PowerPoint PresentationO&M Requirements for Utility-Scale Solar
PV and Energy Storage
Nicholas Jewell, Ph.D., PMP Sr. Research Engineer Research &
Development – LG&E and KU
Overview
System Design
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• December 2013: LG&E-KU requests certificate of convenience
and necessity (CPCN) at $36 million
• December 2014: Kentucky PSC order grants CPCN quoting LG&E-KU
testimony that:
“Moving forward with Brown Solar Facility now will afford the
Companies an opportunity to gain operational experience with this
type of resource should the economics continue to improve and
future CO2 regulations enhance their value to the system.“ - David
Sinclair
• April 2016: Project completed for $25 million
• June 2016: Began commercial operation
Overview of E.W. Brown Solar
• EPC contract award to final completion — 9 months (completion in
June 2016)
• Approximately 45 acres
• PV modules — ~45,000 modules — Fixed tile rack system — Each
module produces 315 Watts
• Inverters: 10 x 1,000 kW @ 1,000 volts
• Anticipated annual production: ~19,000 MWh — Assuming a typical
home uses 1,000 kWh of electricity per month, the E.W. Brown Solar
Facility will
power an equivalent of approximately 1,500 home each year. — 19,000
MW hours of annual production is equivalent to Brown’s 750 MW of
Coal generation
operating at full output for 25 hours.
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Facts: ~46,000 panels, 45 acres 104 Combiner Boxes 10 re-combiners
and inverters ~210 Miles of power cable
Typical Solar PV System Design
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• Multi-crystalline
• 19 modules per string
• ~10-12 Combiners per inverter
• Tracking (SAT, DAT) vs. no tracking
• Ground requirements
• Capacity factor
Variable Fixed Tilt Tracker Acres Available 40 40
Acres per MWp 2.7 4.3
System Size (MWp) 14.8 9.3
Production Efficiency (MWh/MWp) 1232.1 1490.9
Tracker Advantage 21%
System Cost ($) 25,185,185.19$ 17,209,302.33$
Annual Revenue 730,160.00$ 554,751.80$
Fixed Tilt Advantage 32%
• Nominal Power: 1,190 kW — Administratively limited at 85% (1011
kW)
• Max Input Voltage: 1000 VDC
• Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT)
• Output: 390 VAC
• Available data points: —Ambient temperature —Barometric pressure
—Dew point —Global horizontal irradiance — Plane of array
irradiance —Rain —Relative humidity —Wind speed —Wind
direction
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Maintenance
• Module replacement
• Inverter modules and controllers
• No cleaning
System Performance – E.W. Brown Quick Facts
• 19.8% capacity factor during 2017 — Daily Min: 0% (outage) —
Daily Max: 37.5%
• 17,336 MWh — 2,157 MWh in June (30% CF) — 497 MWh in January
(6.7% CF)
• Output varies considerably by season, month, time of day, and
with weather
• Brown solar production — 10 MW (nameplate capacity) - 94 hours or
1% of year — Above 9.9 MW - 137 hours or 1.6% of year — Offline and
parasitic 51.6% of the time (drawing
power from the grid, ~ 24.5 kW)
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LG&E and KU Energy Storage Overview
What is Energy Storage?
ESS Installations – Installed Power
Reference Numbers (as of January 2016) — Total battery capacity of
electric vehicles on US roads:
11,500 MWh — Total battery capacity of consumer electronics sold in
2015:
55,000 MWh
Electro-chemical 1055 4008 2.62
Thermal 225 3684 6.84
Electro-mechanical 74 2588 13.02 *
Hydrogen 14 21 17.77
Liquid-Air 2 5 3
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Site Mission: 1. Learn about an emerging
technology and how it can be of value to the utility grid and our
customers.
2. Promote technological advancement through collaboration with
storage vendors, research organizations, regulating authorities,
local universities, and other utilities.
Kentucky’s first utility-scale energy storage project ESS
R&D
Site Storage Vendors
• Grid-connected or islanded
• User-facility-style site
• Evaluate benefit/cost related to battery performance testing for
use cases
• Test application of multiple (stacked) control functions
• Determine cost-of-ownership, O&M
• Model energy storage impact at distribution circuit level
• Screen multiple technologies (plug-and-play design) for short-
and long-term testing
• Transition from R&D to Operations
Kentucky’s First and Largest Grid-Scale Energy Storage System
• 1 MW, 2 MWh
• Smart Inverter
• Custom Enclosures — Redundant HVAC — Built-In Fire Suppression —
Alarms and Interlocks
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• 740-1150 VDC — Average ~900 VDC
• 1000 kW continuous
• 1000 kVAR continuous
• 4 Quadrant operation
• 740-1150 VDC — Average ~900 VDC
• 1000 kW continuous
• 1000 kVAR continuous
• 4 Quadrant operation
• Replaced air filters on HVAC
• Replaced carbon filter on inverter coolant line
• Bad battery backup on controller
• Firmware updates