Photovoltaics management for energy parks and small-scale producers

Complexity from a heterogeneous PV environment

There are hurdles to overcome before photovoltaic systems can operate reliably and economically: subsidies are tied to hard deadlines for commissioning, while capacity expansions through additional new systems require interfaces to certified controllers on existing systems. For example, as part of the certification process, new systems on the medium- and high-voltage grid must have a power plant controller with a component certificate in accordance with VDE-AR-N 4110 or 4120. This gives rise to special requirements: for example, although the telecontrol technology may have to communicate with several grid operators, direct marketing takes place centrally. This situation needs to be resolved and a standard solution introduced such that even large energy parks and various other forms of energy generation can be combined extremely efficiently.

Standardised comprehensive solutions

These are based on standardised control cabinets made by deXcon GmbH, which all use similar circuit diagrams, interfaces and configurations. This allows for various forms of energy generation and purchasing options according to need and yet enables them to be combined in a standardised manner and, above all, swiftly. Routers manufactured by INSYS icom take care of data communications: data exchange between PV inverters, solar loggers and plant controls as well as remote access for servicing by the plant operator or remote shut down by the grid operator. To this can be added the modulation for direct marketing on the electricity exchange of the electricity produced. Various VPN configurations with separate encrypted communications channels can be used, depending on the intended purpose. The standardised circuit systems allow the complete router configuration to be automatically generated by software for a large number of systems.

Automated PV system management

The standardised and fully scalable integration of data communication solutions from INSYS icom provides an integrated comprehensive solution. This alleviates numerous risks faced by small-scale producers and offers simple, cost-effective scaling for large providers that can be taken forward to create an integrated control system for whole energy parks. deXcon also allows easy entry into voluntary direct marketing with plug and play interfaces.