Live: 2019 China (Jinan) Distributed Photovoltaic Innovation and Application Forum - Voice of Inverter Manufacturer Sungrow and Huawei

The 14th China International Solar Energy Utilization Conference and Multi-energy Complementary Application Exhibition was held in Jinan from April 1 to 4, 2019. On April 2, at the 2019 China (Jinan) Distributed Photovoltaic Innovation Application Forum held at the same time, two companies focusing on inverters, Sungrow and Huawei, expressed their opinions at the live broadcast of the distributed forum.

The actual situation is as follows:

(Sungrow Power Supply) Li Canlin: Good afternoon, leaders and guests! I am Li Canlin from Sungrow Power Supply Co., Ltd. Today’s report is divided into the following three parts. First, a summary of photovoltaic application scenarios and challenges, second, a smart solar distributed solution, and third, Sungrow’s case study on string inverters.

At present, there is still great potential for small-scale industrial and commercial enterprises, as well as self-generation and self-use projects. Some types of distributed power stations are summarized as follows: first, the capacity ranges from a few kilowatts to hundreds of kilowatts. Second, the access mode, such as industrial and commercial enterprises, is mainly for full self-use, basically for self-generation and self-use. Now that the subsidy policy has not been introduced, many distributed power stations in Zhejiang are still doing well, and poverty alleviation power stations are basically built in a full access mode. Distributed power stations, especially poverty alleviation and household photovoltaics, are closer to the user side, and the entire photovoltaic system, as well as the selection of inverters and mixed flow boxes, have higher requirements.

Mr. Wang has been introducing that since 2013, both the benchmark electricity price and the subsidy policy have been declining. The current policy for 2019 has not been released. We believe that in distributed power stations, real parity access to the grid will soon come. At present, facing the three major mountains of distributed power stations, the first challenge is the low return on investment and the lack of subsidies. The proposed response strategy is divided into three parts. First, we must improve the conversion efficiency of the inverter so that the inverter can generate more electricity to make up for the loss caused by the lack of subsidies. Second, we must improve the inverter's higher protection level, anti-corrosion ability, heat dissipation ability, and lower failure rate within the inverter's 25-year life cycle. Third, the inverter's patented night repair function suppresses abnormal attenuation of components. In response to the second challenge, installation and operation are difficult. Compared with the previous installation method, the traditional string inverter consumes construction time, but now it only takes 10 minutes. The monitoring part adopts APP scanning.

The second part is the recommended scenario for ground-voltage grid-connected scenarios in distributed systems. The application scenarios of each power level are marked in yellow, which are the new products promoted in 2019. The 100-kilowatt low-voltage grid-connected inverter is the inverter with the largest power level in China. Only 5 units are needed for a 500-kilowatt roof. The characteristics of a single-phase 8-kilowatt inverter are the highest efficiency of 98.5%, which is more than 1% higher than the industry average. Adapt to complex power grids and extend the grid-connected power generation time. Ultra-low radiation meets the standard requirements of household equipment. Aluminum alloy die-casting box ensures that customers will not rust for 25 years. Support APP one-click code scanning to access the monitoring platform, allowing customers to check the minimum power generation at any time during the 25-year life cycle, and support the upgrade parameter modification and troubleshooting of the entire power station system. This is a small three-phase inverter, from 5 kilowatts to 20 kilowatts, with a maximum efficiency of 98.6%, which is more than 0.5% higher than the average level. The patented PID night repair function increases the power generation of the system. These four inverters are new products launched in 2019. First, they can fully support the use of bifacial modules. The protection level and anti-corrosion ability of the whole machine have been improved. Now it has reached IP66, with stronger protection ability and more suitable for humid environments. The anti-corrosion ability has been improved from C3 to C5, and the thickness of the surface coating has been improved. It was first tested in many power stations in Japan. Since 2016, the products and technologies have been introduced to China and used in sewage treatment plants and seaside saline-alkali land.

This is a monitoring solution for distributed power stations. EyeS2 is recommended for a single inverter, and EyeM4 is recommended for multiple inverters.

This is a diagram of a low-voltage grid-connected inverter system. For more scattered and complex installations, a 36-watt inverter is recommended, which is also a new product in 2019.

At present, our string inverter supports the access of bifacial components, and the second integrated patented PID night repair function can suppress component degradation and increase power generation revenue. This is the highest anti-corrosion level, reaching the C5 level. It was first used in Japan's grid-connected projects in 2017 and is currently being promoted to all new models.

The structure diagram of the inverter adopts the design of front and rear boxes. The core is placed in the front box, and the rear box is for heat dissipation. Many customers are happy with our heat dissipation, but they are a little worried about whether the failure rate of the external fan is relatively high. The fan we use is from Japan, with a protection level of IP68, and can be placed in water conservancy operation. The second plug-in design scheme, even if a fault occurs, the information will be uploaded to the background at the first time, and only need to be replaced. The faulty fan is sent to our company for free replacement, and we promise a 20-year warranty. Within the 25-year life cycle, the fan failure is replaced free of charge. Customers are beneficial to fan heat dissipation, and there is no need to worry about it. At the same time, we invested 30 million French semi-anechoic chambers to ensure that the EMC of the product meets the standards and reaches the level of home computers.

This is the feature of the product. The inverter not only supports wall-mounted installation, but also supports angled and even flat installation. There are two benefits. The first is to reduce the load-bearing capacity of the tile roof, so it is safer to place it on the roof. The second is to place it on the south side of the component to reduce obstruction and increase power generation. Our inverter supports greater reactive power support capacity to avoid power factor penalties at the grid connection point. It is currently being used on a large scale in power stations at home and abroad, and its stability is relatively good. At the same time, our inverter supports IV scanning technology. It takes a few minutes to scan a power station of several megawatts. It can detect more than 30 types of faults such as dust and dirt obstruction of components, and provide lower cost output for operation and maintenance.

This is the Sunshine Alibaba Cloud Platform, which currently has access to 13GW of power station capacity. All poverty alleviation power stations in Anhui Province are connected to the cloud platform to ensure a 25-year life cycle.

Finally, let’s talk about the inverter case. Sungrow’s inverter shipments have totaled more than 79GW. Currently, our product applications range from the lowest temperatures to the highest altitudes. The cumulative shipments of household equipment have exceeded 200,000 sets, and it has been operating stably for more than 15 years. Thank you, leaders.

Host: Thank you, Manager Li, for your introduction. I started out as a designer. Sungrow’s solution is very detailed, and it is indeed a technical powerhouse. In the inverter industry, when we mention Sungrow, we think of Huawei. These two companies have their own characteristics. Sungrow has more than 20 years of accumulated technical power, and Huawei’s chips give inverters a smart brain. Has anyone used Huawei products on site? Are we willing to choose Huawei inverters? Next, we would like to invite Wu Mingming, deputy chief engineer of Huawei Smart Photovoltaic China Solution Sales Department, to give a speech titled AI Blessing, Smart Winning of the Future - Huawei Distributed Smart Photovoltaic Solution

(Huawei) Wu Mingming: Thank you, everyone. Today I am very honored to represent Huawei to share with you the AI-enabled solutions for the future. Let me give you a brief introduction of Huawei. Everyone knows a lot about Huawei. Consumers know a lot about mobile phones. Last year, the shipment volume was more than 200 million, ranking second in the world, ahead of Apple and behind Samsung. This year, foldable screens were launched. Second, in the operator sector, Huawei 5G has core technology, and is ahead in both shipments and applications. Third, in the enterprise business, photovoltaic and power companies are all in it. Last year, sales were more than 720 billion yuan, maintaining a growth of about 19.5% over the previous year, which is still quite strong. We rank 72nd in the Fortune Global 500, with 180,000 employees, 45% of whom are R&D personnel. We invest a lot in R&D. In the lower left corner, the R&D investment last year was 100 billion yuan, but you don’t feel it, it’s just a number. In the right picture, if you look at the global companies, we rank fifth in R&D investment. Ahead are Google and Microsoft, and behind us are Intel and Apple. This is our strong investment in R&D.