Outline
Energy from the Sun
- Solar irradiance principles
- Measure of merit for incident solar
- What makes a location good?
- Factors affecting incident energy
- Diurnal/seasonal pattern of incident energy
Solar Power Assessment
- Solar insolation mapping
- Standards
- Uncertainty and “bankability”
- Data collection and analysis
- Reports and graphs
Electric Power Generation and Delivery Fundamentals
- Power system fundamentals
- Conversion of DC to AC
- Power flow analysis example
- Real and reactive power
- Power system operation, control and protection
Photovoltaic Basics
- Semiconductors and the photovoltaic effect
- A brief history of the development of PV cells
- Cell materials: mono- and poly-crystalline silicon, cadmium telluride,
CIGS
- Makeup of solar panels from solar cells
- Conversion efficiency
Solar Plant Components and Overview
- Plant design and optimization
- Solar panels and racks
- DC electrical connections
- Inverter block with step-up transformer
- AC collection
- Power plant controls and grid integration features
Solar Cells and Modules
- Current-irradiance and voltage-temperature relationships
- Power-current relationship and maximum power point
- Incidence angle
- Electrical effect of shading
- Hot spots and by-pass diodes
- Reliability, testing, and spectral response
DC System Design
- Panel sizing for site conditions
- Connecting panels as a string
- String planning and layout
- String DC combination levels
- DC cabling to inverter
- DC system protection
- Losses within strings
Inverter and Power Control
- The inverter as the heart of the power block
- Inverter equipment and modules
- DC connections from re-combiner
- Maximizing energy harvest through DC voltage control
- AC current regulation for real and reactive power
AC Collector System
- Collector system overview and single-line
- Collector layout and installation
- Load flow modeling and sizing of conductors
- Inverters and step-up transformers
- System grounding considerations
- Reactive power and harmonic filters
Civil and Geotechnical Issues
- Geotechnical investigations: site preparation and earthworks, foundation considerations
- Ground-mount foundation solutions, rammed posts, helicals, or ground screws; ballast systems
- Design loads: dead loads; wind, snow, and seismic zones; adfreeze considerations
- Racking assembly
- Panel installation, connections, and wiring
- Measurement of soil thermal resistivity
Interconnection of Renewable Energy Plants with the Electric Grid
- Interconnection agreements and studies
- Grid codes
- Disturbance ride-through
- Post-fault recovery
- Solar plant modeling in power system analyses
- Cloud transients, ramp rates, and the case for energy storage
Connection of Distributed PV Solar Units
- Market drivers of rooftop PV units
- Impacts of rooftop PV units on a distribution feeder: voltage considerations, harmonics, feeder ampacity limits
- Distribution feeder PV “hosting” limits
Bulk Power System Considerations
- IEEE 1547 and “Smart Inverters”
- Emerging needs for low voltage ride through: emerging needs for voltage / power factor control, status and changes in the standard
- Changing load curves due to solar variability
Instructors
James Tinjum, PE, PhD
Associate Professor
Dr. James M. Tinjum, PE, is responsible for outreach, research, and continuing engineering education in the areas of geotechnical, geoenvironmental, and energy geotechnics with an emphasis on transmitting practical research applications directly to the engineering community. Over the past ten years, he has specialized (consulting, expert support, and research) in foundation investigation, monitoring, and research into foundations for wind turbine generators.
Teaching in courses starting: 07/24/2019
James Niemira, PE
Principal Engineer
James K. Niemira, P.E., is a Principal Engineer of S&C Electric Company in the Power Systems Solutions organization. He has over 30 years of professional experience in the electric power industry. Present responsibilities include oversight of analysis and design work in the Engineering Services and Consulting & Analytical Services. Mr. Niemira has performed design work, field start‐up, and commissioning of wind power plant substations and data center substation sites; expansions of existing substations; distribution system protection and automation projects with protective relays; substation design, and collector system design for renewable energy generation sites (wind and solar); and the analytic studies to support these designs.
He is active in the IEEE/PES Power System Relay & Control Committee; a member of the Technical Committee of the NFPA 70E Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace; and is a licensed Professional Engineer in 31 states.
Teaching in courses starting: 07/24/2019
Bulent Sarlioglu, PhD
Associate Professor
Bulent Sarlioglu is an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the associate director of the Wisconsin Electric Machines and Power Electronics Consortium (WEMPEC). He previously worked at Honeywell International Inc.'s aerospace division for 11 years, most recently as a staff systems engineer, earning Honeywell's technical achievement award in 2003 and an outstanding engineer award in 2011. Bulent’s expertise includes electrical machines, drives, and power electronics and he is the inventor or co-inventor of 15 US patents as well as many international patents. He received his PhD from University of Wisconsin–Madison, MS from University of Missouri–Columbia, and BS from Istanbul Technical University, all in electrical engineering.
Teaching in courses starting: 07/24/2019
Mahesh Morjaria
Vice President of Systems Development
Dr. Morjaria leads a team at First Solar that is responsible for new products and grid integration capability for utility-scale PV plants. He has more than a decade of experience in controls and grid integration of renewable plants. In his previous role at GE Energy, Dr Morjaria was the engineering leader for wind turbine and wind plant controls. He is an author of numerous papers and patents in the area of turbine control, monitoring, diagnostics, services technologies and renewable grid integration. His academic credits include B.Tech from IIT Bombay and Ph.D. from Cornell University.
Teaching in courses starting: 07/24/2019
Nick Strevel
Manager
Nicholas Strevel is the Director of Global Technical Sales at First Solar specializing in PV module technology and performance. He has authored numerous publications about CdTe (Cadmium Telluride) technology, performance and PV module reliability. He has worked in the thin-film PV technology space for 12 years in module manufacturing, application engineering and business development. Prior to joining First Solar, Nicholas held positions in Application Engineering, and Process Engineering at United Solar Ovonic both in the USA and in Germany. His detailed experience includes design and applications of >50MW of various scale PV projects from off grid to residential to utility scale in over 15 countries. Nicholas has a BSME in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan State University including diploma studies at the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule, Aachen.
Nicholas also serves on the board of directors of the Glass City Community Solar Foundation, which has a mission to bring the economic, sustainability, and educational benefits of PV to low-income housing.
Teaching in courses starting: 07/24/2019
