Comparative Investigation of System-Level Optimized Power Conversion System Architectures to Reduce LCOE for Large-Scale PV-Plus-Storage Farms

Zheng An; Rajendra Prasad Kandula; Deepak Divan

doi:10.1109/ECCE47101.2021.9595154

Comparative Investigation of System-Level Optimized Power Conversion System Architectures to Reduce LCOE for Large-Scale PV-Plus-Storage Farms

Zheng An, Rajendra Prasad Kandula, Deepak Divan

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

PV-plus-storage (PVS) has become a prevalent configuration for newly commissioned large-scale solar projects. However, the optimal power conversion system (PCS) architecture has not been investigated yet. This paper first validates the limited impact of inverter cost on LCOE and then explores a system-level optimized PCS architecture with extended LCOE reduction to proliferate large-scale dispatchable solar energy. Two state-of-the-art architectures including central inverters (CI), traditional 480/600 V string inverters (SI) are compared with newly proposed medium voltage string inverters (MVSI) and multiport DC transformer (MDCT). With verified layouts and single line diagrams (SLDs) of 20 MW PVS plants, the losses and costs breakdown of different architectures are extracted and the PCS related LCOEs are derived. In this analysis, all electrical bill of materials (EBOS) elements, inverters, battery storage and its associated components, are included, whose losses and costs are obtained from markets, manufacturers, and literature. Besides, the sensitivities of PCS-related LCOEs to Inverter-Loading-Ratio (ILR) are also investigated. The results show that compared with CI and SI with 1.5 kV PV, 4 kV MVSI and 34 kV MDCT present an extended LCOE reduction across all ILR from 1.0 to 3.0, making them economically favorable candidates for PVS farms.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	2021 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition, ECCE 2021 - Proceedings
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages	719-726
Number of pages	8
ISBN (Electronic)	9781728151359
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/ECCE47101.2021.9595154
State	Published - 2021
Externally published	Yes
Event	13th IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition, ECCE 2021 - Virtual, Online, Canada Duration: Oct 10 2021 → Oct 14 2021

Publication series

Name	2021 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition, ECCE 2021 - Proceedings

Conference

Conference	13th IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition, ECCE 2021
Country/Territory	Canada
City	Virtual, Online
Period	10/10/21 → 10/14/21

Funding

This work is sponsored by U.S. DOE under the award DE-EE0008351 ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors would like to thank Department of Energy and Center for Distributed Energy at Georgia Tech for their support of this research. In addition, the authors would also like to thank Mahesh, Morjaria from First Solar, Andrew Ingram from Southern Company, for providing their insights and expertise on this analysis. This paper does not reflect any viewpoints of U.S. Department of Energy.

Keywords

PV-plus-storage (PVS)
central inverters
electrical bill of materials (EBOS)
inverter loading-ratio (ILR)
levelized cost of energy (LCOE)
medium voltage string inverters
multiport DC transformer
optimal system architecture
solar-plus-storage
string inverters

Access to Document

10.1109/ECCE47101.2021.9595154

Cite this

An, Z., Kandula, R. P., & Divan, D. (2021). Comparative Investigation of System-Level Optimized Power Conversion System Architectures to Reduce LCOE for Large-Scale PV-Plus-Storage Farms. In 2021 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition, ECCE 2021 - Proceedings (pp. 719-726). (2021 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition, ECCE 2021 - Proceedings). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. https://doi.org/10.1109/ECCE47101.2021.9595154

An, Zheng ; Kandula, Rajendra Prasad ; Divan, Deepak. / Comparative Investigation of System-Level Optimized Power Conversion System Architectures to Reduce LCOE for Large-Scale PV-Plus-Storage Farms. 2021 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition, ECCE 2021 - Proceedings. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2021. pp. 719-726 (2021 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition, ECCE 2021 - Proceedings).

@inproceedings{15bda10ece4b4c0398b66fa74133888d,

title = "Comparative Investigation of System-Level Optimized Power Conversion System Architectures to Reduce LCOE for Large-Scale PV-Plus-Storage Farms",

abstract = "PV-plus-storage (PVS) has become a prevalent configuration for newly commissioned large-scale solar projects. However, the optimal power conversion system (PCS) architecture has not been investigated yet. This paper first validates the limited impact of inverter cost on LCOE and then explores a system-level optimized PCS architecture with extended LCOE reduction to proliferate large-scale dispatchable solar energy. Two state-of-the-art architectures including central inverters (CI), traditional 480/600 V string inverters (SI) are compared with newly proposed medium voltage string inverters (MVSI) and multiport DC transformer (MDCT). With verified layouts and single line diagrams (SLDs) of 20 MW PVS plants, the losses and costs breakdown of different architectures are extracted and the PCS related LCOEs are derived. In this analysis, all electrical bill of materials (EBOS) elements, inverters, battery storage and its associated components, are included, whose losses and costs are obtained from markets, manufacturers, and literature. Besides, the sensitivities of PCS-related LCOEs to Inverter-Loading-Ratio (ILR) are also investigated. The results show that compared with CI and SI with 1.5 kV PV, 4 kV MVSI and 34 kV MDCT present an extended LCOE reduction across all ILR from 1.0 to 3.0, making them economically favorable candidates for PVS farms.",

keywords = "PV-plus-storage (PVS), central inverters, electrical bill of materials (EBOS), inverter loading-ratio (ILR), levelized cost of energy (LCOE), medium voltage string inverters, multiport DC transformer, optimal system architecture, solar-plus-storage, string inverters",

author = "Zheng An and Kandula, {Rajendra Prasad} and Deepak Divan",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 IEEE.; 13th IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition, ECCE 2021 ; Conference date: 10-10-2021 Through 14-10-2021",

year = "2021",

doi = "10.1109/ECCE47101.2021.9595154",

language = "English",

series = "2021 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition, ECCE 2021 - Proceedings",

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An, Z, Kandula, RP & Divan, D 2021, Comparative Investigation of System-Level Optimized Power Conversion System Architectures to Reduce LCOE for Large-Scale PV-Plus-Storage Farms. in 2021 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition, ECCE 2021 - Proceedings. 2021 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition, ECCE 2021 - Proceedings, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., pp. 719-726, 13th IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition, ECCE 2021, Virtual, Online, Canada, 10/10/21. https://doi.org/10.1109/ECCE47101.2021.9595154

Comparative Investigation of System-Level Optimized Power Conversion System Architectures to Reduce LCOE for Large-Scale PV-Plus-Storage Farms. / An, Zheng; Kandula, Rajendra Prasad; Divan, Deepak.
2021 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition, ECCE 2021 - Proceedings. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2021. p. 719-726 (2021 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition, ECCE 2021 - Proceedings).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

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AU - Kandula, Rajendra Prasad

AU - Divan, Deepak

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - PV-plus-storage (PVS) has become a prevalent configuration for newly commissioned large-scale solar projects. However, the optimal power conversion system (PCS) architecture has not been investigated yet. This paper first validates the limited impact of inverter cost on LCOE and then explores a system-level optimized PCS architecture with extended LCOE reduction to proliferate large-scale dispatchable solar energy. Two state-of-the-art architectures including central inverters (CI), traditional 480/600 V string inverters (SI) are compared with newly proposed medium voltage string inverters (MVSI) and multiport DC transformer (MDCT). With verified layouts and single line diagrams (SLDs) of 20 MW PVS plants, the losses and costs breakdown of different architectures are extracted and the PCS related LCOEs are derived. In this analysis, all electrical bill of materials (EBOS) elements, inverters, battery storage and its associated components, are included, whose losses and costs are obtained from markets, manufacturers, and literature. Besides, the sensitivities of PCS-related LCOEs to Inverter-Loading-Ratio (ILR) are also investigated. The results show that compared with CI and SI with 1.5 kV PV, 4 kV MVSI and 34 kV MDCT present an extended LCOE reduction across all ILR from 1.0 to 3.0, making them economically favorable candidates for PVS farms.

AB - PV-plus-storage (PVS) has become a prevalent configuration for newly commissioned large-scale solar projects. However, the optimal power conversion system (PCS) architecture has not been investigated yet. This paper first validates the limited impact of inverter cost on LCOE and then explores a system-level optimized PCS architecture with extended LCOE reduction to proliferate large-scale dispatchable solar energy. Two state-of-the-art architectures including central inverters (CI), traditional 480/600 V string inverters (SI) are compared with newly proposed medium voltage string inverters (MVSI) and multiport DC transformer (MDCT). With verified layouts and single line diagrams (SLDs) of 20 MW PVS plants, the losses and costs breakdown of different architectures are extracted and the PCS related LCOEs are derived. In this analysis, all electrical bill of materials (EBOS) elements, inverters, battery storage and its associated components, are included, whose losses and costs are obtained from markets, manufacturers, and literature. Besides, the sensitivities of PCS-related LCOEs to Inverter-Loading-Ratio (ILR) are also investigated. The results show that compared with CI and SI with 1.5 kV PV, 4 kV MVSI and 34 kV MDCT present an extended LCOE reduction across all ILR from 1.0 to 3.0, making them economically favorable candidates for PVS farms.

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KW - solar-plus-storage

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An Z, Kandula RP, Divan D. Comparative Investigation of System-Level Optimized Power Conversion System Architectures to Reduce LCOE for Large-Scale PV-Plus-Storage Farms. In 2021 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition, ECCE 2021 - Proceedings. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. 2021. p. 719-726. (2021 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition, ECCE 2021 - Proceedings). doi: 10.1109/ECCE47101.2021.9595154

Comparative Investigation of System-Level Optimized Power Conversion System Architectures to Reduce LCOE for Large-Scale PV-Plus-Storage Farms

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Keywords

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