Thermal storage gets more solar on the gridCSP and PV for all times and seasons

ASI, CSIRO, UNSW and project partnersResearch tour de force

Solar SmorgasbordHimin cooks up a solar banquet

The Official JOurnal Of The AustrAliAn solAr EnErgy sociEty

05/12Autumn

iSSn: 0729-6436

Win an iPad2

See page 48

THE FUTURE OF SOLAR TECHNOLOGY

Speak To A LocalSMA manufacture in Germany, but we provide local Australian support in your timezone. The SMA Service line is open from Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm (AEST). Our qualified Service Engineers are based in Sydney and will help you with troubleshooting on the spot. SMA are happy to speak with installers to find the best problem-solving solution. On the rare occasion that a problem exists with the device, a replacement device will normally be dispatched within 24 hours. We can also provide extended warranty options for peace of mind.

SMA-Australia.com.au1800 SMA AUS

THE FUTURE OF SOLAR TECHNOLOGY

Speak To A LocalSMA manufacture in Germany, but we provide local Australian support in your timezone. The SMA Service line is open from Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm (AEST). Our qualified Service Engineers are based in Sydney and will help you with troubleshooting on the spot. SMA are happy to speak with installers to find the best problem-solving solution. On the rare occasion that a problem exists with the device, a replacement device will normally be dispatched within 24 hours. We can also provide extended warranty options for peace of mind.

SMA-Australia.com.au1800 SMA AUS

2 | AUTUMN 2012

Bill Parker Editor

John Grimes Chief Executive, Australian Solar Energy Society

A differentiAl feed in tAriff in WA’s outbAckIn what is a first for Australian utilities, Horizon Power in Western

Australia will introduce a differentiated feed in tariff for its 100,000

residential customers and 9000 businesses on July 1. The rates offered are

dependant on the location and the local cost of electricity production; in

Meekatharra (once famous for its solar thermal power station) the rate

offered is 50cents/kWh. And in towns close to the Lake Argyle hydro

station, the rate is 16cents/kWh. Horizon is providing an incentive to

householders and businesses to invest in distributed generation. Clearly

this approach is applicable across all of outback and remote Australia and

offers more than just an offset for high demand for electricity during the

day. At its basic level, capital costs are avoided, like they were at Magnetic

Island in Queensland when a new undersea power cable was avoided by

installing more PV for power supplies on the ‘solar city’ island.

Energy policy in WA has driven a different approach. The ‘Uniform

Tariff’ was intended to avoid disadvantaging rural people by setting one

electricity tariff for all across the state. Time to reconsider.

The other less obvious value (to the public) of Horizon’s innovation

is the opportunity it creates for development of new engineering

approaches to solar, and both Horizon and Western Power have engineers

working on the integration of distributed energy. Start modestly and learn

from the experience.

AustrAliA’s lArgest PV fArm tAkes Another steP forWArdFirst Solar has under construction a 10MW solar farm south east of

Geraldton at the northern tip of the WA’s integrated grid (covering the

south west corner of the state). The plant will offset the demand of a

desalination plant at Binningup, south of Perth. This, Australia’s first

utility scale PV project, is watershed for the technology and the industry.

Financed by the WA state government owned Verve Energy, GE finance,

and money from the Royalties for Regions program, the project is

debt free.

Bill Parker

the AustrAliA chinA solAr PArtnershiPIn early April I returned from a 12 day trip to China, visiting 11 cities and

meeting with more than 50 companies, travelling 4000 kilometres by rail

and road.

What became clear to me is that we have an outdated view of the

Chinese economy, are ignorant of the connections that already exist

between solar in Australia and China, and are oblivious to the opportunities

that lie ahead.

China has made a strategic investment in solar. China is now the solar

superpower in manufacturing and will soon emerge as the largest solar

market on the globe. Seven of the top ten solar PV manufacturers are now

Chinese companies. This competition has helped drive down the cost of PV

modules by more than 60 per cent over the past three years, sending PV

closer to parity than ever before. In these top tier companies I saw brand

new manufacturing lines, high quality panels and genuine competition

between the various manufacturers.

China forecasts that it will reach grid parity for industrial users by 2014;

and for residential users by 2017. By this point, China is expecting to have

more than 100 gigawatts of installed solar capacity. The dramatic change

in the economics of solar is a game-changing outcome with profound

implications for Australia. It may well be the driver that enables Australia

to meet the International Energy Agency’s projection of five per cent of

Australia’s electricity coming from solar by 2020.

China’s solar story has an Australian heart. Everywhere I went in China, I

met Aussies. In almost every company I visited, their Chinese leaders were

trained in Australia.Not just in companies like Suntech, which claim to be

Chinese-Australian companies, but also in Trina, JA Solar, Yingli, Sunergy,

Hanwha, LDK, Jinko and many others.

There is a fantastic basis of good will between our respective solar

sectors, and we should be doing more to advance the interests of both

countries in this important sector. But the Chinese remain puzzled to

why Australia does not have a strong solar industry. I confessed I too was

puzzled, but I am confident we are closer to solving that puzzle, and are

beginning to meet our potential as the sunburnt country.

John GrimesPrinted using fSc® mixed source certified fibre by Printgraphics Pty ltd under iSO 14001 environmental certification.

12

Contents

4 3446

Solar societyreview of solar landscape by AuSES

CEO and Solar Progress Editor 2

AuSES state branch reports 42

East solar expo and Conference 47

Auses membership 48

Technical cornerGlen Morris explains grid voltages and inverter output 36

News and viewsTechnical and political solar developments 4

hot water at your service,

by Giles Parkinson 29

The world of distributed energy according

to Nigel Morris 32

Wayne Smith discusses renewable energy targets 40

Solar developmentsthermal storage on the grid, by NREL 8

real world PV testing: ASI funded

CSIRO research 11

Himin’s solar cooking tubes 24

High-performance, cost-effective cells: a high-level undertaking 26

Adelaide solar city sets a shining example 38

Special featuresJanis Birkeland examines building ratings 16

Solar plants and wind turbines –

re resources across Australia 20

smart grids, smart move: SMA well

positioned in the market 22

Affordable solar architecture, by

Tobias Danielmeyer 34

16

8

Front cover: ‘Sunny disposition’Hope and joy radiate from young Pip’s face, but what sort of a clean energy future awaits his generation and those beyond?This issue of Solar Progress reviews a diverse and powerful range of solar energy developments that help lay the foundation for a cleaner, greener economy.

Our thanks to Glen Morris for the image of his son amid sunflowers on the banks of Europe’s Blue Danube.

ediTOr

dr Bill Parker, auSeS

Phone: 0403 583 676

editor@auses.org.au

cOnTriBuTOrS: Janis Birkeland, Tobias

danielmeyer, chao lin, Glen Morris,

nigel Morris, Giles Parkinson, Bill Scanlon

and Wayne Smith.

cOnTriBuTinG ediTOr

nicola card

naTiOnal SaleS ManaGer

Brian rault Phone: 03 8534 5014

brian.rault@commstrat.com.au

deSiGn & PrOducTiOn

annette epifanidis

cOMMSTraT MelBOurne

level 8, 574 St Kilda rd MelBOurne 3004

Phone: 03 8534 5000

auSTralian SOlar enerGy

SOcieTy lTd

ceO John Grimes

PO Box 148, frenchs forest nSW 1640

www.auses.org.au

aBn 32 006 824 148

commStrat aBn 31 008 434 802

www.commstrat.com.au

Solar Progress was first published in 1980.

The magazine aims to provide readers

with an in–depth review of technologies,

policies and progress towards a society

which sources energy from the sun rather

than fossil fuels.

except where specifically stated, the

opinions and material published in this

magazine are not necessarily those of the

publisher or auSeS. While every effort

is made to check the authenticity and

accuracy of articles, neither auSeS nor the

editors are responsible for any inaccuracy.

Solar Progress is published quarterly

SOLAR PROGRESSPublished by CommStrat for Australian Solar Energy Society Ltd.

4 | AUTUMN 2012

Go AUSSie, Go - Silex SySTeMS JOinS The ranKS Of BiG SOlarOperations are in full swing at the Solar Systems’

Bridgewater test facility, which is proudly touted

as Australia’s largest concentrating photovoltaic

(CPV) power station.

Located in central Victoria, the 500 kilowatt

grid-connected facility will be used for the

demonstration and testing of Solar Systems’

proprietary ‘Dense Array’ CPV solar conversion

system.

Solar Systems is the wholly owned

subsidiary of Silex Systems, whose CEO

Dr Michael Goldsworthy was pleased to

announce the successful commissioning of

the eight dish systems (pictured). He explained

that the remaining eight dishes are to be

brought online progressively and the special

technology used at the facility “is expected

to provide very low cost electricity from large

utility-scale solar power stations”.

The Bridgewater facility received financial

support from the Federal Government and the

Victorian State Government.

In further ‘big picture’ developments,

Solar Systems is constructing a larger CPV

Solar Power Station in Mildura, Victoria’s

north west, and is eyeing up opportunities

for additional large-scale solar power

stations in key offshore markets, including

the USA and the Middle East.

On a related matter, Solar Systems has

been awarded a $2 million ASI grant for

the development of high efficiency Multi-

Junction Solar Cells on low cost large area

silicon substrates. Goldsworthy says this

has the potential to slash the cost of energy

production from CPV technologies by as

much as 20%.

Silex Systems – definitely the one

to watch.

International bUSiNeSS In March the three Australian based directors

of the International Solar Energy Society,

monica oliphant (ISES Immediate Past

President), steve blume (Vice President Public

Affairs) and John grimes travelled to Freiburg

in Germany and met with around 15 other

global directors to help set the priorities for

ISES for the coming year.

AuSES believes ISES can play an extremely

important role by becoming the global voice

of solar.

“Our vision for ISES is as a modern,

responsive organisation, focused on member’s

needs,” John Grimes said. “We will travel to

Colorado in May and will again put the case

strongly for a dynamic, responsive ISES.”

Making news

Image caption:

Vale Warren Bonython Warren was a visionary and a great

environmental activist. He was always

interested in and supportive of solar energy

and was instrumental in establishing the

SA branch of the Australian Solar Energy

Society in 1963. The society is greatly

appreciative of his input.

Solar beauty emerges at Bridgewater

6 | AUTUMN 2012

Making news

SOLAR booSTSAustralia’s solar industry recently received

a boost with $12 million channelled into

The Australian Solar Institute (ASI) Round

3 funding to accelerate solar energy

technology development.

The funding was announced by Minister for

Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson during

a visit to Sydney’s Silanna Semiconductor

Pty Ltd, which, as ASI Executive Director

Mark Twidell explained, has used ASI

funding matched with its own investment to

demonstrate efficiency improvements to help

reduce the cost of solar technology.

“It is a great example of how ASI is able to

assist Australian manufacturing companies to

diversify and drive innovation in photovoltaic

technology,” he said. “Silanna’s innovations,

when commercialised, will be suitable for

concentrating photovoltaic applications

including power plants and spacecraft.”

ASI Investment Director Olivia Coldrey

explained that the ASI funding will cover an

“exciting, diverse range of solar technologies,

particularly concentrating solar power

technologies [and] includes $1.6 million for

CSIRO to develop solar hybrid fuels and almost

$500,000 for BlueScope Steel Limited to

collaborate with German researchers to develop

thin-film solar cells which can be integrated

into buildings.”

All up $2.3 million has been committed

to projects funded under the Australia-

Germany Collaborative Solar Research and

Development Program in a bid to accelerate the

commercialisation of solar technologies.

The ASI is also announcing support for

eleven PhD Scholars and seven Postdoctoral

Fellows for the next three years, on top of

eight early and mid career researchers

already announced.

ASI investments in solar technologies have

a total leveraged portfolio value of almost

$260 million.

www.australiansolarinstitute.com.au

Coping with intermittency

intermittency is described as potentially one of the biggest hurdles to the successful adoption of large scale solar energy in Australia and the world. Now, CSiRo has partnered with Australian energy Market operator and energy Networks Association to conduct a world first study on intermittency, and is one step closer to ensuring this is a “manageable variable rather than a daunting unknown”.

Read more about this vital study in

winter Solar Progress.

Successful fUNd RAiSeRAustralian “clean-tech” company Dyesol

Limited has raised $5 million through take-up

by shareholders of the recent Share Purchase

Plan (with approximately $3.9 million of

proceeds) and a supplementary placement to

sophisticated investors (1.1 million in shares

at 18 cents per share). The total number of

shares to be issued will be approximately

27.78 million.

Dyesol Chairman Richard Caldwell (pictured)

says the company looks forward to reporting

“exciting developments in our world-class

partner projects”.

Dyesol is a global supplier of Dye Solar Cell

(DSC) and supplies photovoltaic enabling

technology and materials to manufacturers

seeking to value-add photovoltaic capability

into their products, such as glass building

façade or steel roofing products.

DSC is a third generation photovoltaic

technology enabling metal, glass and

polymeric based products in the building,

transport and electronics sectors to generate

clean electricity and improve energy efficiency.

DSC is a biomimetic nanotechnology which

mimics the natural process of photosynthesis

to generate energy from sunlight. Special

advantages of DSC technology are good

performance in shade, haze/pollution, vertical

installation, and at dawn and dusk, ie “real

world” solar conditions.

Above: Dyesol Chairman Richard CaldwellLeft: The world's biggest DSC

A powerful partnershipTrina Solar is proud to partner with the Advanced Solar Research Team at ANU’s Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems, on the development of our next generation silicon cell technology.

In a project supported by the Australian Solar Institute, the team in Canberra is using advanced nanotechnology for precise structuring of the solar cell surfaces to deliver significant increases in cell efficiency whilst cutting manufacturing cost. A powerful partnership.

www.trinasolar.com.au

8 | AUTUMN 2012

Here, Bill Scanlon from NReL in Colorado relates how two differing technologies can complement each other. A story from the USA but equally relevant in Australia.

it’s 4:45 on a sweltering summer afternoon, and the rooftop solar panels are

starting to lose juice. The sun’s lower angles

and that huge tree are interfering with the

efficient photon-to-electricity transfer.

What is an environmentally conscious — but

air-conditioning-loving — homeowner to do?

Peak demand for electricity in the United States

typically hits between 4pm and 8pm, which

doesn’t quite line up with the sun’s schedule.

It’s fortunate that the sun is high in the

sky during many of the hours when the air

conditioning is in demand. But in summer,

people tend to need air conditioning during

the dinner hour and beyond, when kitchen

appliances are whirring, lights are on, and TVs

are blaring.

To the rescue comes concentrating solar

power (CSP), a technology being tested and

deployed by utilities in America’s deserts and in

southern Spain.

New analysis at the US Department of

Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy

Laboratory (NREL) has found that CSP, with

its greater grid flexibility and ability to store

energy for as long as 15 hours, can enhance

total solar power generation and actually give

photovoltaic (PV) systems a greater presence on

the grid.

PV panels generate electricity — and are

grabbing real estate on rooftops across the

Americas, Europe, and Asia.

CSP technologies use mirrors to

convert thermal energy to drive turbines

that produce electricity.

Thermal storage can even out the bumpsLike Edison and Tesla or Dempsey and Tunney,

the two major solar energy technologies never

meant to play nice. Each had its niche — and

its dreams of market share.

But that’s changing, said NREL

analyst Paul Denholm, co-author with

Mark Mehos of the study Enabling Greater

Penetration of Solar Power via use of CSP with

Thermal Energy Storage .

Think of power from PV as a roller coaster

of highs and lows, and power from CSP, via

thermal energy storage, as a gently rolling train.

PV panels and wind turbines contribute

electricity to the grid, but without the ability to

store that power, they cannot supply the grid

after the sun sets, or after the wind dies. Even

passing clouds can cause drops in the amount

of solar energy that gets on the grid.

Large fossil-fuelled power plants can’t be

quickly stopped or started to accommodate

variable energy sources.

CSP can even out these ebbs and flows

because it can store power and ramp up

output when the amount of direct wind or

solar power drops.

Solar developments

Thermal storage gets more solar on the grid

Crews work around the clock installing mirrored parabolic trough collectors — built on site — that will cover three square miles at Abengoa’s Solana Plant. When finished, the plant will generate 280 megawatts of clean, sustainable power.

“The cost of PV has been plummeting, and it has a cost advantage over CSP. But CSP has the advantage of storage, and so teamed with PV can improve the benefits and bottom lines of both technologies.”

Grid flexibility is the key“It all gets down to grid flexibility,” Denholm said. “What sets of grid

technologies do you deploy to make the grid respond faster and over a

greater range to the input of variable energy such as solar and wind?

“If you can’t respond quickly, you end up potentially throwing away

wind and solar energy. We know that the more wind and solar you add to

the grid, the harder it is to balance the grid and maintain reliability.

“When a cloud passes over a PV panel, the drop in energy production

is immediate. But because of the 10 or 15 minutes of thermal inertia, a

cloud passing over a CSP tower doesn’t cause this immediate drop. Nor is

there the immediate surge when sunlight returns.

“The change is more gradual,” Denholm said. “That’s one reason CSP

can bring a greater quality to the grid.”

Still, the greater potential for CSP — and for CSP helping PV to expand

its role on the grid — is its capacity to store the energy it captures from

the sun for several hours, making it a source of reliable energy after the

sun sets.

“CSP can fill in that gap in the evening when there’s peak demand for

electricity,” Denholm said. “Together, the solar resource can provide all

that peak demand. And together they can reduce or eliminate the need to

build new power plants for those peak periods.”

Light is reflected in a 25-foot-wide, 500-foot-long, and 10-foot-high parabolic trough collector at Abengoa’s Solana Plant.

Sunsink Solar Storage uses the latest battery technology to collect and store solar PV energy for use

when it is most benificial to the system owner. Sun Sink units can deliver power at times when grid power is at it’s highest price. The system comes complete with five years warranty and a full service

scheme for the life of the unit. Future-proof design ensures the

unit can adapt to future grid demand applications.

The units are small, efficient and SAFE.

Available sizes:Sunsink Mini 2.4 KWh (suits 1.0-1.5kw of PV)Sunsink Midi 4.8 KWh (suits 1.5- 2.2kw of PV)Sunsink Maxi 7.2 KWh (suits 2.2-3.0kw of PV)Sunsink Mega 9.6 KWh (suits 2.5-4.0kw of PV)

Size selection will depend on daytime usage, refer our website for further sizing data.

www.SUNSINK.com.au

Orders, Distributor and Agent Enquiries to:VULCAN ENERGY Pty Ltd

29-45 Ashmore Road Bundall Qld. 4217.Tel. 07 55 935553 Fax. 07 55 267447 email. sales@vulcanenergy.com.au

Web. griddemand.com.au

Cheap, Clean Power To The Grid “at the right place and at the right time”

Are your customers

GIVING AWAY SOLAR POWER?????????????????

10 | AUTUMN 2012

Molten salts a low-cost solutionThermal energy storage at CSP plants

“is low-cost because it’s not exotic,”

Denholm said. “It’s large tanks with

salt to store energy before you use it

to boil the water.”

NREL’s Greg Glatzmaier believes

the best medium for storage available

today is molten salt.

The salts are abundant and not

very costly. They work well at the high

temperature needed in a CSP plant —

about 565°C.

At a typical molten-salt CSP plant,

the salts are stored in two tanks, one

much hotter than the other.

The molten salts used for storage

are a mix of sodium nitrate and

potassium nitrate. Sodium nitrate

is mined in Chile, in surroundings

similar to the Utah salt flats.

Potassium nitrate also occurs

in nature and is mined in Chile,

Ethiopia, and elsewhere.

Plants with storage in Spain, Nevada, Arizona and CaliforniaAbengoa Solar is building a

250-megawatt CSP plant near Gila

Bend in Arizona that will cover 1900

acres and use 900,000 mirrors to

direct sunlight to heat a working

fluid inside its tubes. The plant’s six

hours of thermal storage mean it can

deliver electricity after the sun sets to

approximately 70,000 homes.

The 19.9MW power tower run

by Gemasolar in southern Spain is

configured to store enough energy

during the summer to provide solar-

generated electricity 24 hours a day,

Glatzmaier said. In the winter, when

there’s less sunshine, electricity comes

from more conventional sources a

few hours each day. The system aims

to power 25,000 homes and reduce

carbon dioxide emissions by more

than 30,000 tons a year.

SolarReserve is building the

110-megawatt Crescent Dunes Solar

Energy Project near Tonopah, Nevada,

which will use molten salt to store

the sun’s energy as heat for several

hours. It will include more than

17,000 mirrors to focus the sun’s

light on a tower 640 feet high.

BrightSource is building an even

larger CSP project in the Mojave

Desert at Ivanpah that will have

storage for just a couple of hours

a day — but this will be enough to

serve more than 140,000 homes

during peak hours. Company

executives say the plant will reduce

carbon dioxide emissions by more

than 400,000 tons per year.

(Editor’s note: read more about Ivanpah in

the Spring 2011 issue of Solar Progress.)

PV/CSP symbiosis makes economic senseThe cost of PV has been plummeting,

and it has a cost advantage over

CSP. But CSP has the advantage of

storage, and so teamed with PV can

improve the benefits and bottom

lines of both technologies.

Storage does raise the price of

a CSP plant, but “if you’re running

your turbine more hours in a day,

you’re amortizing your turbine cost

over more generation time, and

there’s a real cost benefit there,”

Glatzmaier explained.

The bottom line: when storage is

added to a CSP plant, it increases

the value of its electricity — both its

energy value and its capacity value.

Other thermal storage

technologies being investigated by

researchers include phase-change or

thermal-chemical storage.

Denholm and Mehos caution

that the preliminary analysis in their

study will require more advanced

grid simulations to verify the

actual ability of CSP to help wind

and PV gain a larger presence on

the grid. An important next step,

they say, would be more complete

simulations using utility-grade

software.

That will answer questions on

the realistic performance of the

generation fleet, transmission

constraints, and actual CSP

operations.

This abridged version is used with

kind permission of NREL. The paper

can be read in full at

www.nrel.gov/news/features/

feature_detail.cfm/feature_id=1788

Bill Scanlon is a writer with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

All images courtesy of Dennis Schroeder

The tanks that hold the molten salts at

Abengoa’s Solana Plant are enormous. The salts

can keep the solar-heated fluids very hot

for several hours, so they can be transferred to turbines to produce

electricity even when the sun isn’t shining.

Solar developments

Visit www.solar-e.com for regular updates, stories and commentaries for:• Solar Energy Facts • Support to peak associations • Blogs and forums for the general community• Building a network of ethical businesses and professions • The platform for launching the GET SOLAR Campaign

Building businesses for an emerging new solar economy

2012 is the year for the commercial campaign • Available to selected industries to collectively

market solar.• Building a directory service to deliver enquiries.

Log onto www.solar-e.com and start to expand your business opportunities

All enquiries to:

1800 GET SOLAR

12 | AUTUMN 2012

Solar developments

Real worldSomeone recently posed a question about the value of spending research

money on understanding photovoltaic performance rather than devoting all

efforts to improving that performance.

The carefully worded response delivered by Dr Chris Fell, Research

Group Leader, CSIRO, covered the limitations of PV certification

conducted in laboratories (using the 25°C standard) in predicting actual

output, with higher panel temperatures actually decreasing the efficiency

of silicon cells. Other matters impact on the output of a PV system –

and when multiplied over a large scale installation the uncertainty is

magnified, with small errors putting large dents in potential earnings.

The performance anomaly is a topic close to Dr Fell’s heart as he is

currently leading a small team of researchers in the ASI funded project:

Improving translation models for predicting the energy yield of PV power systems.

This project that is part of the US-Australia Solar Energy Collaboration

Foundation Project and part funded by the ASI, aims to reduce risk

for large-scale PV plants by investigating the relationship between a

manufacturer’s power rating for solar panels and the energy those panels

generate over time.

In short, deliver and drive benefits through greater certainty.

Variables in cell performance Dr Fell explained that the energy yield of a PV system extends beyond

just the temperature response; variables include the intensity of the

sunlight, angle of the sun’s rays to the PV cells, and the spectrum (colour

mix) of the sunlight. “The yield of a PV system is also constrained by the

characteristics of the array, such as panel mismatch, line losses and the

efficiency of conversion to AC,” he said.

No stone will be left unturned in the project.

To optimise impact, the project will seek to study, compare and

contrast the outdoor performance of all the major PV technologies on the

market, including monocrystalline, polycrystalline and amorphous silicon,

cadmium telluride and copper indium diselenide.

“We hope to also provide comment on the outdoor performance of

emerging technologies such as organic solar cells and dye-sensitised solar

cells, placed in the context of the existing technologies,” Dr Fell said.

The collaborative venture involves systematic laboratory measurements

of the fundamental performance of different PV technology types to

changes in irradiance, temperature and spectral composition. These

experiments will be conducted at the NREL in the USA, involving a state-

of-the-art spectrally selective solar simulator not available in Australia,

allowing a true scientific study of the energy yield for the different

technology types, and the impact of the device parameters measured

at NREL.

Left: Grounds for development

PV testing

“The resulting reduction in risk

will also help to attract large-scale

investment, driving economies of

scale and a flow-on reduction in costs.

Through this process, widespread

grid parity by mid-decade is a very

high probability.”

A CSiRo research team is on a mission to boost knowledge of solar PV panel performance under real-world conditions,

thanks to ASi funding. Among the many benefits delivered

by a greater degree of certainty would be more and larger PV projects. As told to

Nicola Card.

Solco solar products wholesale kits & components

solar panels mono, poly & thin film

inverterssingle & 3 phase, central,

string & micro

solar accessoriesmounting, power optimisers, regulators, batteries & more

solar pumpingsubmersible, surface,

bore, pool pumps & more

sales@solco.com.au solcosolarproducts.com.au

1800 074 007

Solco National Distribution | WA | SA | NT | VIC | ACT | NSW | QLD

Solco has been supplying solar energy systems to metro and regional customers across Australia for over 25

years. Through Solco Solar Products you have access to leading brands, together with comprehensive technical

and field support.

Call us on 1800 074 007 for your local sales representative, or register online at solco.com.au to access 2012

pricing and monthly specials.

R

A HILTI GROUP COMPANY

Australian wholesale distributor for:

14 | AUTUMN 2012

ASI/USASEC project

Central to the project is research under

Australian conditions delivered via covariate

analysis of data from 19 PV systems operating

for the past five years at the Desert Knowledge

Australia Solar Centre in Alice Springs. The

analysis will incorporate a comparison of

different software packages for predicting PV

energy yield, and results will be compared with

the output of commercial scale systems.

Complementing this will be a purpose-built

outdoor testing facility capable of current-

voltage sweeps of individual commercial-scale

PV panels, which sidesteps the complexity of

array-level performance.

Unique outdoor test facilityCommissioned at the half-way point (12

months), the facility will be constructed on land

at the CSIRO Energy Centre in Newcastle, and

will have the capacity for ongoing, automated

testing of 120 commercial PV modules.

Unlike other facilities around Australia,

the panels at CSIRO will not be connected

into arrays, but tested independently, which

allows their performance to be linked to the

fundamental properties of the technology used,

without the complicating additional losses that

are experienced when modules are connected

into systems.

These fundamental properties include the

response of the solar panels to changes in

temperature, as well as to changes in the

irradiance (brightness) and spectrum (colour) of

the sunlight, and also to whether the sunlight is

direct or diffuse.

“Our testing facility will provide rapid,

automated I-V (current-voltage) testing of

commercial scale modules, with concurrent

monitoring of module temperature, plus very

accurate monitoring of solar irradiance and

spectrum,” Fell explained. “There is no other

facility in Australia with this capability.

“The large outdoor test facility will ultimately

be a valuable asset to our development of new

Our thanks to Olaf Theden for this image

Above: Making way for the future low-cost PV technologies, because it will enable

controlled studies of the energy yield and the

durability of the devices, in direct comparison

with commercially available PV modules.

“Hence the importance of our research:

A good standard method for energy yield

prediction will help consumers understand what

they are buying, prevent manufacturers from

making unrealistic claims about the performance

of their panels, and help Government direct

research funds to technologies that can bring

the most benefit,” Fell said.

“The resulting reduction in risk will also

help to attract large-scale investment, driving

economies of scale and a flow-on reduction in

costs. Through this process, widespread grid

parity by mid-decade is a very high probability.”

Spin offs One of the project’s aims is participation in

development of Australian and international

standards for in-field PV performance predictions.

“We intend to engage with the working

group that develops and maintains IEC60891,

which is the international standard that

underpins predictions of solar cell performance

in the real world,” Dr Fell explained. “The

result may be that we influence changes

in the standard, or at the very least gain a

better understanding of its strengths and

weaknesses.”

With this in mind - and the scope of the

research - we can only conclude that the

project outcomes will lend new meaning to the

saying ‘knowledge is power’.

Dr Chris Fell has been involved in Australian photovoltaics research for 12 years. Since 2006 he has led the Photovoltaics Team at CSIRO’s National Solar Energy Centre in Newcastle, focusing on the design and characterisation of new device architectures for low-cost solar cells.

Potential hiccups

Given the variables delivered by

the elements, one question that

is sometimes levelled at dr fell

relates to the impact of weather

and soiling on cell performance

outdoors. “Soiling is definitely

a problem that we’ll need to

manage”, he said. “dust is the

primary source of soiling on an

inland system. our partners at

desert Knowledge Australia will

manage that. Salt in the air can

also be a problem for systems very

close to the ocean. if we don’t get

enough rain we’ll manage it by

rinsing the modules in our field,

but at six kilometres from the

ocean i don’t anticipate this will

be a significant issue. birds are

a problem everywhere. The only

solution for a test facility like ours

is regular inspection and remedial

cleaning and running dust, no-

dust comparsions.”

www.enasolar.net/subscribe

EnaSolar offer a range of grid tied solar inverters to suit all requirements – 1.5kW, 2.0kW, 3.0kW, 3.8kW and now 4.0kW & 5.0kW dual MPPT.

We include features other manufacturers don’t even offer as extras!

Free built-in Wi-Fi for remote web based monitoring & reporting, from anywhere!

Integrated lockable DC & AC isolating switches.

Wide operating voltage range starting at 120V.

Fully outdoor mountable IP55 housing.

If you are interested in a quality, locally produced product, by a well respected and long standing manufacturer then you should be talking with EnaSolar. We may have a few competitors, but we have no competition at this level. We compare well on price, performance and no one can offer local support like we can.

With the built-in Wi-Fi you get lifetime and real time performance monitoring and reporting, verifying the level of kWh produced daily, monthly and yearly, helping you monitor energy generation.

EnaSolar inverters undergo extensive testing on every single inverter, so you can be assured of quality, reliability and security of performance.

Tel +64-3-364 9322 | sales@enasolar.com.au

www.enasolar.com.au

Lifetime monitoring & reporting with all EnaSolar inverters.

Subscribe to our Emailing List...