Solarthon's 100MW Series Inverter Was Successfully Connected To The Grid at The Mexican Plateau Power Plant

Recently, the Solarthon 100MW series inverter was officially connected to the grid in Mexico's smart photovoltaic project. Construction of the project began in September 2023, using Solarthon 50kW series inverter and anti-PID control system and other complete solutions.

The installed capacity of the project is 100MW, which has very important social and economic benefits and ecological benefits for improving the local energy consumption structure and promoting the coordinated development of resources, environment and economy.

The challenges of high-altitude power plants

The power station is located in the central plateau of Mexico in the south of the North American continent. The mountains on the edge of the plateau are steep on the outside and gentle and broad on the inside, so that the plateau is like a square table raised on the coastal plain on both sides. The main design challenges are:

Challenge 1: The terrain is complex, with orientation inconsistencies and partial occlusion. The inverter is required to have multiple MPPT and a certain overallocation capacity to reduce power generation loss and reduce system costs.

Challenge 2: Potholes are uneven, and special attention needs to be paid to the convenience of installation and maintenance. Hill power station up and down slope is larger, more gravel, installation and maintenance is very difficult. It is necessary to install and maintain key equipment such as inverters, which is convenient, safe and reliable, and minimize later maintenance costs.

Challenge 3: The space is narrow, and the heat dissipation capacity of the inverter is high. In the hill power station, the space between the photovoltaic panels and the slope is very narrow, and the air circulation is not smooth, which is not conducive to the heat dissipation of the inverter, and the products with poor heat dissipation are easy to lead to derating operation.

Challenge 4: Overgrown, fire safety needs to be in place. According to statistics, most power station fires are caused by short circuit caused by DC cable damage, so it is necessary to design overcurrent protection devices on the DC side.

To sum up, in the photovoltaic power plants in hills with complex terrain, variable orientation, local occlusion and high fire risk, such as the Mexican plateau, it is particularly critical to select inverters with multi-channel MPPT technology, super configuration capability, excellent heat dissipation performance and high safety. These characteristics can not only optimize the power generation efficiency of the power station, reduce the power generation loss caused by terrain and occlusion, but also ensure the stable operation and long-term safety of the inverter in the environment of high altitude and low temperature, and meet the more stringent safety protection standards.

Select equipment according to local conditions

Based on the above challenges, the owner considered the application environment, investment cost, brand and supplier access experience, and finally chose Solarthon's 50kW series inverter solution, which is relatively mature and high-quality in China. It is understood that this inverter mainly has the following characteristics:

l High-power series inverter, with the advantages of centralized inverter, less grid-connected units in the same case, high grid friendliness

l has been widely used in a number of power stations, safety and reliability by domestic and foreign customers are widely recognized

l With four-way MPPT, especially suitable for the more complex scene of the hill photovoltaic power station

l IP65-protected fan heat dissipation reduces internal temperature rise and extends inverter life

l photovoltaic special fuse, can quickly cut off the fault circuit, avoid the risk of fire

l With string detection function, can be centralized monitoring, intelligent operation and maintenance, and a number of products perfect match

l 1.2 times overmatched design, can significantly reduce user system costs, improve revenue

At the same time, Sunshine Power advocates the concept of "local conditions, scientific design" equipment selection - for the actual situation of different types of power stations, to provide customers with the most reasonable high-quality solutions - is also perfectly reflected in this project.

Solarthon is the first manufacturer to develop and commercial-scale series inverters in China. Since the first series inverter developed in China was used in Hainan Fengxian project in 2010, the current Solarthon series inverters cover the power range of 3.0~200kW, and all indicators represent the highest level in the industry. The large-scale application of Solarthon series inverters in plateau photovoltaic power stations once again proves that the Solarthon brand is highly recognized in the industry and its leading strength in the field of series inverters.