INSOS for their solution.
Conventional products in the market typically only monitor inverters, opening the possibility of a problem going unnoticed for longer periods of time, or until it becomes larger. inavitas Plant provided a way for INSOS to quickly detect and respond to failures, with many devices in the system. They avoided having system issues waste money. On average, inavitas Plant can increase a solar plant’s performance ratio by 2% – 4%, through the implementation of the platform alone.
Overall, it is very crucial to know what is happening in your power plant to guarantee its performance. inavitas Power plant monitoring can help you reach your target and increase your revenue by increasing its performance. Stay connected with your power plant, take prompt actions.
