Solar products services Design flexibility with Fronius Symo Si Clean Energy Si Clean Energy has always taken the conservative approach towards inverter specifications and solar system design, and as one of Australia’s longest established solar companies (see separate story on pages 35-36) take great care in the selection of all solar products. Si has learned from experience exactly what makes an inverter and solar power system efficient, reliable, serviceable and suitable for the Australian market. Si technicians have repaired inverters of all shapes and sizes throughout Australia and the south Pacific region during these years and their expertise includes Grid-connect, Off-Grid, and telecommunications equipment all the way through to utility scale Central Inverters. The highly trained service and repairs division provides real time assistance for all customers and products. Their team of engineers and technicians operate a fully equipped centralised service facility, offering their wholesale distribution and retail customers a multi-level technical support for most products and installations. Centrally located on the Mid North Coast of NSW at Coffs Harbour, Si Clean Energy’s Head Office is equipped with one of the most sophisticated and technologically advanced solar inverter repair facilities in Australia. The Si service team of electronics engineers and technicians have years of clean energy experience, maintaining some of the largest PV systems in Australia, providing regular onsite management and diagnostics via site visits and remote communications. With significant resources devoted to national warranty provision, which greatly reduces repair turn-around time, offering loan units in case of complex repairs ensuring minimal inconvenience to all customers in case of a product failure. Technicians are available to assist with specific technical enquiries, offsite and on-site, project management and general support. Well known for their willingness to help when the going gets tough, Si Clean Energy encourages their customers to use the Si “phone a friend” option. Many solar companies are searching for ways to lower costs and compete with the ever-growing competition in the market with labour efficiency a key factor when installing solar systems. Even the best installer can be stumped by a cryptic inverter diagnostic screen encountered on a job creating a need to return to the site, only to find it could have been fixed then and there with a call to the Si service team. Si Clean Energy welcomes your enquiries and look forward to the opportunity to supply your company with “Quality Products, Quality Engineering, and Quality Support”. Service – 1300 767 761 service@sicleanenergy.com.au www.sicleanenergy.com.au
Various configurations in PV system design put partly contradicting demands on the MPP tracker characteristics of inverters. Typical east/west oriented systems require inverters with symmetric power distribution between the two MPPT and high input voltages. An asymmetric power distribution on the other hand is beneficial for shaded systems or generators with a small residual system. The Fronius Symo combines both requirements and is therefore universally applicable. It also provides maximum yield in shaded conditions thanks to an optimized MPP tracking algorithm. The three phase Fronius Symo inverter series is equipped with two MPPT in the power range from 3-20 kW. The DC voltage window and the current capability of both MPPT are chosen in a way that both symmetric (typical east/west systems) and asymmetric (shaded systems, small secondary system) systems can be realized very easily. The minimum input voltage is in the range from 150-200 V and the maximum input voltage is 1000 V. The diagram shows a comparison of the Fronius Symo series and other inverters with multiple MPPT available on the market and a variation from highly asymmetric systems (power ratio of 10/90 for both generator parts on the left hand side) to symmetric systems (power ratio of 50/ 50 for both generator parts on the right hand side). E.g. the Fronius Symo 5.0 can handle power ratios from 50/50 down to 30/70. In general it can be seen that in the area up to 10 kW most inverters can deal quite well with symmetric systems whereas asymmetric connections become difficult or impossible. Above 10 kW rather asymmetric designs are possible. In contrast the Fronius Symo series is able to deal with symmetric and asymmetric systems over the whole power range. (Note: All calculations are based on systems with typical 6”-cell modules of around 240 W.) Other features of the Fronius Symo include an integrated energy management relay, WLAN datamanager with webserver, AS/NZS 5033 compliant DC isolator and an extremely light weight design which makes for quick installation and easy servicing. www.fronius.com.au
Opinions expressed on these pages are not necessarily those of the Australian Solar Council or 54 | ISSUE 1 • 2014