Chip boosts solar panel efficiency

29 September 2010 Power Electronics / Power Management

STMicroelectronics has unveiled what it claims is the industry’s first IC to combine important power optimisation and power conversion functions for solar generators.

ST’s innovation will allow multipanel arrays, ranging from domestic rooftop-type equipment to larger installations, to deliver more energy at a lower cost per Watt.

The new SPV1020 chip allows maximum power-point tracking (MPPT) to be applied individually for each panel. MPPT automatically adjusts a solar generator’s output circuitry to compensate for power fluctuations resulting from varying solar intensity, shadowing, temperature change, panel mismatch or ageing. Without MPPT, the power from a solar panel can fall by 10% to 20% if even a small percentage of its surface is in shadow. This disproportionate decrease may restrict the choice of site or force the use of a smaller array to avoid shadows. In some cases, it can challenge the viability of the project.

The SPV1020 enables distributed MPPT (DMPPT), which compensates each panel individually, in contrast to a centralised MPPT scheme that applies a ‘best-fit’ compensation to all the panels in the array. DMPPT is the most promising technique to improve the energy productivity of photovoltaic systems because it maximises the power extracted from each panel regardless of adjacent module performance, even if a module has failed.

Implementing DMPPT usually requires a network of discrete components for each panel in an array. The SPV1020 replaces this network with a single chip and also integrates the DC/DC converter to step-up the panel’s low-voltage DC output to a larger DC voltage from which line-quality AC power is produced.

For more information contact Robin Scholes, Avnet Kopp, +27 (0)11 809 6100, [email protected], www.avnet.co.za

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