Answers for energy.

Siemens Smart Generation Solutions

Article from pv magazineFebruary 2014

AuthorsMartin Bischoff, Siemens AGMarcus König, Siemens AG

Ingmar Schüle, Fraunhofer ITWMKai Plociennik, Fraunhofer ITWM

Utilizing full planning potential

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60

Applications & Installations

02 / 2014 | www.pv-magazine.com

Utilizing full planning potentialPVplanet: PVplanet, the PV Plant Engineering Toolbox, realizes a new, software-based planning concept for large-scale ground-mounted photovoltaic power plants, developed by Siemens AG in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics. Layout planners not associated with Siemens AG can also profit from this software as Siemens offers a technical consulting service and applies this planning tool to optimize the economic efficiency of their customer’s plant layouts, write Siemens’ Martin Bischoff and Marcus König and Fraunhofer’s Ingmar Schüle and Kai Plociennik.

A question: “When decreasing the tilt angle, one can reduce the table distances and increase the area utilization with-out taking higher table losses. What is the effect on inverter utilization, energy output and revenue?” These and a variety of other parameters are at the planner’s disposal to influence the quality of the resulting photovoltaic power plant. Per-manently changing module prices, proj-ects in new countries, markets and cli-matic regions pose ever new challenges. Moreover, predominant solutions have to be revised in a regular manner if com-petitive offers are to be made to reflect changing conditions.

During planning, it is essential to keep an eye on multiple, often competing objectives. Consider, for example, max-imizing the revenue of the power plant while maintaining an attractive perfor-mance ratio. Simultaneously, investment costs and the risk of extensive mainte-nance and repair work should be mini-mized. Uncertainties, above all weather changes (but also operation and main-tenance costs for the plant’s lifetime), complicate the determination of an opti-mized plant configuration and the cal-culation of the overall business model. Due to time constraints, especially in the offer phase, conventional planning

concepts struggle to provide sufficiently extensive evaluations for a proper under-standing of influencing factors and their interdependencies.

Hence, this is why Siemens Energy joined forces with the Fraunhofer Insti-tute for Industrial Mathematics to develop the PVplanet software. This plan-ning tool avoids the iterative trial-and-error planning process and simplifies the planning of tailor-made, economi-cally efficient photovoltaic power plants. Instead of planning one single layout and improving it in a stepwise manner, PVplanet generates a number of layouts according to the planner’s specifications. Subsequently, the characteristics of all variants are determined. Energy output is calculated with a physical plant simula-tion and key finance measures are deter-mined using a financial model. Among other things, yield, performance ratio, investment and operation costs, levelized cost of energy, internal rate of return and net present value are all calculated.

The characteristics of all these varia-tions are then clearly laid out in a spe-cial user interface. Here, the planner can identify advantages and drawbacks of all variants, understand interdependencies and sensitivities of planning parameters and, according to the project-specific requirements and customer requests, select the best-fitting layout. In this man-

Large utility-scale PV plants like the one above can be made more economically efficient provided adequate consideration is given to their layout at the pre-planning stage.

Phot

os: S

iem

ens

62

Applications & Installations

02 / 2014 | www.pv-magazine.com

ner, the planner gains an overview of the entire solution spectrum, allowing him or her to immediately understand the consequences of any parameter change. The impact of tilt angle variations on performance ratio, specific energy out-put, levelized cost of energy and other characteristics will then become imme-diately visible.

Solving solar conundrumsHow does the number of inverters affect yield, costs and economic efficiency of the power plant? Does a different mod-ule type or a different electrical intercon-nection of modules change the levelized cost of energy? Which of all the consid-ered layout variants maximizes revenue, or the performance ratio, and what do these variants have in common? Do lay-

outs with a standard inverter-block lead to better results than complex layouts with high area utilization, where every table is placed independently? For these questions and many others like them, detailed and project-specific answers can be found in the above diagrams. Clarify-ing those problems without such a plan-ning tool typically involves a dramati-cally higher input of effort and time from experts in different fields, and can often involve a chain of multiple additional software tools.

The planner selects the optimum lay-out. According to their specific planning criteria they can narrow down the set of layout variants, such as, for example: “The plant shall have a nominal power of 16 MWp, while not exceeding investment costs of €18 million.” Points that do not

satisfy the criteria are grayed out. In this manner, variants can be short-listed and further narrowed down to finally submit the most interesting layout variant to the customer for decision, optionally with a set of alternatives.

One of the latest development results is the incorporation of weather uncer-tainties. In business models and guaran-tees, weather changes represent a risk that can be hard to calculate. In order to make informed decisions, so-called “exceeding probabilities” are used. Typically denoted as P10, P50, and P90, these values are attained or exceeded with a probability of 10%, 50% or 90%. In PVplanet, planners have the possibility to evaluate the sensi-tivities of all weather-dependent charac-teristics, such as energy output, revenue, or net-present value. It is interesting to note that some layout variants are more robust against weather changes than oth-ers. This “robustness” represents another important decision criterion.

PVplanet development started in April 2011, based on a three year old predeces-sor version, and has been in use for plan-ning for two years. The software is pro-tected by patents. Although Siemens withdrew from the photovoltaic EPC business in 2012, the software has been in use for planning of hybrid power plants by the newly founded business unit Smart Generation Solutions since the begin-ning of 2013. Smart Generation Solu-tions addresses decentralized energy gen-eration with incorporation of renewable energies. Business activities are a hybrid-ization of on- and off-grid power plants, flexibility of conventional power plants, aggregation of smaller energy genera-tion systems to so-called modular power plants, and performance monitoring of photovoltaic and wind power plants. PVplanet helps Siemens to extend its own planning competency and ensures the quality of its photovoltaic power plant layouts.

PVplanet cannot be purchased as com-mercial software. Only recently can non-Siemens layout planners profit from this planning tool. Siemens offers a technical consulting service for applying PVplanet to optimize plant layouts or to review existing plant layouts for their custom-ers. Utilizing the full planning potential results in better photovoltaic power plant layouts and brings us one step closer to grid parity. S Martin Bischoff, Marcus König,

Ingmar Schüle & Kai Plociennik

PVPlanet’S central uSer interface

Each point rep-resents one completely evalu-ated layout. Via drop-down menus planners can select characteristics for x-axis, y-axis and color scale. In these

figures the specific yield (kWh/kWp) over project costs (€/Wp) is illustrated. In the figure displayed above, the points are colored according to their internal rate of return. Red points represent layouts with the highest internal rates of return. In other examples of the interface, the points can be col-ored according to their DC/AC ratio, i.e. the ratio of total nominal module power to total nominal inverter power. Layouts with low DC/AC ratios (blue) exhibit relatively high yield, but involve higher investment costs than variants with high DC/AC ratios (red).

two layout VariantS following two different Planning concePtS

In the individual layout (left), tables and inverters are placed individually for very high area utiliza-tion. In the block layout (right), patterns of predefined inverter blocks are placed on the land area. Generally, block layouts have a lower construction effort, but also entail a lower energy output. Which of these plant layouts is superior cannot be answered in general; this all depends on project-specific conditions.

62

Applications & Installations

02 / 2014 | www.pv-magazine.com

ner, the planner gains an overview of the entire solution spectrum, allowing him or her to immediately understand the consequences of any parameter change. The impact of tilt angle variations on performance ratio, specific energy out-put, levelized cost of energy and other characteristics will then become imme-diately visible.

Solving solar conundrumsHow does the number of inverters affect yield, costs and economic efficiency of the power plant? Does a different mod-ule type or a different electrical intercon-nection of modules change the levelized cost of energy? Which of all the consid-ered layout variants maximizes revenue, or the performance ratio, and what do these variants have in common? Do lay-

outs with a standard inverter-block lead to better results than complex layouts with high area utilization, where every table is placed independently? For these questions and many others like them, detailed and project-specific answers can be found in the above diagrams. Clarify-ing those problems without such a plan-ning tool typically involves a dramati-cally higher input of effort and time from experts in different fields, and can often involve a chain of multiple additional software tools.

The planner selects the optimum lay-out. According to their specific planning criteria they can narrow down the set of layout variants, such as, for example: “The plant shall have a nominal power of 16 MWp, while not exceeding investment costs of €18 million.” Points that do not

satisfy the criteria are grayed out. In this manner, variants can be short-listed and further narrowed down to finally submit the most interesting layout variant to the customer for decision, optionally with a set of alternatives.

One of the latest development results is the incorporation of weather uncer-tainties. In business models and guaran-tees, weather changes represent a risk that can be hard to calculate. In order to make informed decisions, so-called “exceeding probabilities” are used. Typically denoted as P10, P50, and P90, these values are attained or exceeded with a probability of 10%, 50% or 90%. In PVplanet, planners have the possibility to evaluate the sensi-tivities of all weather-dependent charac-teristics, such as energy output, revenue, or net-present value. It is interesting to note that some layout variants are more robust against weather changes than oth-ers. This “robustness” represents another important decision criterion.

PVplanet development started in April 2011, based on a three year old predeces-sor version, and has been in use for plan-ning for two years. The software is pro-tected by patents. Although Siemens withdrew from the photovoltaic EPC business in 2012, the software has been in use for planning of hybrid power plants by the newly founded business unit Smart Generation Solutions since the begin-ning of 2013. Smart Generation Solu-tions addresses decentralized energy gen-eration with incorporation of renewable energies. Business activities are a hybrid-ization of on- and off-grid power plants, flexibility of conventional power plants, aggregation of smaller energy genera-tion systems to so-called modular power plants, and performance monitoring of photovoltaic and wind power plants. PVplanet helps Siemens to extend its own planning competency and ensures the quality of its photovoltaic power plant layouts.

PVplanet cannot be purchased as com-mercial software. Only recently can non-Siemens layout planners profit from this planning tool. Siemens offers a technical consulting service for applying PVplanet to optimize plant layouts or to review existing plant layouts for their custom-ers. Utilizing the full planning potential results in better photovoltaic power plant layouts and brings us one step closer to grid parity. S Martin Bischoff, Marcus König,

Ingmar Schüle & Kai Plociennik

PVPlanet’S central uSer interface

Each point rep-resents one completely evalu-ated layout. Via drop-down menus planners can select characteristics for x-axis, y-axis and color scale. In these

figures the specific yield (kWh/kWp) over project costs (€/Wp) is illustrated. In the figure displayed above, the points are colored according to their internal rate of return. Red points represent layouts with the highest internal rates of return. In other examples of the interface, the points can be col-ored according to their DC/AC ratio, i.e. the ratio of total nominal module power to total nominal inverter power. Layouts with low DC/AC ratios (blue) exhibit relatively high yield, but involve higher investment costs than variants with high DC/AC ratios (red).

two layout VariantS following two different Planning concePtS

In the individual layout (left), tables and inverters are placed individually for very high area utiliza-tion. In the block layout (right), patterns of predefined inverter blocks are placed on the land area. Generally, block layouts have a lower construction effort, but also entail a lower energy output. Which of these plant layouts is superior cannot be answered in general; this all depends on project-specific conditions.

62

Applications & Installations

02 / 2014 | www.pv-magazine.com

ner, the planner gains an overview of the entire solution spectrum, allowing him or her to immediately understand the consequences of any parameter change. The impact of tilt angle variations on performance ratio, specific energy out-put, levelized cost of energy and other characteristics will then become imme-diately visible.

Solving solar conundrumsHow does the number of inverters affect yield, costs and economic efficiency of the power plant? Does a different mod-ule type or a different electrical intercon-nection of modules change the levelized cost of energy? Which of all the consid-ered layout variants maximizes revenue, or the performance ratio, and what do these variants have in common? Do lay-

outs with a standard inverter-block lead to better results than complex layouts with high area utilization, where every table is placed independently? For these questions and many others like them, detailed and project-specific answers can be found in the above diagrams. Clarify-ing those problems without such a plan-ning tool typically involves a dramati-cally higher input of effort and time from experts in different fields, and can often involve a chain of multiple additional software tools.

The planner selects the optimum lay-out. According to their specific planning criteria they can narrow down the set of layout variants, such as, for example: “The plant shall have a nominal power of 16 MWp, while not exceeding investment costs of €18 million.” Points that do not

satisfy the criteria are grayed out. In this manner, variants can be short-listed and further narrowed down to finally submit the most interesting layout variant to the customer for decision, optionally with a set of alternatives.

One of the latest development results is the incorporation of weather uncer-tainties. In business models and guaran-tees, weather changes represent a risk that can be hard to calculate. In order to make informed decisions, so-called “exceeding probabilities” are used. Typically denoted as P10, P50, and P90, these values are attained or exceeded with a probability of 10%, 50% or 90%. In PVplanet, planners have the possibility to evaluate the sensi-tivities of all weather-dependent charac-teristics, such as energy output, revenue, or net-present value. It is interesting to note that some layout variants are more robust against weather changes than oth-ers. This “robustness” represents another important decision criterion.

PVplanet development started in April 2011, based on a three year old predeces-sor version, and has been in use for plan-ning for two years. The software is pro-tected by patents. Although Siemens withdrew from the photovoltaic EPC business in 2012, the software has been in use for planning of hybrid power plants by the newly founded business unit Smart Generation Solutions since the begin-ning of 2013. Smart Generation Solu-tions addresses decentralized energy gen-eration with incorporation of renewable energies. Business activities are a hybrid-ization of on- and off-grid power plants, flexibility of conventional power plants, aggregation of smaller energy genera-tion systems to so-called modular power plants, and performance monitoring of photovoltaic and wind power plants. PVplanet helps Siemens to extend its own planning competency and ensures the quality of its photovoltaic power plant layouts.

PVplanet cannot be purchased as com-mercial software. Only recently can non-Siemens layout planners profit from this planning tool. Siemens offers a technical consulting service for applying PVplanet to optimize plant layouts or to review existing plant layouts for their custom-ers. Utilizing the full planning potential results in better photovoltaic power plant layouts and brings us one step closer to grid parity. S Martin Bischoff, Marcus König,

Ingmar Schüle & Kai Plociennik

PVPlanet’S central uSer interface

Each point rep-resents one completely evalu-ated layout. Via drop-down menus planners can select characteristics for x-axis, y-axis and color scale. In these

figures the specific yield (kWh/kWp) over project costs (€/Wp) is illustrated. In the figure displayed above, the points are colored according to their internal rate of return. Red points represent layouts with the highest internal rates of return. In other examples of the interface, the points can be col-ored according to their DC/AC ratio, i.e. the ratio of total nominal module power to total nominal inverter power. Layouts with low DC/AC ratios (blue) exhibit relatively high yield, but involve higher investment costs than variants with high DC/AC ratios (red).

two layout VariantS following two different Planning concePtS

In the individual layout (left), tables and inverters are placed individually for very high area utiliza-tion. In the block layout (right), patterns of predefined inverter blocks are placed on the land area. Generally, block layouts have a lower construction effort, but also entail a lower energy output. Which of these plant layouts is superior cannot be answered in general; this all depends on project-specific conditions.

62

Applications & Installations

02 / 2014 | www.pv-magazine.com

ner, the planner gains an overview of the entire solution spectrum, allowing him or her to immediately understand the consequences of any parameter change. The impact of tilt angle variations on performance ratio, specific energy out-put, levelized cost of energy and other characteristics will then become imme-diately visible.

Solving solar conundrumsHow does the number of inverters affect yield, costs and economic efficiency of the power plant? Does a different mod-ule type or a different electrical intercon-nection of modules change the levelized cost of energy? Which of all the consid-ered layout variants maximizes revenue, or the performance ratio, and what do these variants have in common? Do lay-

outs with a standard inverter-block lead to better results than complex layouts with high area utilization, where every table is placed independently? For these questions and many others like them, detailed and project-specific answers can be found in the above diagrams. Clarify-ing those problems without such a plan-ning tool typically involves a dramati-cally higher input of effort and time from experts in different fields, and can often involve a chain of multiple additional software tools.

The planner selects the optimum lay-out. According to their specific planning criteria they can narrow down the set of layout variants, such as, for example: “The plant shall have a nominal power of 16 MWp, while not exceeding investment costs of €18 million.” Points that do not

satisfy the criteria are grayed out. In this manner, variants can be short-listed and further narrowed down to finally submit the most interesting layout variant to the customer for decision, optionally with a set of alternatives.

One of the latest development results is the incorporation of weather uncer-tainties. In business models and guaran-tees, weather changes represent a risk that can be hard to calculate. In order to make informed decisions, so-called “exceeding probabilities” are used. Typically denoted as P10, P50, and P90, these values are attained or exceeded with a probability of 10%, 50% or 90%. In PVplanet, planners have the possibility to evaluate the sensi-tivities of all weather-dependent charac-teristics, such as energy output, revenue, or net-present value. It is interesting to note that some layout variants are more robust against weather changes than oth-ers. This “robustness” represents another important decision criterion.

PVplanet development started in April 2011, based on a three year old predeces-sor version, and has been in use for plan-ning for two years. The software is pro-tected by patents. Although Siemens withdrew from the photovoltaic EPC business in 2012, the software has been in use for planning of hybrid power plants by the newly founded business unit Smart Generation Solutions since the begin-ning of 2013. Smart Generation Solu-tions addresses decentralized energy gen-eration with incorporation of renewable energies. Business activities are a hybrid-ization of on- and off-grid power plants, flexibility of conventional power plants, aggregation of smaller energy genera-tion systems to so-called modular power plants, and performance monitoring of photovoltaic and wind power plants. PVplanet helps Siemens to extend its own planning competency and ensures the quality of its photovoltaic power plant layouts.

PVplanet cannot be purchased as com-mercial software. Only recently can non-Siemens layout planners profit from this planning tool. Siemens offers a technical consulting service for applying PVplanet to optimize plant layouts or to review existing plant layouts for their custom-ers. Utilizing the full planning potential results in better photovoltaic power plant layouts and brings us one step closer to grid parity. S Martin Bischoff, Marcus König,

Ingmar Schüle & Kai Plociennik

PVPlanet’S central uSer interface

Each point rep-resents one completely evalu-ated layout. Via drop-down menus planners can select characteristics for x-axis, y-axis and color scale. In these

figures the specific yield (kWh/kWp) over project costs (€/Wp) is illustrated. In the figure displayed above, the points are colored according to their internal rate of return. Red points represent layouts with the highest internal rates of return. In other examples of the interface, the points can be col-ored according to their DC/AC ratio, i.e. the ratio of total nominal module power to total nominal inverter power. Layouts with low DC/AC ratios (blue) exhibit relatively high yield, but involve higher investment costs than variants with high DC/AC ratios (red).

two layout VariantS following two different Planning concePtS

In the individual layout (left), tables and inverters are placed individually for very high area utiliza-tion. In the block layout (right), patterns of predefined inverter blocks are placed on the land area. Generally, block layouts have a lower construction effort, but also entail a lower energy output. Which of these plant layouts is superior cannot be answered in general; this all depends on project-specific conditions.

62

Applications & Installations

02 / 2014 | www.pv-magazine.com

ner, the planner gains an overview of the entire solution spectrum, allowing him or her to immediately understand the consequences of any parameter change. The impact of tilt angle variations on performance ratio, specific energy out-put, levelized cost of energy and other characteristics will then become imme-diately visible.

Solving solar conundrumsHow does the number of inverters affect yield, costs and economic efficiency of the power plant? Does a different mod-ule type or a different electrical intercon-nection of modules change the levelized cost of energy? Which of all the consid-ered layout variants maximizes revenue, or the performance ratio, and what do these variants have in common? Do lay-

outs with a standard inverter-block lead to better results than complex layouts with high area utilization, where every table is placed independently? For these questions and many others like them, detailed and project-specific answers can be found in the above diagrams. Clarify-ing those problems without such a plan-ning tool typically involves a dramati-cally higher input of effort and time from experts in different fields, and can often involve a chain of multiple additional software tools.

The planner selects the optimum lay-out. According to their specific planning criteria they can narrow down the set of layout variants, such as, for example: “The plant shall have a nominal power of 16 MWp, while not exceeding investment costs of €18 million.” Points that do not

satisfy the criteria are grayed out. In this manner, variants can be short-listed and further narrowed down to finally submit the most interesting layout variant to the customer for decision, optionally with a set of alternatives.

One of the latest development results is the incorporation of weather uncer-tainties. In business models and guaran-tees, weather changes represent a risk that can be hard to calculate. In order to make informed decisions, so-called “exceeding probabilities” are used. Typically denoted as P10, P50, and P90, these values are attained or exceeded with a probability of 10%, 50% or 90%. In PVplanet, planners have the possibility to evaluate the sensi-tivities of all weather-dependent charac-teristics, such as energy output, revenue, or net-present value. It is interesting to note that some layout variants are more robust against weather changes than oth-ers. This “robustness” represents another important decision criterion.

PVplanet development started in April 2011, based on a three year old predeces-sor version, and has been in use for plan-ning for two years. The software is pro-tected by patents. Although Siemens withdrew from the photovoltaic EPC business in 2012, the software has been in use for planning of hybrid power plants by the newly founded business unit Smart Generation Solutions since the begin-ning of 2013. Smart Generation Solu-tions addresses decentralized energy gen-eration with incorporation of renewable energies. Business activities are a hybrid-ization of on- and off-grid power plants, flexibility of conventional power plants, aggregation of smaller energy genera-tion systems to so-called modular power plants, and performance monitoring of photovoltaic and wind power plants. PVplanet helps Siemens to extend its own planning competency and ensures the quality of its photovoltaic power plant layouts.

PVplanet cannot be purchased as com-mercial software. Only recently can non-Siemens layout planners profit from this planning tool. Siemens offers a technical consulting service for applying PVplanet to optimize plant layouts or to review existing plant layouts for their custom-ers. Utilizing the full planning potential results in better photovoltaic power plant layouts and brings us one step closer to grid parity. S Martin Bischoff, Marcus König,

Ingmar Schüle & Kai Plociennik

PVPlanet’S central uSer interface

Each point rep-resents one completely evalu-ated layout. Via drop-down menus planners can select characteristics for x-axis, y-axis and color scale. In these

figures the specific yield (kWh/kWp) over project costs (€/Wp) is illustrated. In the figure displayed above, the points are colored according to their internal rate of return. Red points represent layouts with the highest internal rates of return. In other examples of the interface, the points can be col-ored according to their DC/AC ratio, i.e. the ratio of total nominal module power to total nominal inverter power. Layouts with low DC/AC ratios (blue) exhibit relatively high yield, but involve higher investment costs than variants with high DC/AC ratios (red).

two layout VariantS following two different Planning concePtS

In the individual layout (left), tables and inverters are placed individually for very high area utiliza-tion. In the block layout (right), patterns of predefined inverter blocks are placed on the land area. Generally, block layouts have a lower construction effort, but also entail a lower energy output. Which of these plant layouts is superior cannot be answered in general; this all depends on project-specific conditions.

Article from pv magazine Page 60 and 62, Copyright 02/2014

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