RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Novel utility-scale photovoltaic plant electroluminescence maintenance technique by means of bidirectional power inverter controller
A1 Ballestín Fuertes, Javier
A1 Muñoz-Cruzado Alba, Jesús
A1 Sanz Osorio, José Francisco
A1 Hernández Callejo, Luis
A1 Alonso Gómez, Víctor
A1 Morales Aragonés, José Ignacio
A1 Gallardo Saavedra, Sara
A1 Martínez Sacristán, Óscar
A1 Moretón Fernández, Ángel
K1 Electroluminescence
K1 Photovoltaic panels
K1 Power inverters
K1 Utility-scale photovoltaic plants
K1 22 Física
K1 33 Ciencias Tecnológicas
AB Nowadays, photovoltaic (PV) silicon plants dominate the growth in renewable energies generation. Utility-scale photovoltaic plants (USPVPs) have increased exponentially in size and power in the last decade and, therefore, it is crucial to develop optimum maintenance techniques. One of the most promising maintenance techniques is the study of electroluminescence (EL) images as a complement of infrared thermography (IRT) analysis. However, its high cost has prevented its use regularly up to date. This paper proposes a maintenance methodology to perform on-site EL inspections as efficiently as possible. First, current USPVP characteristics and the requirements to apply EL on them are studied. Next, an increase over the automation level by means of adding automatic elements in the current PV plant design is studied. The new elements and their configuration are explained, and a control strategy for applying this technique on large photovoltaic plants is developed. With the aim of getting on-site EL images on a real plant, a PV inverter has been developed to validate the proposed methodology on a small-scale solar plant. Both the electrical parameters measured during the tests and the images taken have been analysed. Finally, the implementation cost of the solution has been calculated and optimised. The results conclude the technical viability to perform on-site EL inspections on PV plants without the need to measure and analyse the panel defects out of the PV installation.
PB MDPI
SN 2076-3417
YR 2020
FD 2020
LK https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/50645
UL https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/50645
LA eng
NO Applied Sciences, 2020, vol. 10, n. 9, p. 3084
NO Producción Científica
DS UVaDOC
RD 11-jul-2024