{"id":19063,"date":"2017-07-11T14:30:30","date_gmt":"2017-07-11T12:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.sma-sunny.com\/?p=19063"},"modified":"2019-07-18T11:52:52","modified_gmt":"2019-07-18T09:52:52","slug":"sma-fuel-save-solution-on-sint-eustatius-excellent-performance-proven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sma-sunny.com\/en\/sma-fuel-save-solution-on-sint-eustatius-excellent-performance-proven\/","title":{"rendered":"SMA Fuel Save Solution on Sint Eustatius – Excellent Performance Proven"},"content":{"rendered":"

After one year of operation, THEnergy analyzed the SMA Fuel Save Solution located on Sint Eustatius<\/a> and summarized its performance in one word \u201cexcellent.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n

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After one year of operation, it was time to have a look at the outcomes. Were estimations about the performance of the system accurate? Did the system perform as well as it should? Did the wear and tear on the components match expectations? To answer these questions, SMA Sunbelt asked Dr. Thomas Hillig to analyze how the system performed. Hillig is the founder of the Dr. Thomas Hillig Energy Consulting<\/a>, which assists companies\u00a0in the renewable energy sector with consulting in sales, marketing and sustainability.<\/p>\n

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The hybrid system’s performance in numbers<\/h5>\n

\"statia_forecast_vs_measurement\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A hybrid system\u2019s performance is determined by simulations, which rely on assumptions being made. These assumptions are usually forecasts that, from looking at the past, estamet what the conditions will be like in the future.<\/p>\n

A great impact on plant performance is caused by\u00a0irradiation\u00a0<\/strong>as it defines how much\u00a0energy\u00a0the solar system is able to deliver. The past year was not the sunniest one, which explains why the analysis shows an irradiation of\u00a04.9% less<\/strong>\u00a0than the forecast.
\nIt is also important to consider\u00a0consumption,<\/strong>\u00a0as the overall system performance and savings increase the more energy from solar can directly be used. However, the amount actually consumed turned out to be 4.5% less than what was forecasted.<\/p>\n

Albeit these non-optimal conditions, the plant performed excellently. The solar system produced more than expected. Despite irradiation being 4.9% less than anticipated, the solar system produced only 2.3% less energy. A great result.
\nFuel savings<\/strong>\u00a0reached 812,887 liters in the year reviewed, which is\u00a0only 1.2% less<\/strong>\u00a0thexpected \u2013 even better.<\/p>\n

One of the most critical components is the battery as a higher ageing of the battery as the most expensive part of the system can be very costly. The batteries were\u00a0forecasted to have a\u00a0remaining battery capacity<\/strong>\u00a0of 95.6% after the first year of operation. Measurement of the capacity after one year of operation showed that the battery performed much better with\u00a098.7% remaining capacity<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

You can find the complete performance analysis here\u00a0(PDF)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Experiences from\u00a0the first year of operation<\/h5>\n

First of all, Sint Eustatius is a really, really great hybrid system from a development point of view. For maintenance and tuning, there is a secure live connection between the hybrid system and SMA headquarters in Germany. Due to the time difference of -6 hours with Germany, we are able to comfortably put agreed optimizations and updates into place while solar production is still sleeping. At noon German time, solar production in the Caribbean powers up and the solar plant is at full power just before quitting time in Germany. This is a luxury unique to this site.<\/p>\n

\"statia_cloudy\"<\/a>Sint Eustatius is also an interesting plant because of where it is located (and not only because of dreamlike water and the generous\u00a0people living there) and the hybrid system\u2019s characteristics. The solar field is incredibly compact and there are nearly no statistical effects distributing cloud impact to different solar systems in the grid. Above that, cloud movement is often really fast as water all around barely slows wind down. So clouds appear within seconds, causing an immediate and extreme reduction in solar production. This would create a significant strain on the generators because always enough genset power would have to be kept online to cover each single solar break in. At this point the battery storage kicks in. As soon as solar production drops, the storage reacts immediately by pushing energy into the grid with a power of up to +-1MW. As a result, a 0.9MVA genset can run at idle power of 30% while 1.7MW of the load is present in the system.<\/p>\n

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Sint Eustatius a blueprint for the german energy transition<\/h5>\n

\"germanep\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the beginning, Germany\u2019s grid utility companies have complained about grid stability as the use of renewable energies has grown. On the right you can see power production of one recent week in the German grid.\u00a0While in Sint Eustatius the fluctuations in solar power were much more significant as there is little regional distribution AND\u00a0the renewable share does not cap at 50% as it does in Germany, but instead goes up to 89%; AND there is no larger grid to import \/ export energy\u00a0to balance out the fluctuations,\u00a0Statia\u00a0Utility Company (Stuco) still intends to raise the renewable share in their grid even further.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So, when a little Caribbean island like Sint Eustatius has the technology to cope with the difficult conditions presented given their location, why should\u00a0a large European grid not be able to overcome its challenges? If you compare the diagrams, the difference\u00a0in the level of challenges becomes clear.<\/p>\n

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Outlook<\/h5>\n

Today,\u00a0we are working on the next level of hybrid systems. While solar-diesel-hybrid systems today mainly reduce consumption with a generator there to cover spikes and to give the beat in the grid, we are developing means to completely turn off all gensets and let the battery storage entirely take over the grid. Again, Sint Eustatius may well be the place where we first implement this large step forward with a larger battery, even more solar and a grid forming industrial class battery inverter.<\/p>\n

We will keep you updated on our development progress here.<\/p>\n

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Interested in the project? Check the video about the project<\/a> (2016):<\/em><\/p>\n

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