Day 2 - Renewable Energy World Conference Morning Session - Solar Track

Day 2 started off with a great group of speakers in the Solar Track where case studies and the future of solar energy were discussed. The summary of the speakers I just finished listening to is below.

Dr. Andre Szykier – MAPS Capital - http://www.mapscapital.com/index.html

1. Aerial Imaging for Solar Photovoltaic Assessment
   1. 80% less than on site visual inspection
   2. Automated imaging algorithms eliminates 90% of manual effort in analyzing solar potential
   3. Possible Due to improved algorithms and camera technology
      1. From 3 meter resolution to 25cm resolution
   4. Total cost of project is being shifted to the labor component as tech and material costs decline
      1. 92-98% accurate in area calculations
      2. 97-99% accurate in power calculations
   5. Steps for measurement
      1. Define roof
         1. Composition
      2. Define perimeters
         1. Edge detection
         2. Trees can affect edge measurement and definition
      3. 1. Feature sub areas
      4. Define Obstructions
      5. Define Sub area
         1. Solar orientation, pitch, angle
      6. Images also require partitioning, in other words, crop out individual buildings to make measurements more accurate
   6. Possibly going to survey 16 counties in California
   7. Tech is extendable to water conservation, fire prevention, and urban land uses
   8. Demo
      1. Took approximate 30 seconds to capture all roof surfaces
      2. Calculate potential solar power capacity

Richard Ulam – ABB Solar Initiative, Abb Inc. - http://www.abb.com/

1. Typical PV Plant – Panels hooked up in series, to inverter, to grid
2. ABB PV Plant – optimization system allows for direct control of HVDC in the field
   1. Dawn, twilight, cloudiness, visualization system software
3. Reduces overall costs of solar
4. Incremental Cost of optimization system – useful for 20Mw or greater projects

Dr. Michael Gostein – CTO Atonometrics - http://www.nrel.gov/rredc/pvwatts/

1. Performance Analysis of Photovoltaic Installations in Solar American City
   1. Analyzed PV monitoring data from 280 installations from 2005-2008, courtesy of Austin Energy
      1. Most commercial systems, <4Kw
   2. Compare PV output to NREL PVWatts calculator
      1. Hopefully identify trends for positive results, those that produced negative results
   3. Performance ratio and Average performance ration computed over time
   4. Assumptions
      1. Relied on PVWatts for solar irradiance data
   5. Performance Distribution
      1. Largely a bell curve shifted to the right, or skewed to the left if you know statistics
   6. Showing performance data for different panel manufacturer ratios
      1. 1. Accounted for 39 of sites
         2. About 90% of these systems installed by same solar installer
         3. Module series is no longer qualified for use in rebate program
         4. Installer is no longer performing installations
      2. For the 11 other manufactures, bell curve around 1
      3. Most systems are performing as expected

Mike Keesee – Project Manager EECR&D – Impacts of High Penetration Photovoltaic’s on SMUD’s Local Distribution System

1. 795-home community will have 600 SolarSmart Homes with 2Kw PV systems
   1. Analyze reverse power flow impacts on grid
2. Voltage is not an issue
3. 15% rule – prove that DG does not go over 15%, otherwise, developers need to conduct study
4. Different peak hours between houses built just to code and those with solar panels
   1. Solar greatly reduces peak demand, where energy is most valuable
5. Hard to get data from transformers, as there is data loss due to high temperatures
6. So far, PV systems have not adversely affected voltage regulation
   1. Trying to determine what % actually is, may not be 15%
   2. Q/A – Batteries are essentially a waste of money compared to making house more efficient.