solar installation in a yarn factory

Reference Story

Located in sunny Alicante, Spain, Himiesa has succeeded in combining tradition and innovation in its manufacturing of textile yarns. A determination to reduce CO2 emissions and energy costs has caused Himiesa to adopt photovoltaic so-lar energy (more precisely, thin-film solar cell technology) wholeheartedly. VACON 8000 Solar inverters and the VACON® Multimaster concept were selected for the project.

Photovoltaics refers to the field of technology and research relating to devices that convert sunlight into electrical en-ergy. Himiesa appointed Electroaldesa, a major system inte-grator in Spain, to be the main contractor for creating a pho-tovoltaic power plant on the rooftop of their Alicante factory. The choice of inverter supplier was an easy one to make from the start: “This project had to be carried out with an estab-lished company that has a strong local presence and provides round-the-clock service support. With this in mind, Vacon was the perfect choice,” says Jorge Pascual, Himiesa.

For its photovoltaic operations, Himiesa chose cutting edge thin film solar cells (TFSC). Thin-film modules with a nomi-nal power of 1,200 kW were installed on the roof of Himiesa’s factory, and two 600 kW VACON 8000 Solar inverters feed all the available solar energy into the grid. This is a unique proj-ect for Vacon, as it is the first time VACON 8000 Solar invert-ers have been installed in a photovoltaic solar energy project based on thin-film technology.

“We were looking for a reliable company with broad experi-ence in high power systems, and working with Vacon brought us confidence,” says José Luís Albert, Electroaldesa.

Unique Multimaster technology guarantees improved efficiency

To ensure that the solar cells are able to produce maximum power at any particular moment, the inverters at Himiesa’s factory utilize Vacon’s unique Multimaster concept. In an in-stallation with several inverters, instead of running them as individual units, the Multimaster controls the inverters so that only the number required at any given time is used, depend-ing on the intensity of the sun’s radiation. This cutting-edge technology improves efficiency, reliability and functionality. An incoming DC section is a standard feature, and an outgoing AC section is available as an optional extra.

Growth opportunities for Vacon Spain

For the Spanish customer, local, extensive support was one of the decisive factors in selecting Vacon as the inverter suppli-er. Vacon Drives Ibérica, Vacon’s subsidiary in Spain founded in 1998, was involved in every stage of the project, adapting and reacting to changes and requirements as they arose. Va-con’s other strengths include a wide range of products and

VACON® 8000 Solar in a thin-film solar installation in Alicante

Vacon Drives Ibérica S.A.C/ Colom, 406-CPol. Ind. Santa Margarida 08223 Terrassa, SpainTel. +34 938 774 506Fax. +34 937 837 588E-mail vacon.spain@vacon.comWeb http://www.vacon.es R

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features and a passionate attitude. Vacon Spain also collabo-rated with a third party to supply other components that were needed (such as a transformer) to fulfill the scope of the re-quested solution.

For Vacon Spain the Himiesa project was a major step for-ward in the solar energy business. “Our team at Vacon Spain is very excited about the tremendous growth opportunities the solar energy business has to offer,” says Santiago Mar-tin, Managing Director, Vacon Spain. “We are also very happy about the excellent cooperation we had with our parent com-pany in Finland during the completion of the Himiesa project. Vacon’s highly experienced professionals were a valuable as-set in the commissioning phase,” he concludes.

In detail

Himiesa is one of the leading companies in the Spanish textile yarn market. Its yarns are used in a large variety of home textiles, including upholstery and knitwear.

Electroaldesa, founded in 1997 and located in Pinoso, Alican-te, specializes in the installation of low- and medium-voltage power lines (both aerial and underground) and transformer assembly solutions. Electroaldesa has recently opened up a business division dedicated to offering services to the solar energy market.

Photovoltaics (PV) is the field of technology and research related to the devices that directly convert sunlight into electricity. The solar cell is the elementary building block of photovoltaic technology. Solar cells are made of semiconduc-tor materials, such as silicon. One of the properties of semi-conductors that makes them most useful is that it is easy to modify their conductivity by introducing impurities into their crystal lattice.

Thin-film technologies belong to the second- and third-gen-eration photovoltaic cells. Thin-film technologies are being developed as a means of substantially reducing the cost of photovoltaic (PV) systems. Thin-film modules are cheaper to manufacture owing to their lower material, energy, handling and capital costs. This is especially true in the use of printed electronics (roll-to-roll) processes.

Vacon’s Multimaster concept allows 1-8 connected invert-er modules to operate together sequentially, depending on the intensity of the sun’s radiation. This puts the VA-CON 8000 Solar inverter in a strong position among large modular, centralized inverters. In installations with many inverters, instead of running them as individual units, the Multimaster concept runs the inverters as a single, com-plete system, resulting in improved efficiency, reliability and functionality.

Photos © iStockphoto.com/Gubcio and Vacon.