NRG Systems Inc. have provided solar resource monitoring (SRM) systems to the Travers Solar Project in Alberta, Canada.
The turnkey systems capture a range of site-specific parameters, including solar irradiance, module temperature and soiling conditions, as well as albedo, a vital piece in determining the solar energy potential available to the backside of the plant’s bifacial solar modules. Together, the data collected by NRG’s SRMs play a critical role in determining the project’s performance ratio.
The 465 MW Travers Solar Project – the largest utility-scale PV plant ever installed in Canada – was developed by Calgary-based Greengate Power Corp., with PCL leading construction of the 3,300-acre facility. Ulteig, who selected NRG’s technology for the plant’s resource monitoring needs, is overseeing SCADA engineering and integration.
“We have worked extensively with the NRG team and their solar resource measurement solutions,” says Mike Crawford, Ulteig’s senior market development manager of renewables. “Their systems offer a unique combination of flexibility and repeatability, allowing for project-specific customization within a framework that is easily replicated across a single plant or multiple plants. This has been an especially important feature for the Travers project, given the project had strict requirements and contains more than one-million PV modules across the 3,300 acres. Having reliable meteorological stations distributed across the site is critical to the project’s performance, and we can count on NRG to deliver.”
“It is exciting for NRG to be a part of the Travers Solar Project for many reasons,” adds Gregory Erdmann, NRG’s vice president of global sales. “In addition to the sheer magnitude of its impact, the project is technically complex, making it a challenge NRG is perfectly suited to take on. Thanks to a collaborative team effort between NRG and Ulteig, we have been able to deliver SRM Systems satisfying some of the most demanding requirements we have seen.
“Successfully deploying our solutions and playing a role in providing enough electricity to power 150,000 homes and offsetting more than 472,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually is directly in line with NRG’s mission,” continues Erdmann. “We are proud that our SRM Systems will play a pivotal role in ensuring this remarkable site is achieving its peak performance potential for years to come.”
The Travers Solar Project is fully operational.
To what granularity is the system MPPT operated?
Larry