In 2019, with the changes in photovoltaic policies, the industry is bidding to reduce the cost of electricity, and it is an inevitable trend to move towards affordable Internet access. Therefore, technological innovation is the breakthrough, reducing the cost of electricity and reducing the dependence on subsidies has become a new direction for the healthy development of the photovoltaic industry. At the same time, China, as the world's leading manufacturer of the photovoltaic industry, has helped most countries to achieve parity on the Internet, but it is still some distance away from parity on the Internet for various reasons.
The main reason why the overseas photovoltaic market can achieve parity is that in addition to China's advantages in terms of financing, land, access, lighting, electricity prices, etc., the more important and lessons learned point is that they are relatively China is more advanced. For example, a photovoltaic system with a voltage of 1500V. At present, 1500V voltage-level related products have become the mainstream solution for the overseas photovoltaic market. Therefore, domestic photovoltaics should also focus on system-level innovation, accelerate the application of 1500V and other advanced technologies, realize cost reduction, efficiency and quality improvement of power stations, and comprehensively promote the photovoltaic industry to move towards the parity era.
1500V wave has swept the world
According to the IHS report, the first proposed use of the 1500V system dates back to 2012. By 2014, FirstSolar invested in the first 1500V photovoltaic power plant. According to the calculation of FirstSolar: 1500V photovoltaic power station reduces the number of parallel circuits by increasing the number of series photovoltaic modules; reduces the number of junction boxes and cables; at the same time, when the voltage is increased, the cable loss is further reduced, and the power generation efficiency of the system is improved.
In 2015, China's leading inverter manufacturer Sunshine Power took the lead in promoting system solutions based on the 1500V inverter design in the industry, but because other supporting components have not formed a complete industrial chain in China, and investment companies have limited awareness of this, Rather than giving priority to overseas expansion after large-scale domestic promotion, it first "conquered" the world and then returned to the Chinese market.
From the perspective of the global market, the 1500V system has become a necessary condition for large photovoltaic projects to reduce costs and increase efficiency. In countries with low electricity prices such as India and Latin America, large-scale ground photovoltaic power stations are almost all adopting 1500V bidding schemes; countries with developed power markets in Europe and the United States have switched DC voltage from 1000V photovoltaic systems to 1500V; emerging markets such as Vietnam and the Middle East have directly entered 1500V systems . It is worth noting that the 1500-volt GW-level photovoltaic project is used worldwide and has repeatedly set a global record with ultra-low on-grid electricity prices.
In the United States, the installed capacity of 1500Vdc equipment in 2016 accounted for 30.5%. By 2017, it had doubled to 64.4%. It is expected that this number will reach 84.20% in 2019. According to the local EPC company: "Each new 7GW ground power station every year uses 1500V. For example, the first large-scale ground photovoltaic power station in Wyoming, which has just been connected to the grid, uses a sunlight power 1500V centralized inverter solution.
According to estimates, compared with a 1000V system, the cost reduction and efficiency increase of 1500V are mainly reflected in:
1) The number of components connected in series has been increased from 24 blocks / string to 34 blocks / string, reducing the number of strings. Correspondingly, the consumption of photovoltaic cables has decreased by 48%, and the cost of equipment such as combiner boxes has also been reduced by about 1/3, and the cost has been reduced by about 0.05 yuan / Wp;
2) The increase in the number of components in series reduces the system cost of support, pile foundation, construction and installation by about 0.05 yuan / Wp;
3) The AC grid-connected voltage of the 1500V system is increased from 540V to 800V, the grid-connected points are reduced, and the AC and DC side system losses can be reduced by 1 ~ 2%.
4) According to the mature case of the overseas market, the optimal capacity of a single sub-array can be designed to be 6.25MW in 1500V systems, and even up to 12.5MW in some areas. By increasing the capacity of a single sub-array, the cost of AC equipment such as transformers can be reduced.
Therefore, compared with the traditional 1000V system, the 1500V system can reduce the cost by 0.05 ~ 0.1 yuan / Wp, and the actual power generation can increase by 1 ~ 2%.
Multiplying by "potential"-1500V system domestic market
Compared with the international market, in the early years of the Chinese photovoltaic industry, due to the immature supply chain of the technology industry, the 1500V system started late and its development was slow. Only a few leading companies such as Sunshine Power have completed R & D and certification. But with the rise of the 1500V system on a global scale, the domestic market has taken advantage of it, and has achieved good results in the development and innovation of 1500V systems and applications:
• In July 2015, the first 1500V centralized inverter developed and manufactured by Sunshine Power in China successfully completed the grid connection test and opened the prelude to the 1500V technology in the domestic market.
• In January 2016, the first domestic 1500V photovoltaic power generation system demonstration project was connected to the grid for power generation.
• In June 2016, in the first domestic Datong leader project, 1500V centralized inverters were applied in batches.
• In August 2016, Sunshine Power took the lead in launching the world's first 1500V string inverter, further enhancing the international competitiveness of domestic photovoltaic inverters.
Sunshine 3.jpeg Phase 1 Datong Leader Project
In the same year, China's first 1500V photovoltaic system benchmarking project was formally connected to the grid for power generation in Golmud, Qinghai, marking that the domestic 1500Vdc photovoltaic system has begun to enter the field of practical application. The total installed capacity of the power station is 30MW. Sunshine Power provides a complete set of solutions for this project, reducing the cable investment cost by 20%, the cost of 0.1 yuan / Wp, and greatly reducing the AC and DC side line losses and the transformer low voltage side winding losses.
1500V has become the mainstream of the global market
Sunshine 4.jpeg
The 1500V system, which has both cost reduction and efficiency, has gradually become the first choice for large ground power stations. Regarding the future development of 1500V systems, IHS predicts that the share of 1500V inverters will continue to increase to 74% in 2019 and will soar to 84% in 2020, becoming the mainstream of the industry.
Sunshine 5.jpeg
From the perspective of 1500V installed capacity, it was only 2GW in 2016 and exceeded 30GW in 2018. It has achieved a growth of more than 14 times in just two years, and it is expected to maintain a sustained high-speed growth trend. It is expected that cumulative shipments in 2019 and 2020 will be The amount will exceed 100GW. For Chinese enterprises, Sunshine Power has installed more than 5GW of 1500V inverters worldwide, and has plans to launch more advanced 1500V series strings and centralized inverters in 2019 to meet the rapidly growing market installed demand.
Increasing the DC voltage to 1500V is an important change in reducing costs and increasing efficiency, and has now become the mainstream solution for international photovoltaic development. With the era of subsidy decline and parity in China, the 1500V system will also be used more and more widely in China, accelerating the arrival of China's comprehensive parity era
Post time: Jul-12-2021
