44th Digital Annual Report

Author: Thermaxqaz

Solar PV Installation Guide by Thermax: Tips & Mistakes to Avoid

Posted on by Thermaxqaz

India has been one of the active proponents in establishing solar energy as the major source of electricity. Using environmentally friendly materials is one of the most considerate things industries can do to ensure sustainability of the environment. Many people have turned to solar energy to power all of their manufacturing and other activities through companies like Thermax Global and their expertise in solar PV installation.

Solar energy is currently used in a variety of critical activities ranging from air cooling to electric power to machine fuelling through solar panels. By 2030, the country hopes to have installed renewable energy capacity of around 450 gigawatts (GW), with solar accounting for roughly 280 GW (almost 60%). Below is a graph that talks about the growing demand for solar energy.

Now, if you are working on solar PV installation, you will need a guide that will provide you with all the necessary dos and don’ts. So, here is what you need to know about solar PV installation in India:

Pre-installation Checks – All the Things to Take Care of Before Starting

Since installing solar panels will require you to be focussed, it is better to go through everything before starting. Below is a basic concept of solar PV and its working:

  • Purchase supplies not included in your shipment

Ensure that you have wiring, toolbox, junction boxes, splicing devices and anything else you might need to install without hiccups.

  • Inspect your package to verify there are no missing or damaged items

Check all the items in the package and system thoroughly before starting. Any damage or missing parts will halt your solar PV installation.

  • Keep your system and yourself organised while unpacking everything

Ensure that everything is well organised before starting the installation. This will reduce confusion down the line and ensure smooth operation.

  • Examine and understand safety precautions before installing your system

Always check for safety ratings on all of your equipment and electrical systems. This will prevent any accidents. India has different ratings so ensure that you have the right ratings for solar PV installation in India.

  • Measure the needed angle and direction for your solar panel

The tilt angle of your solar panel should be determined by the latitude of your location anywhere in the globe using a solar tracker. It is often assumed that modules set at a tilt angle equal to the latitude of the location will produce the most energy.

Simple Tips for Installation to Make Things Easy and Mistakes to Avoid

  1. Choose the right type of mount for you. There are three types of mounts: pole, roof-ground and flush mounts. Each will help you install in a specific location.
  2. Take care of any sunlight obstacles before starting solar PV installation. Remove any unneeded obstacles, such as branches that may be blocking sunlight to your solar unit.
  3. To avoid fatigue, use the right equipment and remember to take pauses. Always use eye protection, gloves, and closed-toe boots.
  4. Always keep a multimeter on hand. Before proceeding, double-check the wires and terminators for zero volts.
  5. Before you begin, spend some time reading the manufacturer’s solar PV installation guide. Make a to-do list using the instructions. This will help you to organise your equipment, hardware, and tools as you progress through each task.
  6. The proper installation of solar panels is critical. Solar panels are set out and secured to a mounting framework such that they do not tilt or wobble. Civil work should be used to ground the solar panel mounting framework.
  7. Solar panels should always be placed at a 30-degree angle to maximise efficiency. In addition, solar panels should be installed towards the southwest.
  8. Earthing safeguards your solar system by preventing overload, directing surplus power to the ground, stabilising voltage, and preventing accidents.

How to Install the Solar Panels

Step 1 – Assemble all the tools you will need. It includes tape measures, ladder, chalk line, hammer, ink marker, wire stripper, screwdriver, multimeter and any other tool that the guide suggests.

Step 2 – First, measure out the mounts using a tape measure and mark them on the desired spot. Make sure there is enough space around it all, just in case. Make sure you double-check with the installation guide about the weight and check the sturdiness of your space.

Step 3 – Now install the solar panels and fix them in place. The panels will require precautions. So, be patient and take help from someone if needed. Ensure that you check for electrical wiring and their exits. It will make things easier for you in the next step.

Step 4 – The next stage is to complete the electrical wiring. During wiring, universal connectors such as MC4 are utilised since they can be linked to any type of solar panel. In a series connection, the positive wire from one module must be connected to the negative wire of another module. A parallel connection connects the positive to the positive and the negative to the negative leads. A parallel connection keeps the voltage of each panel constant, but a series connection raises the voltage to match the voltage of the battery bank.

Step 5 – Now connect the wiring to the inverter as instructed in the solar PV installation guide. Connect the positive solar panel wire to the positive inverter terminal and the negative solar panel wire to the negative inverter terminal. Other connections include the battery wire connection and the output wire connection to the inverter. To generate energy, a solar panel, a solar battery, and a grid input are all linked to a solar inverter. The inverter’s input is connected to the output of a series of solar panels. While making the connections, ensure the inverter is switched off.

Step 6 – A battery is required in an off-grid solar system since it is utilised to store backup power. This battery is linked to a solar inverter, which recharges it using a solar panel and the grid. The battery’s positive terminal is linked to the inverter’s positive terminal and negative to the negative terminal.

Step 7 – To connect the inverter to the grid, simply plug it into the main power switchboard and it will get electricity from the grid. The output cable is also linked to the board that supplies power to the house. A metering device must be installed to determine the surplus energy generated by the solar system. The positive wire from the metering device must be connected to the line terminal, and the negative wire must be connected to the inverter’s neutral terminal.

Step 8 – Turn on the mains when all the connections are completed. There is a digital display that indicates the total solar unit generated during the day, the supply voltage and current (amp) from the solar panel, and other information.

Thermax Global – Where Quality and Technology Goes Hand in Hand! 

It is important to choose a solar PV installation company in India that is known for efficiency and great practices. This ensures that you get the best solar panels for your investment.

Thermax Global has years of experience and knowledge in the construction of solar power plants. Thermax has assisted some of the industry’s largest companies in making the transition to solar energy with ease. It has been a pioneer in developing creative solutions to challenging issues.

Among other things, they are the leaders in industrial solar PV installations and innovators of more efficient technologies. Choosing Thermax Global is not just the right but the obvious choice!

So, visit Thermax Global now or contact us via email (customer.support@thermaxglobal.com) or call us on toll free number 1800-209-0115 for your solar PV installation now!

Balancing Power Availability With Sustainability – DG PV Controller

Posted on by Thermaxqaz

A DG-PV Controller 

Frequent power cuts are a grim reality faced by all industries and commercial establishments across the country. It forces businesses to rely on Diesel Gensets, thereby increasing costs as well as the carbon footprint of the organisation.

The effectiveness of generating clean and cheap power by installing GRID connected rooftop solar power plant gets marred by frequent power cuts as solar power plants use grid power for reference voltage and frequency. In the absence of grid power, the system is unable to function, causing dual loss to the owner. The owner not only loses the electricity that could have been generated by rooftop solar power plant but is also compelled to switch over to the costly DG set for full power back up.

DG-PV System controller is a unique solution that resolves this problem by interfacing with the grid and DG set simultaneously to provide a complete grid management solution. This controller makes it possible to use solar power even when grid power is not available, by using a diesel generator. It ensures maximum utilisation of solar power and minimum fuel consumption by DG set.

Smart communication between the photovoltaic system and DG set assures greater uptime of the system and up to 25-30% fuel saving with maximum grid stability.

A solar DG-PV controller automatically synchronises solar PV with DG set. All information related to grid properties, load requirement and minimum genset loading is considered while configuring the fuel saving controller, which defines the optimum PV power set point for secure and reliable operation at all times.

The fuel save controller enables the hybrid controller system to meet any dynamic load requirement. If required, the PV power can be throttled down to guarantee smooth genset operation for optimum grid stability.

Some of the other benefits of DG-PV controller are protection against reverse power current and dynamic monitoring of system parameters on the SCADA /monitoring software. Also, it will ensure zero power flow from PV to grid in case the load demand comes down, thereby maintaining system stability when running PV plant with DG generator in the absence of the grid. 

The hybrid control system is highly scalable and can be adapted to the specific requirement of the application, for example – communication with inverter over ethernet or serial (RS485/232), universal analog inputs/output module, thermocouple and RTD. The controller also ensures compatibility with all makes of solar inverters and diesel generators.

Thermax has set up DG PV controller for multiple customers over the years. Our experts can guide you to select a configuration that works best for your plant. As the world moves towards improving energy efficiency and conserving resources, DG PV controller can help in taking another step towards sustainability and reduce your cost of operation in the process.

Thermax’s digitalisation wave: Solutions for today and tomorrow

Posted on by Thermaxqaz

The scenario

Digital transformation has occupied the centre stage in the recent past and has started reshaping the way manufacturing sector works. The recent wave of lockdowns that followed the COVID outbreak accelerated the pace of digital transformation. Some enterprises were prepared on how to deal with it, some learnt it on the go, and some are still learning.

As a key enabler of our growth ambitions and vision of becoming a high performance global organisation, we at Thermax commenced our ‘Smart journey’ with a structured digital roadmap. We have been progressively adopting digital tools to improve our business efficiency, adapt to a more agile and connected way of working; all this is backed by strong data security. Our digital transformation journey consists of three pillars – from individualistic to collaborative for the organisation, from people-driven to industry benchmarked processes and from a product-based approach to outcome-oriented solutions for customers to ensure precision, reliability and consistency.

Manufacturing competitiveness

The first major milestone in the journey was the commissioning of a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at Sri City, Andhra Pradesh for manufacturing high efficiency vapour absorption chillers for global markets. The factory deploys high level of automation, a first of a kind for a capital goods company, equipped with an automated MES (Manufacturing Execution System) and skilled workforce on the shop floor.

Facilities

Employee collaboration

We aim to adopt contemporary practices that can integrate all operations and transform business processes into more strategic and measurable ones. The HR team at Thermax launched SAP SuccessFactors, which is an industry-leading cloud human capital management (HCM) suite that uses advanced technologies and helps in managing various facets of employees’ organisational lifecycle. This covers core HR and payroll, attendance management and time logs, performance and appraisals, recruitment and onboarding, learning and development; with a focus on people engagement and experience. 

Digitalisation is also keeping finances in order, which is another daunting task. Now imagine, for claiming expenses you have to fill a form, get it approved by your manager and then collate all the physical copies of the bills and submit them to your finance team. Isn’t a tedious task? With the help of SAP Concur, 

claiming paperless expense has become so much easier and productive for employees, managers and the finance team.

The latest addition to the digital platform is THERMSafe, which was launched during the ongoing pandemic crisis. It is an app developed in-house to capture the health status of employees while they are working from home and before entering the office premises. The advanced feature in the application prompts users to be self-quarantined if needed and also update them on sanitisation status being followed at office premises and common areas. 

Customer engagement

Thermax has been leveraging digitalisation to make the company more efficient; moreover enhance the value of our offerings for our customers. Recently, Thermax commissioned a large auxiliary boiler online for a customer in Egypt with the help of various tools, including TeamViewer, Microsoft Teams, Grafana Portal, among others, that enabled real-time collaboration between two teams located in different countries. 

According to a study by Gartner, the IoT market will grow to 5.8 billion in 2020. Like other companies, Thermax is also exploring ways in which it can inculcate IoT enabled solutions in its business offerings. Thermax’s industrial analytics solution provider, Ultramind, is IoT enabled and can be integrated with boilers and heaters that has PLC systems of any make. It identifies gaps in operating parameters, analyse factors and make necessary recommendations to improve combustion and heat transfer processes. The tool is a great value addition for customers in terms of improving efficiency, safety standards, seamless maintenance, and critical spare parts planning.

Thermax’s Remote Online System Support (ROSS) is a cloud-based remote monitoring technology, which monitors and controls the performance of absorption chillers across the globe, thus offering better customer service and chiller maintenance remotely. The advanced feature supports in managing and monitoring the chillers with alarms, trend graphs, and reports efficiently. ROSS is now connected to around 547 chillers across the globe. 

Concurrent to improving customer facing application, Thermax is also enhancing its internal processes to provide the best quality output to its customers. We have deployed a robust automated proposal generation process, addressing customer requirements accurately with the shorter response time. The digital engineer-to-order process supports advanced engineering calculations and functions and seamlessly integrates design softwares with customer needs to streamline the automatic generation of technical proposals, engineering drawings and BOQs.

Through our digitalisation initiatives, our endeavour is to create a connected ecosystem where we engage our customers seamlessly and provide better customer experience, regardless of time and place.

More power from the Sun – Designing solar plants for maximum generation

Posted on by Thermaxqaz

Solar sector in India has seen tremendous growth in a short period of time. As we work to scale up our solar PV generation capacity, equal efforts have to be made to ensure the equipment quality of upcoming installations is up to industry standards. The plants must strictly adhere to established norms of engineering, safety and their seamless integration into the national grid. Precise design and engineering of solar power plants in a way that optimises power generation is essential to harness its real benefits.   

While designing a solar PV system, it is crucial to have a thorough understanding of parameters that affect power generation comprising both metrological data and electrical components. Solar power plant design calls for high technical proficiency in order to maintain a delicate balance between performance and cost. Various factors such as infrastructure, solar plant layout, technology selection, system configuration, and quality of the components play a very important role in maximising energy yield and minimising project cost.

A key input for a solar PV power plant design is the metrological data of the installation site, which consist of solar irradiance, temperature, relative humidity and wind data. It is critical to consider updated metrological data base and advanced software to predict expected power generation with high precision.

The basic components of a solar power plant include a solar module, inverter electronics, structures and balance of electrical system.

The electrical components are primarily classified into DC side and AC side. DC side covers solar modules, solar cables inverter, and mounting system, while the AC side entails AC cables, electrical protection, transformer and evacuation. Additionally monitoring system (SCADA/data logger/cloud-based system) is used for tracking and predicting power generation, capturing plant performance and O&M. 

Solar technology has witnessed innovation at a feverish pace in the last decade, thereby progressively improving solar module efficiency and sizes. Modules are now available at higher power wattage and higher voltage. With this incremental system voltage, it is possible to reduce the solar field losses up to some extent which ultimately increases the plant performance ratio (PR). Modules being at the core of power generation must be selected with meticulous evaluation of all relevant parameters. It should be safe for the user, O&M team and the system. Alongside, it must necessarily address UV rays and other environmental related conditions.  

Inverters should be of good quality, with high conversion efficiency, and proven reference base that has good online and offline service support across the country. The replacement parts should be easily available. The inverter should have adequate protection features on both DC and AC side along with flexibility in design. Adaptability to environmental conditions of the solar field is a very critical factor too.

Other components should be selected as per site condition and project requirement. Importantly, valid and applicable certifications should be available for all components to meet necessary quality standards.  Certifications are also required for government approval, insurance claim and safe operation of the plant. 

An optimally designed plant should have average first year PR between 78% to 82% depending on various aforesaid parameters, losses and  proper O&M. To optimise for maximum generation we need to take into consideration various loss parameters mentioned below :

Sr. no Loss Parameter Typical Values (in %)
1 Shading  Not greater than 3.5%
2 Incidence Angle Modifier  Not greater than 3.5%
3 Soiling Loss  Not greater than 3.5%
4 Module Temperature Loss  Approximately 11-12%
5 Module Quality Loss  Typically this ranges from 0 to 3%
6 First Year Module Degradation (under Light
Induced Degradation (LID)		  LID – Typically this ranges from 0 to 3%

Annual Degradation – Typically this ranges from 0.5% to 0.75%
7 Module Array Mismatch Loss  Typically 1.2%
8 DC Ohmic Wiring Loss  Not more than 3.5%
9 Inverter Loss during Operation (Efficiency)  Typically 2.5%
10 AC Ohmic Losses  Not more than 3.5%
11 System Unavailability  Typically 1%
12 External Transformer Loss  Typically 3%

 

Solar PV installations are often perceived to be relatively simple. But sans proper design, installation and regular maintenance, not only does the desired power generation suffer, but safety of the electrical system could also be compromised leading to fatalities. Hence, due care and attention are to be extended to all facets of a solar plant.

While most of the solar players and media continue to focus on the cost of solar, a prudent customer needs to look at the performance track record while choosing the EPC partner for their solar project. Since a solar power plant has an expected life of 25 years or more, degradation of performance over time has an outsized impact on overall returns to the customer. 

Thermax has installed more than 130 solar PV plants spread over 70 cities across 18 states. It is a testimony to our engineering capability and rigorous focus on quality that all our installations continue to operate above-committed performance ratio. We have managed to reach PR as high as 85%-86% for some installations with an intelligent combination of site conditions and technical innovation. Combined with our O&M support, customers can be rest assured that their plant will continue to generate green solar power for its useful life and beyond.

To know more about our solar offerings, connect with us at https://www.thermaxglobal.com/solar-offering/  

To enquire: enquiry@thermaxglobal.com

To call: 1800-209-0115

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