Power-One, Inc.(Nasdaq:PWER), a leading provider of renewable energy and energy-efficient power conversion and power management solutions, has announced its new modular inverter system, the AURORA PVI-400.0-TL.
This extremely scalable system is an evolution of Power-One's previous central inverters, which are based on 55kW modules. By increasing the power of each inverter to up to 67kW, the AURORA PVI-400.0-TL reaches an output of up to 400kW. The output voltage has been increased to 380V, thereby further limiting losses. Like the previous versions, each inverter module can be configured in multi-master for up to six independent MPPT or in master slave with a single MPPT. This helps to reduce losses due to array mismatch, thus improving energy harvesting, and supports short MTTR with field swappable modules.
"Designed with the specific needs of commercial plant operators and installers in mind, the new AURORA PVI-400.0-TL offers more power than our previous central inverter systems on the same footprint," said Paolo Casini, vice president of product marketing at Power-One. "Additionally, up to five PVI-400 inverters can be paralleled on a single transformer secondary winding to achieve a skid size block of 2MW."
Moreover, the inverter system reaches 98 percent of peak energy and offers a maximum input voltage of up to 1,000V, which reduces the DC distribution losses for large-scale PV plants. Each inverter is equipped with a number of system protections, such as DC input, reverse polarity protection, overvoltage protection devices and AC breakers.
Due to the modular design, installation and maintenance are effortless. All the DC/AC converters can be accessed from the front, allowing for easy accessibility to all other critical parts and thereby further simplifying maintenance procedures. To significantly reduce the on-site wiring and testing operations, Power-One delivers the AURORA PVI-400.0-TL units pre-configured and pre-tested.
The inverter system offers two independent RS-485 communication interfaces for inverter and intelligent string combiner monitoring. The AURORA PVI-400.0-TL fulfills all the necessary requirements for safety and grid management which makes it compatible for large scale commercial and utility markets.