Chongqing HUAWEI Generator

    To address these challenges, multiple industry experts have pointed out that technological innovation will be the key driving force for solving many of them. Among them, photovoltaic inverters, as a key power electronic device in the development of photovoltaic power generation, are also facing more responsibilities. How to make photovoltaic inverters more flexible, reliable, and efficient has become a key issue of concern in the industry.
 

    In recent years, China's wind and solar power generation has maintained a rapid growth trend. According to the latest data released by the Electric Power Design and Planning Institute, the newly installed capacity of wind and solar power in China reached 125 million kilowatts in 2022, exceeding 100 million kilowatts for three consecutive years. As of February 2023, the cumulative installed capacity of wind and solar power in China has reached 780 million kilowatts, including 410 million kilowatts of solar power and 370 million kilowatts of wind power.

    At the beginning of 2022, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration released the "14th Five Year Plan for Modern Energy System", which further pointed out that in areas with good endowment of wind and solar energy resources, superior construction conditions, sustainable integrated development conditions, and compliance with regional ecological environment protection requirements, the centralized development of wind and photovoltaic power generation should be orderly promoted, and the construction of large-scale wind and photovoltaic base projects with a focus on desert, Gobi, and desert areas should be accelerated. From this, it can be seen that the development and promotion of the wind and solar power base project has become an important measure for China to promote the implementation of the "dual carbon" goal.

    Up to now, the first batch of 97 million kilowatts of wind and solar power base projects have fully started construction, and some projects have been completed and put into operation. The second batch of large base projects have started gradually, and the third batch of bases has also formed a project list.

    It is worth noting that photovoltaic power generation has become the "main force" driving the growth of installed power generation capacity. According to Wang Shujuan, founder of Zhihui Photovoltaic, the newly installed photovoltaic capacity in China reached a historical high of 87.41 million kilowatts in 2022. At the same time, photovoltaics accounted for 45% of the country's newly installed power capacity that year, becoming the power source with the highest proportion of newly installed capacity.

   In the face of the new requirements for building a new energy system, according to Wang Jixue, Deputy Chief Engineer of the Electric Power Design and Planning Institute, photovoltaic inverters are destined to bear more and more "responsibilities". From the new power system to the new energy system, the role of electricity in the energy system is gradually increasing. When building a system with a high proportion of renewable energy and high proportion of power electronics, inverters, as key power electronic devices, will play a more prominent role.

    Wang Jixue told reporters, "On the one hand, from a technical perspective, photovoltaic inverters have always played a 'bridge' role, converting available solar energy resources into clean and economical energy supply. On the other hand, in the process of building a new type of power system, more considerations need to be given to system balance and stability. Photovoltaic inverters need to undertake more functions and truly become the 'router' of the energy system.

    In the past decade, with the development and growth of China's entire photovoltaic industry chain, photovoltaic inverter technology has undergone several generations of changes. Shi Xiaofeng, Vice President of Sunshine Power Photovoltaic Storage Group, told reporters that in recent years, photovoltaic inverter technology has undergone rapid changes, gradually innovating from the initial centralized inverter of 100 kW. While the power continues to increase, string inverters with relatively flexible system design have also emerged. However, now facing more complex and demanding environments such as high proportion photovoltaic grid connection requirements and entering the Shage Desert, photovoltaic inverters can no longer be limited to traditional styles and need to further reduce the cost of photovoltaic electricity to better adapt to the development needs of energy systems.

    To solve these problems, Sunac Power combines the characteristics and advantages of centralized inverters and string inverters to launch the '1+X' modular inverter, which defines a single unit as 1.1 MW and designs it modularly like building blocks. It can flexibly form 2.2 MW, 3.3 MW, 4.4 MW, and up to 8.8 MW, while also achieving the goal of low cost and convenient operation and maintenance. "Shi Xiaofeng pointed out that" the system cost of modular inverters is reduced compared to string inverters, and it can be more convenient for operation and maintenance. Under the same conditions, the power generation can also be increased. The deep innovation of device modular design and application technology will become a future trend, which can not only maximize the adaptation to various complex environments in the future, but also improve overall operation and maintenance efficiency, significantly reduce the cost of electricity per kilowatt hour, and achieve the maximization of investment returns for power plants.

Where is the next generation inverter technology heading?

    In the industry's view, the construction of a new energy system is a dynamic and complex system engineering process in which traditional fossil fuels and new clean energy complement each other and merge. Empowering technology and promoting multi energy integration are key measures to solve the above problems.

    Reducing costs and increasing efficiency is the eternal theme of the photovoltaic industry, "Shi Xiaofeng further pointed out." From the perspective of future industry demand, photovoltaic inverters will continue to pursue the reduction of electricity costs, and high voltage and high power density will also become a major direction for the development of photovoltaic inverter technology.

    More noteworthy is that Shi Xiaofeng stated that the demand for intelligent photovoltaic inverters is gradually increasing for large-scale wind and solar power projects. From a long-term operation and maintenance perspective, there are significant challenges in the operation and maintenance of photovoltaic projects mainly located in the Shage Desert area. The intelligence of inverters will help photovoltaic projects achieve self diagnosis and self judgment, provide specific operation and maintenance requirements, and thus achieve rapid response to maintenance.

    Wang Jixue believes that in the face of the development requirements of the new energy system, photovoltaic inverters not only need to play a traditional "bridge" role, but also the key to the future development of inverter technology, from adapting to the changes in grid capacity to constructing the grid.

    Shi Xiaofeng also stated that with the continuous increase in the proportion of new energy and power electronic equipment integration, the stability of the power system will face more significant challenges. In the future, the photovoltaic equipment industry will continuously innovate around two dimensions: computing power and algorithms. Through the combination of big data, high computing power, and intelligent algorithms, the grid connection characteristics of new energy equipment will gradually move from weak grid adaptation to active support and intelligent network construction, achieving system self-healing.