News Article
First Solar to launch Operations Centre
The advanced O&M capabilities should optimise output, revenue and grid integration for customers of the cadmium telluride panel manufacturer
First Solar is launching a global Operations Centre.
The facility is a centralised monitoring and control centre where power plants, operations and maintenance (O&M) programs can be monitored, operated and connected to utility and customer networks.
The Operations Centre combines First Solar's power prediction and analytical capabilities with its diagnostics and plant controls. The main aims of the centre are to maximise power output and minimise maintenance costs for the firm's customers.
It also aims to enable the world's largest solar photovoltaic power plants to integrate seamlessly with the electrical grid and contribute to grid stability.
First Solar's global Operations Centre is a centralised monitoring and control centre where power plants can be remotely monitored, operated and connected to utility and customer networks
The new, second-generation Operations Centre, located in Mesa, Arizona is fully compliant with North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) standards.
It is designed to be scalable to accommodate the growing global fleet of PV power plants in First Solar's O&M program.
First Solar currently operates 14 plants with 460 megawatts (MW) of peak generating capacity. The company says this will increase to 23 plants with 850 MW of capacity by the end of this year and 27 plants with 2,200 MW of capacity in 2013.
The Operations Centre and its staff maximise power plant availability and reduce costs for customers by preventing potential problems from occurring and quickly and efficiently fixing those that do.
The Operations Centre collects and processes a wide range of real-time power plant data. These include electrical performance, equipment status and weather data. These are monitored and analysed against key performance and operational parameters.
Automated data analysis detects issues in the plants and automatically dispatches maintenance crews to resolve them, and proprietary algorithms, developed using years of O&M data enable the system to predict potential issues and schedule preventive maintenance before a problem occurs.
A key feature of First Solar's power plant design is its advanced plant controls, which are critical for managing grid reliability and stability and can be controlled remotely from the Operations Centre.
Features include ramp-rate control, which limits how fast a power plant's output increases or decreases in order to minimise grid disruption; ride-through capability, which enables a power plant to operate through faults and other grid disturbances.
Other advantages include active power control, which ca
n be used to modulate power output and frequency droop control, which enables a power plant to provide critical grid support when grid frequency is changing.
These tools have become increasingly important as more solar generating capacity is connected to the grid.
"Our years of experience and investment have enabled us to build a proprietary system that allows us to optimise our customers' power plants to produce the maximum amount of energy and revenue under their power purchase agreements while minimising costs and risk," says Bob Callery, Vice President of O&M. "The vast quantity of data we gather also gives us invaluable insight into the real-word performance of our products and supports the continuous improvement of our power plants."
"Predictability and reliability have become increasingly critical to utilities and grid operators as large-scale renewable power plants are connected to the grid," continues Mahesh Morjaria, Vice President of Global Grid Integration.
"First Solar has invested considerable time and resources to ensure our power plants integrate seamlessly into the grid and provide features that not only avoid disruptions, but also can help to actively mitigate disruptions elsewhere on the grid."
The facility is a centralised monitoring and control centre where power plants, operations and maintenance (O&M) programs can be monitored, operated and connected to utility and customer networks.
The Operations Centre combines First Solar's power prediction and analytical capabilities with its diagnostics and plant controls. The main aims of the centre are to maximise power output and minimise maintenance costs for the firm's customers.
It also aims to enable the world's largest solar photovoltaic power plants to integrate seamlessly with the electrical grid and contribute to grid stability.
First Solar's global Operations Centre is a centralised monitoring and control centre where power plants can be remotely monitored, operated and connected to utility and customer networks
The new, second-generation Operations Centre, located in Mesa, Arizona is fully compliant with North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) standards.
It is designed to be scalable to accommodate the growing global fleet of PV power plants in First Solar's O&M program.
First Solar currently operates 14 plants with 460 megawatts (MW) of peak generating capacity. The company says this will increase to 23 plants with 850 MW of capacity by the end of this year and 27 plants with 2,200 MW of capacity in 2013.
The Operations Centre and its staff maximise power plant availability and reduce costs for customers by preventing potential problems from occurring and quickly and efficiently fixing those that do.
The Operations Centre collects and processes a wide range of real-time power plant data. These include electrical performance, equipment status and weather data. These are monitored and analysed against key performance and operational parameters.
Automated data analysis detects issues in the plants and automatically dispatches maintenance crews to resolve them, and proprietary algorithms, developed using years of O&M data enable the system to predict potential issues and schedule preventive maintenance before a problem occurs.
A key feature of First Solar's power plant design is its advanced plant controls, which are critical for managing grid reliability and stability and can be controlled remotely from the Operations Centre.
Features include ramp-rate control, which limits how fast a power plant's output increases or decreases in order to minimise grid disruption; ride-through capability, which enables a power plant to operate through faults and other grid disturbances.
Other advantages include active power control, which ca
n be used to modulate power output and frequency droop control, which enables a power plant to provide critical grid support when grid frequency is changing.
These tools have become increasingly important as more solar generating capacity is connected to the grid.
"Our years of experience and investment have enabled us to build a proprietary system that allows us to optimise our customers' power plants to produce the maximum amount of energy and revenue under their power purchase agreements while minimising costs and risk," says Bob Callery, Vice President of O&M. "The vast quantity of data we gather also gives us invaluable insight into the real-word performance of our products and supports the continuous improvement of our power plants."
"Predictability and reliability have become increasingly critical to utilities and grid operators as large-scale renewable power plants are connected to the grid," continues Mahesh Morjaria, Vice President of Global Grid Integration.
"First Solar has invested considerable time and resources to ensure our power plants integrate seamlessly into the grid and provide features that not only avoid disruptions, but also can help to actively mitigate disruptions elsewhere on the grid."
