Design, fabrication, and certification of advanced modular PV power systems. Final technical progress report

Abstract

Solar Electric Specialties Company (SES) has completed a two and a half year effort under the auspices of the US Department of Energy (DOE) PVMaT (Photovoltaic Manufacturing Technology) project. Under Phase 4A1 of the project for Product Driven System and Component Technology, the SES contract ``Design, Fabrication and Certification of Advanced Modular PV Power Systems`` had the goal to reduce installed system life cycle costs through development of certified (Underwriters Laboratories or other listing) and standardized prototype products for two of the product lines, MAPPS{trademark} (Modular Autonomous PV Power Supply) and Photogensets{trademark}. MAPPS are small DC systems consisting of Photovoltaic modules, batteries and a charge controller and producing up to about a thousand watt-hours per day. Photogensets are stand-alone AC systems incorporating a generator as backup for the PV in addition to a DC-AC inverter and battery charger. The program tasks for the two-year contract consisted of designing and fabricating prototypes of both a MAPPS and a Photogenset to meet agency listing requirements using modular concepts that would support development of families of products, submitting the prototypes for listing, and performing functionality testing at Sandia and NREL. Both prototypes were candidates for UL (Underwriters Laboratories) listing. The MAPPS was also a candidate for FM (Factory Mutual) approval for hazardous (incendiary gases) locations.