An agricultural machinery workshop in Palencia has achieved power independence after regional solar specialists Bet Solar designed an off grid power supply which would meet their 300kWh/day requirement. Working with installers Transdiesel S.L, power for the facility is harvested by 750 Solar panels rated at 300Wp and runs a range of workshop equipment – including an overhead crane operation, boilers, workshop machinery, irrigation pumps and the office buildings.
The installation comes after a decision to expand the company – further work is underway to build a suite of offices and larger workshop which will double their working capacity. The private power installation will be fully operational when building work is complete in three months – in the meantime the customer is very happy with the work in progress.
The decision to install private power was linked to company growth. Plans to provide an enhanced connection to the electricity grid would have entailed new lines and infrastructure over a long distance, together with way-leave permission requirements from third parties.
Bet Solar commented that the installation of off-grid electricity is always a challenge, whatever the size of the solar PV plant. “We specialise in system-design and in supporting the installer in the configuration of the equipment – together with programming based on customer consumption habits, photovoltaic potential and battery capacity and chemistry.”
The off-grid system includes:
- 750 solar panels of 225k
- 9 X Quattro 48/15000/200-100
- 5 X SmartSolar MPPT 250/100-TR
- 1 X Fronius ECO 27.0-3-S
- 5 X Fronius ECO 27.0-3-S LIGHT
- 15 X BYD B-BOX 13.8 offering 207kWh
- 1 X Octo GX
Current daily consumption is around 300 kWh but will more than double when the office building and workshops are complete.
Most consumption occurs during the day – hence the 5 Fronius ECO 27 kW grid inverters in addition to 6 Victron SmartSolar MPPT 250-100 TR VE.CAN solar charge controllers.
The 9 Quattro inverter/chargers of 15 kVA operate in parallel, giving the installation the capacity to withstand nominal loads of up to 135 kVA (108 kW). To this power we can add the grid inverters during hours of sunshine – reaching a maximum power of 270 kW in the middle part of the day.
In the absence of solar energy, the installation is supported by two generator sets which can operate in parallel. The main generator runs on propane gas with an output of 100 kVA and a second auxiliary paralleled diesel set can provide 200 kVA extra power if required.
The Quattro inverter’s no-break functionality with 20 millisecond switching prevents micro-cuts occurring when the generator sets start-up or shut-down – thus ensuring the high power needs of the plants operation can continue without interruption, even while the grid or generators cut in and out.
For night time working the installation has been fitted with a 200 kWh lithium battery bank. The 9 Quattro 15kVA inverters have a peak-power capability of 225 kW and with huge charge-current handling can re-charge the battery bank in under 3 hours.
The entire system is monitored and controlled remotely by the Octo GX – a communication device which harmonises the operation of all Victron and third-party equipment, and which provides an interrogatable user-interface for the client. For the installer the Octo GX allows remote system monitoring and control, together with the storing of historical system-data, allowing critical analysis of consumption and loads; scheduling consumption to the times of greatest solar production; and the ability to diagnose and repair any anomalies without the need to travel to the installation. Remote management is provided free of charge to all users by the Victron Remote Management (VRM) platform.
The system was pre-assembled on Transdiesel’s premises which allowed a delivered on-site assembly-to-operation time of just three days. Transdiesel S.L and Bet Solar are proud of this system which is able to double its power output should the customer need this facility in the future.
