ABB inverters help connect Malaysia’s largest solar plant to grid

Amcorp Power’s solarplantlocatedinGemas,NegeriSembilan, about 100 miles from the MalaysiancapitalKualaLumpur, is the country’s largest solar power plant andrepresentsapproximately 11 percent of its nearly 116 megawatts of grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity. ABB’s solar solutions will play an important role in Malaysia’s expansion of renewable energy and solar capacity to reduce dependency on fossil fuelsandminimize carbon emissions.“Renewable energy, in particular solar, will play an increasingly important role in the energy mix of countries that represent a significantportion of the world’s economic growth for decades to come,” saidPekkaTiitinen, head of ABB’s Discrete Automation and Motion division. “ABB’s portfolio of products, including the inverters we’re delivering here along with our service offering, willensure that Malaysia has access to clean, green power even as the technologies evolve.”Malaysia has set a national target to diversify the country’s energy mix, including feeding 975 MW or 5.5 percent of renewable energy into the grid by 2015. By 2020, this is targeted to double to 2.065 MW, or 11 percent. Under Malaysia’s National Renewable Energy Policy, solar power is expected to contribute a minimum of 220 MW to its total capacity mix.

ABB delivered high-efficiency TRIO solar inverters, the ‘brains’ behind a photovoltaic system, to convert direct current (DC) electricity generated by the solar modules into alternating current (AC) with 98.3 percent efficiency. The TRIO inverters are fully enclosed and have no moving parts such as cooling fans, so they require no maintenance or spare parts.

Gemas also uses ABB’s Plant Portfolio Manager, which provides a highly interactive dashboard with real-time remote performance monitoring over computer networks or even mobile devices for better, faster PV plant management